Monday, August 12, 2013

Kid-Made Tree Swing

Apparently, all you need is--what is that? Two yards?--of fabric (fortunately, it was a piece that was given to me and that I don't especially care for, but that was just happy chance) and a willing mulberry tree that has two branches at just the right distance and angle. These appear to be the factors that the kids used when making this, their now most beloved tree swing:


The first that I knew of this creation was hearing the ungodly scraping of branches against my study window, running over to check what the hell the kids were doing to the house this time, and seeing Will happily swinging here while Syd was telling her a story of what sounded like what adventures might ensue if the chickens escaped.

The girls have been going through a phase of experimenting with tying their play silks to any and everything and hanging and swinging off of them (thank goodness for sturdy silk!), so I wasn't *too* surprised to see this latest invention. I've recently finished up dying them several new long rainbow play silks (I did a terrible job on the color transitions, and they look horrible, but fortunately my kids are easy to please--in THAT area, at least), so I'm eager to see what new wonders of engineering they'll come up with.

4 comments:

  1. TinaAugust 12, 2013 at 11:03 AM

    I really need to get my butt in gear and get Emma some play silks. Oh, and a backyard. sigh. I miss having a yard.

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  2. julieAugust 12, 2013 at 2:51 PM

    Do you have a park nearby? Our neighborhood park is often a better backyard than our backyard--at least it gets mown more often!

    Now that the girls are older, they sometimes even have permission to go to the park by themselves for a bit. It's sanity-saving, that.

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  3. TinaAugust 12, 2013 at 6:57 PM

    Our closest park is a mile away (we drove it one day to find out). We walk there sometimes, but usually when we think of it, it's mid day and blazing hot.

    We've actually started playing in the back parking lot. While I tend to our little parking spot garden, Emma will run around chasing crab apples or leaves flying in the wind.

    You are way braver than I am. I'm not even comfortable sending Emma downstairs to the "garden" without an adult. Heck, it took a while before I would even go down to the laundry room while she stayed in our apartment. There are only 12 apartments in our building...

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  4. julieAugust 12, 2013 at 7:22 PM

    I think it probably has a lot to do with their being two of them. Buddy system, and all that--or at least one left over to provide a description to the police?

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