Aerial Silks, at School and Home

The kids who've been doing this in class this summer--

--have been doing this all summer at home:

Some of it is actual "practice" for silks class, I suppose--

--but it turns out there are lots of creative ways to channel that new confidence:

Not only are the girls growing stronger and, in Sydney's case, working through some of her perfectionism (She didn't even throw a fit after her last class!), but they've also really been inspired to experiment with the physics of bodies and fabric. That DIY swing was probably inspired by the silks, and I've grown accustomed to bringing along that one six-foot-long play silk every time we go to the park. The kids have found all-new things to tie that silk to--I've seen them thread it through the zip line and then knot it into a seat, mount it to the monkey bars and use it to swing from one end to the other, hold it at the top of the slide so that the other kid can use it to climb up, hand-over-hand, and put it to countless other very useful uses.

This one play silk is getting so much use that I've bought a few 12-foot-long play silks to dye and add to their collection--I can't wait to see what they do with all that extra length! If they stay interested in aerial silks, perhaps an entire DIY aerial silks rig is warranted...