Mr. Josh’s Playground Structures Elective: Building Skills Through Real-World Projects

Mr. Josh’s Playground Structures Elective for Upper School students emphasizes the design and construction of structures for Acera’s Adventure Playground. Acera’s Woodshop brings project-based learning to life, giving gifted students the chance to solve real problems, design with intention, and see their ideas take shape in tangible, hands-on projects.

Students worked hard, mostly in pairs, to finish the two planters that were designed and partially built in last year’s Playground Structures elective. These planter/seat structures will be used and enjoyed by many students on the playground, becoming especially visible once they are planted with flowers, vegetables, or herbs this coming spring. Two students who also took the class last year have gained appreciation for the significant effort and focus it takes to design, build, and actually complete custom carpentry projects—and for the constant troubleshooting that is part of every built project when things don’t fit quite right and need to be trimmed or shimmed to fit.

Students also helped prepare for Mr. Josh’s next Boatbuilding elective, a two-trimester class starting this December where students will build a small, high-capacity rowing and sailing dinghy called the Churchmouse Skiff. Only one of these skiffs, designed by famous naval architect          Joel White, has been built before, and it will be the most sophisticated boat built at Acera to date. A critical part of the construction is building a so-called strongback—a strong box-like structure that supports the moulds around which the boat’s plywood panels will be bent and attached together. Students in this class built a scale model of the strongback, then constructed the full-scale structure. The final structure is high quality and sets the stage well for construction in the elective starting next week.

Through these hands-on projects, students developed essential skills in design thinking, precision craftsmanship, collaborative problem-solving, and perseverance—all while creating structures that will benefit the entire Acera community for years to come.