WANTED: Artistic people to help us decorate! We need painters, sculptors, cartoonists, sewers, carpenters, visionaries and creative people of all ilk to help us turn a boring square space into an enchanted forest. If you are such a talent, or know of someone who is, PLEASE send them our way! We're getting very close to finishing up our design decisions, and will be ready to move on to the next phase... transformation! Be thinking of groups that might be open to taking on a project... quilting circles, art students, wood shop class. We need them all!
Email me at monicaaho@gmail.com if you're interested.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Recap of our Sept. 9th Meeting
We met at the Jutila Center, and heard the Finlandia student's ideas for each area. Some preliminary ideas included hanging fabric, clouds, and large elements from the ceiling for sound absorption, and possibly adding "night time" components with twinkling and colored lights in one portion of the space (the "quiet cave" might be a perfect place for a night-time sky). The toddler area group suggested foam blocks that could be stacked and crashed, as well as a stage area for imaginative play. The infant area suggested padded, hollow crates for sitting on, and babies to climb on. There was talk of adding mirrors and hanging elements from the ceiling for visual stimulation for our youngest customers. The playhouse committee is working on interactive elements such as fun-house mirrors, and suggested that there be seasonal decorations that can change to keep things fresh. The "open area" group is working on unifying theme elements. The students will continue to brainstorm and formalize their ideas over the next few weeks independently, and then report back to the rest of the committee.
Next meeting will be without the Finlandia students, and we'll be finalizing our ideas for components. Meet up with us Wednesday, Sept. 16th, at 6:30, at the site!
Next meeting will be without the Finlandia students, and we'll be finalizing our ideas for components. Meet up with us Wednesday, Sept. 16th, at 6:30, at the site!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
It's An Official Unanimous Decision
The Keweenaw Family Resources Board of Directors unanimously approved our project tonight. This is EXCELLENT news! We are full steam ahead! Thanks to each and every last Board member for the support, and to Cathy and Jessica for their unfailing leadership and enthusiasm! Let's go build us a park, shall we?
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Recap of Sept. 2nd Meeting
The meeting was led by Joel Liimatainen. Here's his summary:
"To start things off we gave the students a tour of the facilities and introduced Jessica, Ivette and Dave to the group. Then we discussed themes. This took up the majority of the time. We settled on the following main themes:
A bug's view and playing with perspective/oversized elements. Continuing the crooked house theme throughout the play area, using crazy angles and things like that whenever possible. Seasonal elements - should include things that can be changed in and out to keep things fresh. Last, but not least - light! After some of the talk about tubes and caves, Jessica suggested that we remember the importance of light. It is sort of a refuge for parents and kids in the dark winter, after all.
After that we split into groups (listed in the sidebar). These groups aren't all encompassing, we will need to add some more on as we go. With the number of people we had, and shooting for about four people per group, we just limited it to the following five groups for now: 1. Sky design (draped cloth, clouds, birds, etc.) 2.Playhouse 3. Open Area - Floor (also tasked with working with the other groups to keep the themes unified) 4. Toddler Area 5. Infant Area.
Rick will assign some other students who couldn't make it to the class to the infant area group as well.
I asked the groups to brainstorm ideas and and post on the blog some specific elements that they would like to see and maybe design. Also, I emphasised the need to be as cost efficient as possible and think about things that we can actually make. Cathy had the idea of themed toy carts that could be rolled in and out of the playspace. There could be a funky kitchen cart, a music cart, etc. She also would like to see a spot dedicated to parent one-on-one. And finally, someone (I think it was Julie) said something along the lines of the Enchanted Treehouse and we were wowed by it. Cathy said she would get in touch with Dave about it. The idea that we're building an enchanted treehouse and forest inside our space is so cool. Really fires the imagination."
See you all on the 9th!!!
"To start things off we gave the students a tour of the facilities and introduced Jessica, Ivette and Dave to the group. Then we discussed themes. This took up the majority of the time. We settled on the following main themes:
A bug's view and playing with perspective/oversized elements. Continuing the crooked house theme throughout the play area, using crazy angles and things like that whenever possible. Seasonal elements - should include things that can be changed in and out to keep things fresh. Last, but not least - light! After some of the talk about tubes and caves, Jessica suggested that we remember the importance of light. It is sort of a refuge for parents and kids in the dark winter, after all.
After that we split into groups (listed in the sidebar). These groups aren't all encompassing, we will need to add some more on as we go. With the number of people we had, and shooting for about four people per group, we just limited it to the following five groups for now: 1. Sky design (draped cloth, clouds, birds, etc.) 2.Playhouse 3. Open Area - Floor (also tasked with working with the other groups to keep the themes unified) 4. Toddler Area 5. Infant Area.
Rick will assign some other students who couldn't make it to the class to the infant area group as well.
I asked the groups to brainstorm ideas and and post on the blog some specific elements that they would like to see and maybe design. Also, I emphasised the need to be as cost efficient as possible and think about things that we can actually make. Cathy had the idea of themed toy carts that could be rolled in and out of the playspace. There could be a funky kitchen cart, a music cart, etc. She also would like to see a spot dedicated to parent one-on-one. And finally, someone (I think it was Julie) said something along the lines of the Enchanted Treehouse and we were wowed by it. Cathy said she would get in touch with Dave about it. The idea that we're building an enchanted treehouse and forest inside our space is so cool. Really fires the imagination."
See you all on the 9th!!!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Thank You Portage!
Portage Health System just officially donated several of their old xray light boxes to our cause. Now that images have gone digital, they don't need them anymore - but we certainly do! If you have ideas on how to use these light boxes, post them here. I was thinking that if we put a few of them together and cover them with a metal grid, we could make a giant "Lite Brite" along a wall or up in the playhouse (playhouse might be preferrable, to keep things contained and add extra light in a potentially darker area). Clear, tinted acrylic rods of about 1.5 " diameter and a few inches long would be easy and cheap to use as the "pegs" for kids to make their own gigantic pictures. This would be an excellent activity for both sighted and visually-impaired children - which is in keeping with our goal of accessibility. We have several sizes available to us: 56"x42", 56"x20.5", and 28"X 42". There's more than enough for a life-size Lite-Brite, as well as something else....
Here's an example of a giant Lite-Brite.
Here's an example of a giant Lite-Brite.
Step By Step Tree Construction
Here's the low-down on tree construction. The internet is a wonderful thing.
http://www.polygem.com/zoo/treehow2.php
http://www.polygem.com/zoo/treehow2.php
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
The Magic Material
Just spoke with the director of the Marquette Children's Museum. The "magic substance" used to create their rock caves and their tree bark is Durabond 90 - sold at many local hardware stores, including Mennards. A 25 pound bag goes for something like $15. It goes on like a clay, and hardens to a concrete-strength in 90 minutes. It can be textured with combs or brushes, and then painted with various finishes. MSDS/Safety information can be found here: http://www.mta.ca/administration/facilities/safety/msds/carpentry/Concrete%20and%20Fillers/DuraBond%2045.pdf.
Marquette Children's Museum's treehouse covers a steel girder I-beam. They made a wooden frame, bent 8x4 boards to make it cylidrical, and then covered with Durabond. Viola! Tree! Durabond is a crucial component for theming - with it we can create our own hollow log for crawling, and log slices for balance activities. One thought for the log slices is to use a standard balance disc, and then cover the top of it with the Durabond and paint to look like a log slice. It then has the "wobbliness" of the disc, but goes with our theme....
I'm extremely excited to know there's options out there besides the faux bark I've been pricing, which would've cost us literally THOUSANDS of dollars!!! Other uses include making both the climbing wall and the "quiet cave" look like real rock. We can also fashion our "rock stage" out of this stuff. Yahoo!!
Marquette Children's Museum's treehouse covers a steel girder I-beam. They made a wooden frame, bent 8x4 boards to make it cylidrical, and then covered with Durabond. Viola! Tree! Durabond is a crucial component for theming - with it we can create our own hollow log for crawling, and log slices for balance activities. One thought for the log slices is to use a standard balance disc, and then cover the top of it with the Durabond and paint to look like a log slice. It then has the "wobbliness" of the disc, but goes with our theme....
I'm extremely excited to know there's options out there besides the faux bark I've been pricing, which would've cost us literally THOUSANDS of dollars!!! Other uses include making both the climbing wall and the "quiet cave" look like real rock. We can also fashion our "rock stage" out of this stuff. Yahoo!!
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