Anthony's Bird House Build

Anthony has a very creative mind. He loves to use his imagination, especially when building something. Sometimes this works out for him, other times it doesn't. Sometimes, when it doesn't, he gets angry. He's annoyed that the plan in his head didn't exactly work out like he wanted. It happens to all of us.

Because he loves to build, and because he can't always produce a usable product based off an idea in his mind, I thought him choosing to build bluebird bird houses for his FFA project this year was a stellar idea. Doing this project would teach him that sometimes there is a lot of planning that goes into building a product. You can't always fly by the seat of your pants. You can use your imagination, but a lot of the time it also takes a lot of researching, planning, pricing, and a whole lot of measuring twice, and cutting once! 

This was just the project Anthony needed to teach him this lesson. 

I helped him on the bluebird research. Together we learned all about Mountain Bluebirds. Where they live, what they eat, what their habitat is like, their specific house needs, etc. 

Then it was up to Anthony and Papa to find a suitable bluebird house plan. Once they had their birdhouse plans, it was time to create a materials list, figure out what materials we had here at home for Anthony to borrow, what materials Anthony needed to buy, and then head to The Home Depot to price the items on his materials list and purchase them! 

After all that planning was complete, Anthony could finally get to building! I really enjoyed watching Anthony and Papa work together. Anthony was very excited to build the bird houses. It was so good for him to follow a plan, going step-by-step, so he didn't get too ahead of himself. I could see the little wheels in his head turning, as he thought about what he needed to do before moving on to the next step. A grand time was had by all!  

At the end of the build, Anthony had 3 completed birdhouses he could be proud of! He still has one more to build, as he stated he was going to build 4 for his project. After they are all built, he is going to look at the money he spent on his materials, think of his time invested, and come up with a price for the birdhouses that will cover his money and time invested in building them, while also giving him a profit in his pocket! 

We are very proud of him and his work on this project! Hopefully he feels proud of himself too, and has gained some planning and building skills.  I would love to see him go forward in life with not only his creativity, but the skills needed to see a creative project to fruition. 

With love,

Mama Hauck