From the Flickr Pool: Kids Take To The Forge
By Sean O'Hara
It always brings a big smile to our face when we see a group of kids learning about tools and what to do with them. Reader tmib seattle posted up a few pics of a local scout troop getting down on blacksmithing and forge work.
We love seeing this because it’s essential that youngsters learn early both how cool and how handy working in the shop can be — whether it’s metal work like this or plastic hobby-crafting. We have to pass the crafting spirit along to the next generation, or they’ll start to lose something very indefinable — until it’s gone.
It’s a little soapboxish and corny, but if you teach love of the shop — and the projects and tools in it — to young kids, they’ll carry it the rest of their lives.
Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]
May 9th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Yes it was a lot of fun teaching the scouts with TMIB. They were a handful at times, but I know I enjoyed it.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
This was a very rewarding experience for all involved. There’s a lot the boys have to cover for the metalwork merit badge, and trying to keep 17 boys occupied and engaged while still keeping them safe is a bit of a challenge. What seemed to work best for us was to have several different “stations” set up for different portions of the badge and have the boys rotate through them, so they never got a chance to be idle.
We covered a whole lot of stuff that day, and the boys definitely seemed to be enjoying it. (It’s neat to see the interest apparent on their faces in the pictures) They’ll be returning to the shop in smaller groups to work on their final badge requirements over the next few weekends.
Learning even the basics of smithing teaches them a lot of valuable things, not all of which are obvious at first glance. Hopefully they’ll take home some lessons from this that will stick with them.
–TMIB
May 10th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Kids may not always act like they appreciate things like this, but they do keep the memories and lessons with them for the rest of their lives…
Corny, but true.