SAIIER 2016:Building a Tree House
 Deepanam School |
 |
 Life Science Lab |
| Building a Tree House A project of Deepanam School | ||
Introduction
At Entity::Deepanam School we have put focus on hands-on activities for the age group of 12 to 14 years old ("Faith" class) who have a lot of energy. We had been doing woodworking as part of art activities, and decided to take a big project of building a tree house.
Description of project
by Anisha, student in Faith class:
It started like this…
First we cut the wood (we also got some help from the Bamboo Research Centre in form of expertise and some of the bamboo they gave us).
The next thing I noticed was we sought a place between three trees, and created the base, which basically means we made the floor of the tree house.
The next thing we did was cutting the bamboo into the right shape.
We did it with the cutting machines,and some other shearing machine with which we trimmed the outside roughness of the bamboo wood…
Then we tied the finish pieces of the bamboo together with jute rope to create the walls of the tree house.
And so, here you are, how we did the tree house…
Outcomes
The tree house will remain a structure on campus for years to come. Children marvel at the structure and show it to parents and other community members. The tree house is used as fun and play place by all the children of the school.
Reflections
This project helped develop patience and concentration and has given a chance of freedom of expression. It helped develop skills with the hands like precision cutting and use of simple tools (nail and hammer and shearing machines). It brought the joy of working together as a team and solving problems, and finally creating a play house that the children are proud of.
Conclusion
We suggest that woodworking could be part of the curriculum for the schools, as it can be used to integrate other subjects within its framework. The tree house we built at Deepanam will inspire other children, who will see the structure and want to build something of their own.
