boomerang

Doodlebug has studied the colonial era in school this term. As part of these studies the class visited Cockatoo Island and the whole school had its Colonial Day. For their end of term project, the children have to make and present either: 1. A ship like one from the First Fleet, 2. A model of Uluru, 3. a model of a settler's cottage or 4. a boomerang. They also have to write a report about their chosen model. Doodlebug wanted to make the boomerang but needed some assistance from MOTH. The opportunity arose on Friday when Doodlebug was off from school with a high temperature and MOTH was working from home. They went down to The Shed and got to work.

This photo was taken around the time Doodlebug's temp spiked again, hitting a toasty 40.8/105.5, and judging by this photo he was feeling the chills despite the outside temperature still being pleasantly warm.

MOTH gave a hand with the curved bits, but Doodlebug did the cutting on the straight lines, thanks to the guidance of a laser line. Very cool apparently..... :) The finished product was then sanded. That was enough for an exertion for one day, and Doodlebug had a long sleep after this.

We continued yesterday with the finishing touches - the painting. We had researched traditional Aboriginal designs and Doodlebug decided he wanted to do the dot painting rather than painting a kangaroo on it. MOTH had cut out some extra boomerangs for the others so they could have some fun too, and yesterday afternoon we set ourselves up on the deck with paints and cotton buds to make dots.

And here are the finished products, didn't they do well?

Traditionally the owner/maker of a boomerang would decorate it with a design that had some significance to him. In that spirit all the children chose their own patterns rather than copying the designs we had found on the Net. We have possibly the very first boomerang with a Pokeball on it........

Last, but not least, we had to check if it flies.