Kinder Holzwerkstatt

Brendan's current 'unit of inquiry' at school is Native Crafts. As part of the unit, he was tasked with making a craft by himself. Being a clever child and very much wanting to own a pocket knife, Brendan chose wood carving/whittling. We figured we'd work with him on whittling something complex like an arrow from a twig or a rudimentary stick totem pole. That was until his friend's mom called. She suggested we send Brendan with his friend to the Kinder Holzwerkstatt in our village. Apparently, they have a workshop fully stocked with all the woodworking tools you can imagine in the town center. It's also staffed with a teacher. The woodshop is open 2 afternoons a week as well as Saturday morning, and it is free for village residents. You just pay for the cost of the supplies used. How cool is that?

So, Friday after school, Brendan walked with his friend from school to the center of town. (It's the equivalent of walking from Lydiksen to Albertsons -- so not very far, but more than most American parents allow their 9 year olds to do solo.) They both chose to build canoes, and the instructor showed them how to do each of the steps. Fortunately, Brendan's friend is a native German speaker, so he was kind enough to introduce Brendan to the teacher and explain that he only spoke English. Brendan said that after that intro he didn't even need his friend -- the teacher was able to show him what to do without words. It worked out great!

They didn't finish their projects on Friday, so John took Brendan back on Saturday morning. While the glue dried for his canoe seats, Brendan got to work on another project -- a knife with embedded jewels in the handle.

Both projects came out great, and Brendan was so proud of doing the whole project by himself. He loved being able to use all the tools.

Rumor has it that there is also a kid's pottery workshop where we can send the kids for 10 CHF a session to cover the cost of supplies. Abbie is absolutely dying to go so I'll need to figure out how I can send her and make sure that not speaking German won't be too much of a problem.