Igloos and Chocolate

This weekend was our annual chocolate festival. Chocolate, if you didn't know, originated with indigenous communities in Latin America. We had demonstrations of the plants and talks by botanists, demonstrations of chocolate grinding, mola-making, samples from our chef and our partner Mars Chocolate, a lecture on the sustainability of chocolate, and dance performances by Alma Boliviana. And, since we expected large crowds -- and got them! -- we opted to test several more activities for the new family center.

Today we didn't get to do the basket geography activity, nor the spinning top (those somehow disappeared yesterday). But we did test several different sets of questions for the quiz show, tried a beading activity for the make-and-take, tried a new version of weaving materials for the basket, tested the concept of passports, and, most importantly, tested the first prototype of the build-it-yourself igloo.

Let's just say that building an igloo, then "avalanching" it, was a huge hit. Many kudos to the amazing members of the project team for their great work this weekend. I wonder if they're all as tired now (or were last night) as I am?!?


I didn't really get to see the festival. I went down during the performance, because it was quieter in our area, to say hello to one of the botanists, a friend who works at Natural History. Five minutes there, then back upstairs. On the way, I stopped on the second-floor balcony to take these photos. One spot, two minutes, three levels of zoom on the phone. Not too bad.




And the igloo! It proved to be a great multigenerational activity. Below, our test instructions. Surprise, kids didn't need them.



Partially-constructed.... A surprising number of kids could fit inside once completed.


Above, "my" palette of igloo pieces, during clean-up. Below, our igloo caravan, to put it away.