We all have a dream house, but do you remember what your dream house was as a child?
I do. I wanted a pool to keep my pet dolphins in, and a barn for my horses.
I wanted a ball-pit, and a waterslide for steps- so my parents let me pick the color of my room, a shiny, textured metallic blue wall. Good thing I didn’t pick pink, because the color looks great with my nephews’ Marvel superhero themed belongings. As for the water slide, my siblings and I would have “carpet rides” down the steps in our comforters.
Looking back on that today reminds me of how fortunate I was to have had my own space in my childhood house. Not every child has a bedroom, or space of their own. Philadelphia has the highest poverty rate among the nation’s 10 most populated cities.
A seemingly simple project like this, such as making dream houses can bring up a lot of complicated emotions for some students. Assumptions can never be made about a child’s life outside of camp and school. However, it is an opportunity to have everything desired in a play house. So with yellow envelopes cut out as houses, the students created their dream houses. The range varies as to what that looks like.
-Disco rooms. #nosleepingallowed
-house on fire
-house with flowers
-houses with their loved one’s in it
-houses with their pets
-house with winding, spiral staircase
-house with a bird as the chimney
-house with a big T.V. to play video games.
-house with a room for their best friend
-house with extended family…
What doesn’t vary as much, is how proud everyone was of their house.
The student on the left here, drew every detail inside of the house-very intricate details, so he didn’t get to the outside of the house. He already knows- good things take time, right?
This student on the right wants purple brick for her house, instead of red brick.
It turned out to be a really great exercise. They had a ball, and they developed some thoughts of their very own! Then, the students made bookmarks, which they decorated thoughtfully.
