We spent a few hours at a local living history place (Living History Farms) this past weekend. I love how my kids get hands on experience of what it's like to live in the past. On this particular day, we learned a lot about the 1800's.
Grinding cinnamon in the drug store.
The minis got to play with toys and games that kids enjoyed in 1875. One of which was stilts. Yes, stilts.
We walked away from the stilts and my (wonderful) husband says, "I think we can make our own." A half hour later we found ourselves at the hardware store buying supplies for stilts. We grabbed:
4 2x3 boards
1 2x4 board (for the foot holds)
large screws
The boards needed to be cut into proper heights. We went with 6 ft. and 4 1/2 ft. for pole lengths. The boys sat down and determined pole lengths based on the ones at Living History Farms and how tall they were (they want their friends to be able to use them too, so we wanted basic heights.
The cutting was simple and didn't take long at all. The entire project took around one hour. Then it was play time!
For future reference, don't try it with sandals on!