Sunday, November 13, 2005

Shopping At the Dump

Transfer station, actually. I love shopping at the transfer station's "trade shack". Here are some very popular finds that amuse my students.



This silly thing makes a high pitched wogga-wogga-wogga sound when you shake it. I find it a fine accompaniment to slide shows where it can emphasize points in my narrative....or give a rousing lizard cheer for someone who has made a good comment.



This is the "heads or tails machine". It is one of three banks I found and fixed that no longer had the bank part. The delivery system fascinates kids as they watch their lunch money get carried through the gears and fall out the top.


This mechanism shoots out the velcro tipped tongue...need I say more?



Metal sculptures from India? Whatever they are, children find them interesting and examine them under our big magnifying glass.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Those small statues look like opium weights from southeast asia. My parents had a couple sets when i was a kid. The figure with wings is a garuda and the other one is a temple dog. Opium weights usually come in sets of graduated sizes (like measuring spoons) for accurately weighing amounts. The opium trade started a long time ago in that part of the world, so those weights are basically folk art. It's like finding an old tobacco barn in Virginia - just part of our world's history.