Monday, May 25, 2009

Ahhhh it's Grade 4 Castle Time!


I've been away from my crafting table more than I'd like lately, mostly due to...well life!!! So along with a sick cat, vaccine time for the dog, dentist appts., baseball games, etc. It was also the year of the castle. Yep even though Olivia is really in Gr. 3, she's in a 3/4 split class, and does most or all the the Gr. 4 level work. I don't know if it's the same everywhere, but around here, Gr. 4 means the dreaded castle building project!!!! I dodged it when Rachel was in Gr. 4, because they voted & picked a feast instead!


Actually once we got started on it, it was fun, I just hate having to do homework! and deciding how much parent influence there should be! I didn't want to cross the line, but I wanted her's to be comparable to the others. Hard to judge when you have know idea how much parental help the others kids are getting!


In the end, Olivia was totally thrilled with hers. We started with a cardboard base. Olivia painted it herself. She really wanted a moat with crocodiles, so big sister Rachel showed her on a piece of paper how to draw them, and Olivia painted them on.


The castle was a box, Olivia mixed paint to get a grey colour and covered the outside. Then I had a stroke of genious (in my opinion). I had just put together my latest SU sets, and had some rubber left over. I cut a piece into a rectangle (brick) shape, and we attached it to one of Olivia's wooden blocks. She then stamped the outside of the castle with basic grey ink.

The drawbridge is raised & lowered using jewelry chain I had from the $ store. There's a metal curtain weight on the front of the door/drawbridge to help weigh it down!

They haven't presented them yet, but I'm sure she will do well.

TFL

Laurie

2 comments:

Gina Lindsay said...

Ah, end of year projects are so much fun! Love the idea for the bricks on the side.

Anonymous said...

This is so cool! Bravo to both you and Olivia.

I'm always telling Jack he is the king of the castle - Olivia is definately the queen!

xxxxxx
Mom