Two Burbank Boy Scouts built and donated a manipulative to the Burbank Adult School Parent Ed Program recently for their local Pack 219 project. Daniel Roth and Spencer Solberg, both 10 years old, presented the educational toy to Linda Matsumoto, Parent Ed Program director, on December 11.
The two boys, both Webelos, built the manipulative to fulfill part of the requirements for the Boy Scout Craftsman Activity Badge, which requires members to build two different wooden objects using a coping saw or jigsaw which can be put together with glue, nails, or screws and then finished with paint or stain.
“I saw it in Arizona at the Phoenix Children’s Museum and I thought the kids in ‘Mommy and Me’ would like it because I saw a ton of kids playing with it,” said Solberg, a fifth grader at Jefferson Elementary School.
Children use the manipulative by lifting the washers and watching them fall. The washers are different sizes and different weights so they make unique sounds and fall at different rates of speed.
Solberg and Roth met at the BAS Mommy and Me program when they were four years old.
“It was very hard to build but very physically and mentally rewarding,” commented Roth, a fifth-grader at McKinley Elementary School.
“Physically, because I had done something I had never done before. Mentally because I felt good about making something for someone else.”
Building the manipulative “took a lot of work and a lot of time,” Solberg also said. “Sometimes it got frustrating using the drill because my hands got numb when the drill was shaking. But in the end, it was worth it.”
One thing Roth learned by making the project, he said, is “wood can be used to build things without names.”
“It was fun to build it,” added Solberg. “Danny and I got to drill and cover it in stain. We also got to sand it and put the washers and rods together.”
“It was fun to see it come together and think how much fun the kids would have.”
Why did Roth want to donate the manipulative to the BAS Parent Ed Program?
“Because that’s where I met my friend, Spencer,” he answered.
