Claire and one of her friends have taken to building go-carts.  They spent hours last weekend planning and building their go-carts.

I think this is such a great lost art!  You can buy kits to make go-carts but I remember kids in my neighborhood when I was growing up trying to build them out of old bike parts and spare wood.  That’s basically what Claire and her friend did:  They found bits of trim, pvc pipe, and planking in our garage, brought out training wheels that were out of commission, scoured their houses for odd bits (like broiler pans, dust pans, and a down spout drain that you can see in the above photo).   The advantage of the do-it-yourself go-cart is that children learn to think outside the box, to see objects in a new way, and to face frustration and setbacks.  I love it that girls used an old drain for a seat!

And there’s another good point:  I love it that these were girls doing the building.  They each happened to own their own tool kits before starting on this project and they knew how to use the tools safely.  My husband and I feel it’s important that both our girls and boys know how to use real tools properly, so they receive their own (real) tool kit when they are mature enough to handle the responsibility.

Go-cart building seemed to attract the attention of lots of kids, until a big group formed on our driveway to watch and help out.  One little girl ran to her house and came back with some old empty thread spools, which the girls plan to use on the front of their carts.

The carts aren’t finished!  They plan to paint them pink and put on license plates.  They worked hard.  They hammered away as the light faded. They were proud.   More photos of the finished masterpieces to come!