Yellow Band: Coin, Week 5
Remember last week when I said we had something very exciting in the works? For my last week here at the Institute for Applied Tinkering, the Yellow Band and I decided to do something fun, exciting and meaningful. Out with a bang, as they say!
As you may remember from last week's blog, the Yellow Band spent has been learning about children in different countries, thinking about what's important to us, and what's important to them. We discovered that though these kids might eat different foods from us, get to school differently, wear different clothes and live in different types of houses, on the inside we all have a lot in common.Then, we read some news articles about Hurricane Maria's destruction in Puerto Rico, flipped through an issue of Faces Magazine, and read about the island's potential to become the 51st state--because there's a lot more to Puerto Rico than Hurricane Maria. We talked about how the children in Puerto Rico wouldn't be able to return to school for weeks, if not months, and brainstormed ways we could help them out. Puerto Rico is a small island in the Caribbean, what we could do? Answer: BAKE SALE!
Oh my goodness! This was such an exciting possibility! And, what a great way to use our bandspace's little kitchen for the first time. Everyone got so pumped. We went about our daily business, planning bit by bit. We decided we should have one sale on Friday, and maybe another on the night of the Fall Potluck. We knew we needed to make a few kinds of things--something vegan, something nut-free, something gluten-free, and something with anything. And this is the menu we chose: vegan cupcakes, gluten-free chocolate chip cookies, nut-free brownies, and Nathan's special banana bread, yum! We also decided that everything should cost $1.50, because that's how much stuff costs at Daiso ;)On Thursday we finally got to start baking! We measured, stirred, and cracked; we poured, scraped and spread. It was marvelous! And while the kiddos were away at the park, I tucked everything into the oven, just to make sure the bandspace smelled irresistible when they returned.
On Friday, we could hardly contain ourselves! All of the things we made looked sososo good, but we knew we needed to wait till the bake sale. We put finishing touches on our cupcakes, cut the brownies into bars, and arranged all of the cookies on a baking sheet. After a quick dance party, it was finally time to set-up for the sale!
And that's the story of the bake sale. The story of the bake sale is also the story of the Yellow Band's exploration of Coin this arc. We approached this arc topic as historians, anthropologists and philosophers, considering the origins of money, the different types of money used by different civilizations throughout history, and the purpose of money. We emphasized throughout that money is a tool, and around the world folks lead very different lives, yet on the inside we have a lot in common.Okidoke my friends, we've come to the end. It's been really, really real. Nothing will ever be like my time here at the Institute for Applied Tinkering; I've welded with 8 year olds, built a child-sized, see through model of the human body (and filled it with felt, paracord and lego guts), contemplated friendship, travelled the Underground Railroad and California Trail, and so much more. Now, I'm travelling just down the street, please come and visit at CCA.Love,Piper