Alina's Varied Expression of Her Interest in Animals

Alina has always loved animals and I have seen animals really connect with her in various situations over the years.  One of the many animals she loves are horses, which led her to begin collecting Schleich model horses and eventually other types of animals as well.  She is building and making most everything that is needed for a farm/equestrian center for her models.  As I think about the various directions her interest in collecting Schleich animals have taken her, I am quite amazed.

Math and Woodworking

She started with designing a barn and then soliciting her daddy’s help in building it.  This barn has taken a long period of time to build, she still is putting on shingles before it will be finished.  Building this barn included math as she drew the plans and then measured and designed it to fit the size of her models, figuring and refiguring sizes.  She put a bit of thought in how to make the roof, which required perseverance in figuring out designs that work or don’t work so well.  She is now in the process of designing a bigger and better barn to build in the future. 

This was Alina's first drawing of the stall area inside the barn with measurements.

 A front view of her barn.  Up in the hay loft the kitties are playing, the stalls are filled with horses and there is lots of activity going on with the dog running around and the horse tied up and ready to go, or did it just get back from a ride?

A side view of the barn and part of the corral 

Popsicle Sticks & Hot Glue

In addition to her horses she has collected cats, cattle, dogs, chickens and recently got her first person.  She has used popsicle sticks and hot glue to make many things for her animals which include fences, bridges, basic horse jumps, horse jumps with bars that fall off, horse water troughs, horse tack room, horse washroom, horse stalls, round pen with a gate that opens, frames for horse pictures to hang in the house she wants to build one day, a chicken coop, a cat tree, cat feeder, a dog house, dog bowls, a cave for her dogs, a wishing well, a working cow milking stall, a milking stool, and the list goes on.

 This is the tack room.  Alina made all the horse blankets from fleece, except for the blue one.  

Her very first halter are hanging, made out of bread ties.  

 Alina modeled her chicken coop after our actual coop.  

 The round pen, three dog houses, more pens and the bridge she made.

 The corral is filled with horses.  This is the gate she made that opens and close.

Polymer Clay

With polymer clay she has made cat food, flowers, dog food and water bowls, dog food, carrots and apples for the horses, plates, a cake and cookies for her person, and eggs for the chicken coup.

 Apples and carrots that Alina made for the horses.

Beading

Alina had learned some basics in beading, and she is using some of those techniques along with some of the beading supplies in making horse bridles, halters and adding straps to her home-made felt saddles that actually cinch up.  

 Here she used lobster hooks (beading term) and leather craft lace to tie the horse down for her bath.  The wishing well is made from rocks from our yard glued together.

Engineering/Problem Solving

Many of the items that Alina built for her Shleich models required a bit of figuring, or engineering.  She went through of process of figuring out what doesn’t work until she discovered what worked, sometimes drawing out what she wanted to do.  For her bridle’s she started with one version that didn’t really fit over the horses head the way she wanted and later figured a new way with new materials to put the bridles together so they looked more realistic.  She saw a cow feeding stall on a TV and then spent time working out in her mind and in real life how to make a piece of the stall move so that she could lock the cow’s head in.  She wanted a gate that really opens and closes for the stable and after her daddy gave her some plastic hinges she spent time working out in her mind and in real life to make the gate piece so that it would stand up and then open and close.

The cow stall Alina made with a removable bar so the cow's head can be locked in.

Photography – Story Writing - Video/Movie Making - Editing

Alina has shown an interest in photography in the past, but had put that aside.  She brought her camera out to record her collection of Schleich models.  This collection of pictures led to Alina using Windows Live Movie Maker to make a slide show and add music.  This then led to her making up a story where she used pictures and video together to tell a story.  So far she has made two episodes of Kovu and his herd.

My Schleich Models


 Schleich Stop Motion


Kovue and His Herd - Episode 1


Kovu and His Herd - Episode 2


Negotiating

I couldn’t help but add this one in that happened just recently.  Dan offered to pay one of the kids for doing a data entry task for him.  When Alina saw what was involved she negotiated new Schleich models in place of the money, which ended up costing Dan more than he offered the job up for.  She is quite the negotiator, as her dad doesn’t budge that easy in this area, but this is something he has modeled and she has learned well.

These are the 4 new Schleich that Alina got from negotiating with her daddy.