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~my thoughts about life~



Wednesday, May 25, 2011

School Project

Son #2 had a diorama project due for school.  Groan!  I hate dioramas!  He told me he chose Thomas Edison for his subject and I was quite impressed.  Other kids chose The Moth Man (whoever that is), LeBron James, and UFOs.  I thought Thomas Edison sounded much more educational.

He told me he wanted Thomas Edison standing up.  OK, I thought, I can handle that.  Of course his most famous invention was the light bulb.  So I got the clever idea to poke clear Christmas lights through the top.  #2 wasn't thrilled with that idea but he allowed it. 

Then I remembered that I've seen the Edison summer home in Ft. Myers, Florida.  That's the town where my father was raised.  I remember the huge banyan tree outside.  I even have a 1980s picture of me standing on the roots of the tree.  I explained to #2 how one 4' tree grew to cover 400' of space.  So we printed out a picture of Edison's tree, photoshopped a wall and windows around it, and made it the background of the diorama.  #2 made shingles for the roof and bricks for the outside wall.  Grammy had the wonderful idea of gluing and old piece of carpet on the floor.  #2 made a table out of Legos for Edison to stand beside.  We printed out pictures of his drawings to display on the wall.

I ended up having a fabulous time working hand in hand with my baby boy.  It was a project that the whole family got into and it turned out great!  #2 said it blew away the poster of LeBron and the cheap UFO hanging from a string.  After all, what is a UFO if you can actually see the strings?

2 comments:

k said...

5th grade warranted a lot of dioramas and I LOVED MAKING THEM. A lot.

Linda said...

I like your new page.

The diorama is very cool. More good memories being created that your children will be able to share with their children. I'm always in awe of such creative people.