Fire

The boys have been watching a lot of Survivorman and Man vs Wild lately and have been fascinated by the idea of making fire from rubbing two sticks together. So the project of the week became 'Making Fire'

Somehow they managed to get hold of some pieces of stick and a small wooden board. How and where , I have no clue, but they enlisted the help of our driver in this mad idea of theirs and he may have gone around the neighbourhood finding the stuff for them. They then fashioned a bow of sorts , with which the stick was strung and rubbed against the board. I must admit that I was pretty impressed by the creativity and ingenuity of it! Hmm...some of my engineering 'genes' must have been passed down...haha...So who else thinks that watching too much TV is no good? At least, this little project of theirs got them to turn off the TV and computer and do something with their hands and brains!

At first, the experiment was conducted outdoors , and rather unsuccessfully I might add, cos they were at it for about 3 days! Then on Saturday evening, the wind got strong and they moved indoors to the kitchen. I had warned them to stop but apparently they were quote 'very close' unquote!!! And this time, they had 'tinder' to help get the fire going. Eh btw, the 'tinder' referred to are the few miserable pieces of straw like thingie you see in the video.....don't ask me where they got it??? So how can I be so cruel as to stop them?? Besides, I didn't think they would succeed!! ( Tinder or no tinder)

Was I wrong? Watch for yourself. Needless to say, Ryan 'burnt' his hand on the wood ( it did get very hot and I did smell smoke) but I think my boys should remain in civilization cos if they can't get a fire going for 3 days, their chances of surviving in the wild are pretty slim!!! But I give them full marks for perseverance and tenacity cos they were still at it today!!! ( Today is Sunday)...4th day...still no success :(
If only this doggedness was applied to their school work and skating...then the world would be perfect and I would never have to nag again...LOL

Anyway, boys,I do hope you guys would succeed soon...then perhaps we can move on to another 'project'! Kampatei!