One project you
can put up in the summer for your kids and their neighborhood friends
is the pooling together of the wood
toy trains of the kids and form them into a long convoy of train
set in your yard. You can do this to simulate the long trips
made by the trains through wild Indian country in American history
that the kids now read about in their history books.
To make sure that the kids spend some hours outdoors during their
long vacation from school, get this project organized early, as
creating the scenario for this will be a bit complicated.
Before the school year ends make
the kids research in the Internet during weekends what the American
Wild West was all about in early American history, so when you create
the drama in your yard weeks from now, they will be able to contribute
additional ideas.
The concept of the "play" with the train
for kids as the trains of old traversing the American continent
is simple: Just let the trains strike out into the vast American
countryside as what took place in historical times, with the danger
of Indian warriors on horseback attacking the convoy at any point
on the long stretch.
Get half of the kids to form into the Indian warriors group as the
attacking force, and the other half as the members of the American
cavalry, tasked to protect the American countryside from the depredations
of the Indian braves then. Weave the story around the train
set for kids the kids will help assemble and put together in
one convoy. These constitute the props for the scene on the Indian
warriors' attack on the train convoy, subjected to repulse by the
American cavalry soldiers.
Give all the kids the chance to suggest their own inputs into the
"drama" so you can maximize the fantasy the kids are capable
of thinking up to carry out the war game. Get the dads and the moms
to help in dressing up their little "warriors" in the
appropriate outfits, either as Indian warriors, or as American soldiers.
You can just imagine how the other parents will be calling you even
in the middle of night demanding to know more of what their kids
are up to now as Indian braves or as dashing American cavalrymen,
to fight the battle in your yard as soon as school is off.
Stay calm, you as the mastermind of the whole thing should be able
to explain and convince the dads and the moms around to play along
and witness the great battle between the Indian braves and the heroic
American troopers in your yard in the next few weeks. Ask them to
make the Indian war paint on their little warriors authentic enough,
and come over to your place and join the fun.
You seem to be succeeding in convincing the kids' folks in your
campaign for the great Indian attack on the toy
train set. Many are coming over to witness the fight; one dad
even volunteered to bring the sandwiches for the occasion. You have
to ask your wife now to be ready with gallons of cold lemonade to
wash the sandwiches down the hungry tummies of the little warriors.
As you review your checklist of the things that will happen shortly
on that convoy of wooden trains in your yard, you could wonder if
you are not actually overdoing things. Your wife however assures
you everything is okay with: "Just go ahead with the play,
Mr. Director. I am 100% behind you!"
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