Wooden Balance

If you think wooden building blocks are just for little kids…think again! There are many fun and interesting things even middle school students can enjoy doing. Most of these will work best on a hard, smooth surface such as linoleum or hardwood, rather than rugs or carpet. For some of them, you can even work on a tabletop.
 
1. Build a tower as high and narrow as you can. Count the number of wooden blocks you used and take pictures. Look up the world record for a tower of wooden blocks. Measure yours. Did you come close?
 
2. Build a castle and decorate it with paper pennants glued to toothpicks. Make knights and ladies out of paper figures cut out from magazines. Add a picture of yourself and tape on a paper crown. Congratulations! You are now ruler of a miniature realm.
 
3. Create a maze for your pet hamster and time how long it takes him to get through. If he seems unmotivated, give him a little training. Start him off easy with a straight run with food at the end, so he gets the idea (it helps if he’s hungry). Next add a turn or two. Finally put him in a full-fledged maze with many turns and dead ends. Time him on successive runs. Does his speed improve?
 
4. If your wooden building blocks are of many different sizes and shapes, it can be as fun and challenging as any puzzle to try to stack them compactly together into the smallest possible space.
 
5. Outline miniature bowling lanes with wooden blocks and challenge your friends to a game. Use colorful cap erasers for bowling pins and marbles for bowling balls. Deduct points for hitting the block walls of the lane. Make the game more challenging by keeping the lanes fairly long, and the erasers just far enough apart that you have to hit them exactly right to get a strike. Make the game easier by shortening the lanes and positioning the erasers a little closer together.
 
6. Build a spiral staircase. This might require a lot of building blocks to achieve the full effect, but it will be a lot of fun.
 
7. Build an arch completely made of wooden blocks. For help, look up arches in your encyclopedia. If your wooden building blocks do not include a keystone shape, you might need to create one out of cardboard for the top.
 
8. Build a special “domino city” and carefully run a line of dominos in, out, around, up, down and over the building blocks. Set up a small bell at the end (one of those little Christmas jingle bells tied on a ribbon works well). Push the first domino down.
 
9. Surprise your mom by setting the table early for supper. Surprise her more by carefully balancing each water glass on a stack of wooden building blocks. Explain solemnly that you couldn’t find any stemware, so you improvised as best you could.
 
10. If you have a cat or dog that’s a good sleeper (or a big brother), carefully build a “house” right over top of them out of wooden blocks. Yes, include a roof (you can support it with strips of cardboard if your longest blocks aren’t quite long enough for the roof base). If it is a large dog, or your big brother, you may have only enough blocks for your house to cover his head. That’s okay. Be sure to be around when they wake up! Or perhaps, if it’s your big brother, you should be very far away.

About the Author:

Joe Kanooga is a father of two kids, a successful business owner and the author of numerous articles about wooden building blocks. Click here to download our free wooden blocks guidebook filled with helpful tips, ideas and information.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - 10 Amazing Ideas for Playing With Wooden Building Blocks

 

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India is a land where every corner is evident with the greatness of art and craft. The traditional quintessence of Indian art and craft can be seen even in the daily used objects like earthen pot, mugs, bed-sheets or any such things. The objects are created with a great creativity that portrays magnificent work of art. That is what Indian art and craft industry is!

Indian art and craft is an old saga. Although, the present state of the industry is flourishing with a touch of contemporary designs and patterns but it is deeply entrenched with the rich craft customs from the past. The uniqueness in the Industry lies in its own way.

India's richness in art and craft can be seen in every product whether garments, jewelries or household furnishings. These products are a perfect mix of traditional designs and modern techniques. Due to their diversity in designs and their being utilitarian in nature, they are high in demand. This has given many Indian traders to invest in the industry and flaunt India's custom across the world. Products such as table mats, napkins, bed sheets, lamp shades etc are made out astoundingly with the use of natural material, textile printing, block printing, tie and die, hand printing etc, and are much in demand. Gems and jewelries are other obsession of India. The rising demands in gems and jewelries have transformed Indian craft traditions into a full-grown organized industry. Garments such as woolen shawls and phirens from Himachal, traditional sarees ranging from Banarsi Amru, Tanchoi, Paithani, Patola, and Kancheevaram are the most popular export garments. India's zardozi and brocade work are highly recognized these days. Other utilitarian craft products like cushions, curtains, bedcovers, sheets, metal furniture, wood furniture, boxes, cabinets, terracotta items, utensils, garden pots, papier-mâché products, brass and silverware, carpets, rugs and durries from Kashmir, jute and coir items, wood and stone sculptures, traditional paintings, decorative pieces, embellished wooden sculptures, stone and wood carvings, and many more are on the rise in India as well as in abroad.

Here is the Swot Analysis of the Indian art and craft industry that gives you more information on the present status of the industry;

Strengths
* The industry has potential in domestic as well as international markets.
* It provides wide variety in each product and exhibit diversified culture of India.
* Industry caters to the different market sectors covering handicrafts, textiles and jewelries.
* Gives potential source of employment
* It requires low capital investment
* It is a great source of foreign revenue as it is a huge export industry.

Weakness
* Industry lacks communication and infrastructure
* Lack of co-ordination between Indian manufacturers-exporters and Government
* Inadequate information available on new technology
* Industry is still confined to rural areas of the nation
* No promotional support is given to the sector

Opportunities
* Emerging demands of Indian crafts across overseas
* Development of retail sectors and changing lifestyles offer huge requirements of such products
* Rise in the industry is due to development in tourism
* Internet has emerged as a mean to develop its market network

Threats
* Increasing competition in domestic markets
* Quality products manufacturing by countries like South Africa and China
* Better trade terms are offering by these countries
* Competing countries offer better technological support and R&D development facilities
* Challenge to establish balance between demand and supply of quality products

The reason why Indian art and craft is highly appreciated and constantly flourishing in domestic and foreign markets are due to its utilitarian nature and high acceptance among people of India and people across the whole world.