Jason Lee – Slithery Things & Space Machines

We recently made a trip over to our Jason Lee site to see what our crafty NE Portland children were getting up to. We'd heard that teacher Tammy and her students were planning on repurposing some recyclables into time machines, spaceships, and other futuristic gadgets and gizmos, and seeing as how we honestly couldn't think of a better use for old cereal boxes and paper rolls, this was something we thought warranted investigation.

Our attention was first caught by Isaiah (pictured below), who, gripped with visible inspiration, seemed to be building with a formed plan in mind. "This is a time machine," he announced. "It has a periscope too..." 

Isaiah's time-traveling contraption

"That's very clever," we responded. "Is that for keeping yourself safe while exploring unknown times and places?" He raised his eyebrows, as if to suggest we were horribly reckless for considering time traveling without a plan. "I'm going to 1955. Marty McFly did that in Back to the Future."

We stood up, kicking ourselves for the silly oversight, and noticed that creativity had been blossoming around us. Saltine boxes became unrecognizable as they transformed into space-age skee ball games, and hot chocolate boxes morphed into otherworldly crowns.

Elise, Princess of the chocolatey lands of 'Swiss Miss'

Immersed in a sea of tape and paper rolls, Tayrell (below) was working very diligently on what appeared to be a behemoth scepter. By the time he was done, it towered well above him (size not accurately represented in below images). Tayrell looked at his finished product and his characteristically smiley face melted into that of a serious warrior. No doubt, he'd be a fierce adversary to come across when flying the space-time continuum.

After a construction frenzy speedy enough to rival the pace of NASA engineers, the group cleaned up and dismantled for an insect excursion outdoors (or some more indoor time if they felt they hadn't adequately achieved their creative fix).

(L-R) Calvin, Max, and Aiden pose proudly by a maverick zoo design

River's canvas extends beyond the paper...

Elijah needs no materials to express himself!

Bug finder kits and magnifying glasses in-hand, we journeyed outside to shift our scope from macro to micro. Every pebble and stepping stone was overturned as prying eyes checked carefully for things that squirmed or wriggled or slithered. Owen (below right) was delighted to find a roly poly family, while Tayrell discovered that one worm pulled apart magically equals two worms... Also discovered were bees, beetles, lady bugs, and other curious little creatures thriving in the school garden plots. We can't wait for our next adventure to Jason Lee to see what all of the curious little creatures are up to next.