Woodshop Projects Move the 3rd Grade

We invite the Parker community to check out the completed Automatas by 3rd grade students in Woodshop class in the display cases across from the cafeteria.

Students spent most of the first semester creating an automaton: a kinetic wooden sculpture that moves when you crank the gears. After students said their next projects would be a fidget, a puppet, an animal or a car, I proposed creating an automaton because it could incorporate all of these ideas.

Students began by using a miter saw to cut the base and a manual drill to create the holes. After gluing the base walls together, students brainstormed two to three characters who would move to tell a story. Students came up with ideas such as a baseball player trying to hit a ball but missing, a squirrel trying to jump up to get an acorn from a tree and a pencil trying to write on a piece of paper but repeatedly making mistakes. Next, they sawed and rasped pieces of soft basswood, added dowel rods and used mixed media to develop a location that tied everything together.

You can view their work in action using this link.

Here are some photos of students working on the project.