FAMILY MILESTONE ACTIVITY

 I was “chosen” by my family from various towns in north central Wisconsin, to be the host for a summer gathering.  It was an exciting prospect and somewhat of a milestone since this group seldom is gathered in one place and was probably the last time my mom would be able to travel the distance. While we did the usual visits to popular KC attractions, I felt we needed to do something creative that would mark our time together and at the same time provide a setting for chatter, laughter, and interaction.  One day during the visit, I gathered them and announced we were going to do a creative project together. We were going to create a series of sculptural vertical stakes that would be installed in my garden, that’s right, they were to stay together as one piece and would someday be passed on to other family members. 

 Forging through the whining and complaints, we soon were so engrossed we weren’t even talking at first. Turns out it worked like a charm and my family can’t stop talking about the meaningful fun they had.  This group project idea could work with almost any activity, the key is to be organized and prepared in advance, so it runs smoothly and is a roaring success! Here is what we did.

 

I am a gardener who loves working with cement, I used this for inspiration and technique.  You can use what you have and do to make the activity your own. Before the guests arrived, I designed a series of garden stakes that were conceptual stems and leaves- very simple shapes cast from insulation foam molds and sand concrete mix.  The stems featured a recessed center rectangle perfect for glass mosaic.

Family members were given different stem sizes and were asked to paint in color where they wished from a limited color palette.   

While the paint was drying, they collected glass pieces from a glass buffet full of a rainbow of colored glass and mirror fragments.

Each person cemented the glass onto their stem and grouted it. 

The final step was to add paint to the leaf shapes and fit them onto the stems.  I installed the stakes in the garden early in the morning on the day everyone was to return home.  The last day's surprise was to see their finished work on display as a milestone of our fun time together.