Bow making with 8 year olds
 

I started a thread in another forum. It's pretty cool. Just to save time I'll put the link here if you want to follow the progress. You can comment here or join the other forum. It's a specific forum as opposed to a general one.

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/i...c,29980.0.html

Another dangerous site sir.

sorry. :eek:

You've got guts taking on that quest. Kudos.

Have you thought of just playing with the wood and the tools? How much of a complete lesson from tree to table are you trying to give here? I had the most fun handing tools to my Dad as he did all the actual work on the car, and I've grown to have a love of working on cars, and some skill. Of course the real wild card in this scenario is the attention and devotion to the task of the kid. If they're having fun, or even just quiet enjoyment then I would say you're sharing success. What is the kid's expectation?

I think there's a real risk of having it turn out poorly and having the final product failure be the part that was remembered. I say this because a bow, a serious bow is hard to do very well. It may be reasonably easy to make a functional arrow flinger... What level of craftsmanship are you seeking? I have seen lots of whittling and noodling around with knives and sticks, and the pleasure of working like this is long lasting. But no serious project was created, not by one so young.

I think this is an awesome project, and I'd love to participate, maybe I can just audit the class, and only come to the labs?

Good luck, please keep us posted.

These are 8 year olds who asked me to teach them to make a bow. They don't watch TV or play video games, they are focused and motivated.

It's about the process and learning about the physics of bows, using tools, organizing a project, measuring, laying out lines, the history of bow making, and so on. Even if all they end up with is a gnarly stick that bends a little bit when they pull the string they will feel it is a success. They have vastly different metrics than us for success.


I'm going to do most of the heavy lifting and let them finish it up. You can sail the ship across the ocean but if you let them bring it into the harbor they feel like they are the captain. (Especially if they trip into the lifeboat)

I think its a great idea. Kids need to create and be comfortable with tools. One of my favorite teenagers got a full academic ride to study nano-tech. Brilliant academic kid and always had shop classes and crazy projects going on at home. kudos!

That forum could be the end of me though. :)

Then don't click on these links either:
http://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl
http://www.arrowheadology.com/
http://www.paleotube.com/
http://forums.wcha.org/forum.php
http://nudebeaches.tumblr.com/ ;)

It sounds like you have the perfect disconnect between their goals and your goals. Really. *They* think they're making a war machine, or a hunting weapon or whatever their mental image of a bow is; *you* think this is a good vehicle to work with the kids, engage them in some fun time that will *whistles tunelessly, looking as innocent as could be* coincidentally be spent working with tools, learning how to plan, work, test, evaluate, re-work, etc. There's a name for this mismatch: kismet.

Go play. Have fun, they sure will.

One of them will put your eye out ....

I know all these kids, I'm well aware of what they think they'll get out of it. I've known most of them since they were born, 7/8 of them are girls, the boy is my son, he'll probably either add missiles to his bow or add missiles to his arrows.

I had a vivid premonition of carnage just an hour ago.

learn to enjoy it, soon it'll be the only sight you'll have.....