April - Miniatures

For the months of April and May, our girls are learning about Miniatures, specifically Dollhouse Miniatures.  Dollhouses have been a hobby of mine since I was young.  I currently have one unfinished dollhouse and lots of furniture and accessories to fill it!  I wanted to start the girls on a simple beginner's project to show them how much fun this hobby can be and how they can use their creativity and frugality.  Miniature collecting can become a very expensive hobby, but at the other end of the spectrum, there are many, many things you can make yourself for next to no money at all!

In looking for an inexpensive beginner project, I came across this photograph online at this site:

I thought, WOW, I could totally make that out of cardboard for free!  Talk about inexpensive!  So I had it all planned out in 1" to 1' scale, making the finished product 20" wide and 12" tall.  I later realized that this was a bit ambitious for a beginner project, so I modified the design to make just a one-room "house" with a little garden. 

Here is the basic, unfinished product I came up with, ready to be decorated:

Here's the step-by-step on how I put them together.

D-I-Y DOLLHOUSE ROOM BOX W/BASE (Makes 2)
Materials needed:
     2 sheets foam board 20x30 (Dollar Tree, $1 each)
     Utility knife
     Stacks of newspaper or old cardboard
     Glue

Make sure you read all the directions and look at the pictures before you start, just to make sure it all makes sense!  I hope my directions are clear.

Cut one 20" x 30" sheet of foam board in half lengthwise
so you have 2 pieces, each 10" x 30"

Out of one 10" x 30" piece, cut 2 pieces that are each 10" x 12".
There will be a smaller piece left over that you can save for
other projects

Measure the thickness of your foam board (mine was a bit over 1/8")
Holding your 10" x 12" piece so that 10" is the height and 12" is the
width, mark a straight line 1" from the edge and another line 1" + the
thickness of your board. Use these lines to cut a slot in the board half
the height of the board.

Do the same with the other 10" x 12" piece, then flip one over
so that they fit together like this:

Once you're sure they fit, mark your pieces 'left' and 'right' as well
as 'top' and 'bottom' and 'inside' and 'outside'.  Take the pieces
apart and cut out details such as a door and a window.  I cut on
2 edges of the door and scored the third so that it would make a door
that opened and closed. 

Make sure you score on the correct side so that your doors
and windows open to the "outside" when it's put together as
seen here:

I used the second sheet of foam board to cut a 15" x 15" base
for the "room" so that there was room on the "outside" for a
walkway and flower bed area.

So that is the basic unfinished "room box", ready to be decorated by the girls!  If you've made this, you'll see that you have half of the foam board left over so you can make a second project.  I think this would also work doing a full-size "house" as in the picture above, using a 12" height with a slant for the "roof" and a 20" or more width, giving you rooms that are at least 12" x 10", perfect scale for a 1" to 1" scale dollhouse.

Also, if you don't need to make 2, you could make the height of the box 12" or more and make the peaked roof as shown in the first picture above.  There are so many variations you can come up with!

Stay tuned for directions for the rest of the project.  Next will be wallpapering and carpeting!

March - Cancelled

Our March meetings were both cancelled due to illness.  Thankfully, all is well now and we will resume our regular meeting on Friday, April 6th.

Girls will begin a Dollhouse Miniatures project and boys will begin learning and practicing using Hand Tools.  Both of these projects will continue for 4 consecutive meetings (April and May). 

This will be our last project for the school year.  In June we will have our end-of-year picnic and awards ceremony.  During July and August there will be optional recreational activities planned -- more details to come soon!

February - Sign Language

For the month of February, we learned some basic sign language.  We were blessed to have a great volunteer, Mr. Paul, to come and teach us.  Mr. Paul is currently studying sign language in conjunction with his job and was eager to share what he has learned. 

We learned the manual alphabet and many common words such as colors, numbers, greetings and other words and phrases useful in conversation.  We also learned how to sign important words such as Jesus and pray. The children enjoyed practicing finger-spelling their names. 

The adults were just as interested and eager to learn as the children (if not more so!) and we as a family have continued learning and practicing sign language. 

I apologize for not having pictures - we took lots of videos but no still photos!  Here are some of the signs we learned:

January - Albums

For the month of January we fulfilled the requirements for the Albums badge by making photo albums.  The albums themselves were 6"x6" with plastic sleeves and they were purchased inexpensively at Christmas Tree Shoppes.  We used 12"x12" patterned paper cut down to 6"x6" for background pages, then applied photos and stickers to embellish the pages.  I encouraged the children to decide on a theme for their album.  One did a vacation album of their beach pictures, one did their Christmas vacation to see their grandparents, another did an album to put pictures of their LEGO creations.  Another idea was to put in pictures from each month of 2011.  Some just chose to put in whatever pictures they had.  Everyone had a great time with this project, boys included (though they didn't work on theirs nearly as long as the girls did!) 



Next month: Sign Language!

December 2011 - Christmas Caroling

On December 10, we again visited the Misericordia Nursing Home to sing Christmas Carols for the residents.  We sang for about 30 minutes, mostly traditional Christmas Carols but also a few more modern worship songs.  We were very well-received and had a few residents singing along!  Our group was small but we persevered and sang for the glory of the Lord!  Prior to our visit, we had colored and signed Christmas cards for the residents, so after the singing we handed out the cards.  We made sure each resident received one, even if they were in their rooms and/or sleeping.  Everyone continues to be blessed by this outreach.

Front of card

Inside of card

(Photos will be forthcoming!)

Tonight's meeting - Cancelled

Tonight's meeting is cancelled.  Christmas shoeboxes can be dropped off to me or the church through Sunday.  I will e-mail the songs for Christmas caroling so everyone can get a start on practicing!  We will catch up at our next meeting, Friday, December 2, at the church.  God bless.

October 2011 - Fire Safety

This month we studied Fire Safety.  During our first meeting, we talked about how to make a home fire escape plan.  We discussed different issues and dangers that may arise if a fire breaks out in your home. 

The children also worked on coloring in Christmas cards which we will take to the nursing home in December to hand out to the residents.

Our second meeting was a field trip!  One of our club families have a dad and oldest brother who are both volunteers for their local fire company.  They were gracious enough to give us a tour of the fire station as well as demonstrate smoke alarm safety and answer all the questions we could come up with about being a fireman!

The children really enjoyed trying on all the gear!

But the best part, by far, was climbing in and out and all over those big red trucks!!!

A special thanks to Mr. B and Channing, our brave volunteers!

Thank you for all you do!