Sometimes Gavin makes really big fires and sometimes we do ‘dangerous things‘ with them.

I fetched our book when he informed me about the roaring fire he had started. We still had one more ‘fire’ activity to do and since I was able to wrangle up a steel coat hanger, we were able to do it.

The book encouraged us to bend steel by making it very, very hot in the backyard fire and thereby turning it super pliable.

We could see the metal getting red hot and it was very bendable when we got it out. It was soft to the point of being able to make a curly cue around a stick.

It was as soft as a really thin wire or a rubbery rope. It was very cool.

Dangerous? Yeah, I guess it was. Ethan, Mikey and Sean were not interested in participating and just gave a casual glance to the super-hot steel. It may have been more precarious if the four of them wanted a part in the activity. But, it really ended up with Gavin playing with both the fire and the melty metal, and he is a capable handler of hot stuff. I did warn Gavin that one slip from the potholder would result in a very serious burn and he felt he could handle it safely and did so.

Now go and help your kids do some ‘dangerous things‘!