Day 4: What the hey is Letterboxing?

The word "Letterboxing" conjured images of mail duking it out for some of the campers. Others couldn't even guess. But for the ones that knew, phrases and words like "treasure hunting", "using compasses", "rubber stamps" and "discovery" were used to describe what our Thursday activities will center around all five weeks of Camp Darwin.

My own family was introduced to letterboxing several years ago by my sister who lives in Maryland. We've been using store bought rubber stamps, so we thought we'd share the experience with Camp Darwin to get the opportunity to carve our own stamp! But as usual, we decided to do things with more information than necessary - LOL! But in all honesty, I love learning & teaching the background of things. :) The morning consisted of learning what letterboxing actually is I showed one quick video after discussing what we DID know. That way we learned the history, rules, then supplies needed etc. Here is the link to that video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POl-B-hUTUA&list=PL--xY9PVial9iXqnV0hTwy_euUFzHibJ4&index=2 

(I love youtube... when it's wholesome and educational ;) 

So we then created a a real list of all we needed to proceed:

1.  Notebook
2.  rubber stamp (store bought or hand carved)
3.  ink pad
4.  pen - to write comments in both log books - the one you find and your own
5.  clues (from internet - letterboxing.org or www.atlasquest.com)
6.  compass (sometimes)

Also from the video, we learned the basic rules - more like a letterboxer's code: 

1.  Letterboxing is environmentally friendly: disturb as little of the environment as possible.
2. Have respect for letterboxes. It takes a lot of time & commitment to make and plant them. 
3.  Try to be secretive about it.  Make sure nobody is watching you!!! 
4.  Be safe (go with an adult – watch for spiders & other wild creatures, poison ivy etc)
5.  When finished,  seal it tight & re-hide it exactly where you found it.
6.  Be patient: Getting frustrated is a waste of energy. HAVE FUN and persevere or report the loss at the website where you found the clue.

Each camper also created their own TRAIL NAMES. (but those are still in flux and I forgot to write them down - oops hope they all remember until next week.) 

Definitely took a bigger bite than I should have for one day, but I rarely do things half way. 

I also wanted the kids to know a bit about compasses (note to self - may have saved this for a whole other day! anyhooo!)  So we played a bit with or simple compass, talking about North, South, East, West. We also learned how to orient a map with the use of a compass. To make sure even the younger ones "got" this I created a puzzle and used clues for them to navigate around a paper. 

1. From the starting point, Go Due North (360) until you find the first tree.

2. Move to the East  (90) until you find the tree with the clump of rocks at its base. 

3. Moving in the direction of the bridge, stop when you see the tree stump. 

4. Go Due South (180 until you find the clump of three trees.

5. Walk North East (aprox 45) to find the apple tree.

6. Continue in that direction until you find the third indigenous tree.  

7. Turn and go Due South (180) Circle that stump.

North (360) 
East  (90)  
South (180)  
West (270)

We discussed how the earth is a HUGE magnet and how a compass works & then we even made our own. (Darn, I wish I had a photo!) We took a cork, a needle and a magnet - magnetized the needle, used some sticky tack to attach the needle to the cork & then gently floated it in water. It worked for most of us as I got confused as which side (North or South) we should rub the magnet - Thankfully one of the campers is a boy scout extraordinaire and helped me out :) 

After all that we decided to take a LUNCH BREAK - I gave them an hour to think while I got my afternoon supplies together. Here is the youngest camper with whom I chatted about using pencils (the eraser end with the eraser removed) as a carving tool. She kept the secret of what they were going to be used for very well, so I let her keep the pink erasers (a cool thing for a six year old ;).

After lunch, we started to learn a bit about print making. I had them draw a "simple" design onto foam, (Styrofoam would have worked better). Then used tempra paint & a brayer to coat and then print the imprint. It was great to see the kids learn through trial and error how deep the imprint needed to be, how much paint was needed and then to try again. (I'm a strong believer in learning through failure... that's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

I LOVED the kid's tenacity and their artistic skills blew me away. Could not find a nicer group of young people to "play" with. 

 

 

All this took WAY longer than I anticipated. But I think they all enjoyed the process. However, we still had not carved a stamp! I figured they still needed some practice so each camper got a gum eraser, created a design on paper, traced it, reversed it onto the eraser and took a go at carving. (BIG note to self here - gum erasers are great for only the simplest designs. They are a bit crumbly for intricate designs) Using eraser ends, skewers and plastic knives they came out pretty well. 

Decided to stop while we were ahead (plus we ran out of time) and NEXT week we will use the real rubber stamp material (for the big kids) and possibly foam sticky stamps for the younger ones. Will carve two at a time and do our best not to lose appendages.I plan on giving more free time (it is SUMMER after all) and remember to give time to write in their journals.
Weather willing I also HOPE we have time to go on a bit of a search for two of the 6 stamps in our neighborhood within walking distance!

Tune in next time for the continuing SAAAAAGA!