Christmas Bring New Opportunties

Christmas has come and past bringing gifts of circus fun! One of my friends graciously donated a diabolo to my project as a gift. This, of course led me to try it out. From YouTube and other videos, I have slowly gathered how to get started. The videos make it look a lot easier than it actually is. I know this is an obvious statement, but it is pretty challenging to do any tricks. I have worked on my diabolo skills and am now ready to start working on tricks and throwing. My inside experiences have resulted in many hard hits to the ceiling. A word of advice. Practice throwing outside. Along with the diabolo, my grandparents kindly donated 30 dollars to get what I need to further my project. I am very greatful and will put the money towards making my non hand held stilts or another thing I may need. It was a great break and I am excited to get to work on more circus related tricks.

Alexa

http://www.123rf.com/photo_16482314_a-vector-cartoon-christmas-tree-with-ornaments-lights-and-presents-tree-ornaments-lights-and-each-in.html

Progress With the Project

My 20% project has progressed well. So far I've made juggling balls and stilts as well as work to improve my skills using the objects I made. I can juggle the basic three balls and walk proficiently on the stilts. In the past couple weeks I worked to get better at stilt walking so I can get up every time and walk with confidence. This will allow me to walk on the strap on stilts with less of a chance to fall over, which is a good thing given that I would prefer not to hurt myself. Not only have I been stilt walking, I am also continuing to juggle. I hope my progress has inspired you to try something new.

Alexa

Juggling Tricks

This past couple weeks have been productive in the 20% project world.  As you can see from my previous post, I am now working on juggling tricks. From my experience, you have to be really good at the basic juggling pattern before you can learn to do tricks. In the two weeks I gave myself to master the pattern, I was able to get pretty far.  However, I did need to do more practicing in the week past my deadline. I now am slowly learning the cascade reverse, which is where you throw the balls over instead of under.  My progress is slow, but I am getting there. If you want to see some tricks that I can’t do, but inspired me, click this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXmY9m6WO1c

Thanks for reading and enjoy the circus world.

--Alexa

Creating DIY Juggling Balls

The Big Top

http://itembrowser.com/item.php?id=13&market=1

I was and still am the weird kid who not only enjoyed the circus camp I went to, but also thrived. The circus camp I attended was a five day opportunity where we learned juggling, stilts, diabolo, unicycling, and many more important skills. On the last day, we had a performance showing the remarkable amount we learned. I attended this camp for the maximum three years. From this program I learned that it is important to be different and learn interesting skills. I want to share this feeling with others.

In my Research 1 course, my classmates and I were tasked with the 20% project which you can find a brief description of on the other page. For my project, I wanted to let other children and people experience the great feeling I get when doing circus tricks. To do this, I chose to learn how to make circus tricks using materials that are either inexpensive or recycled. This allows children to enjoy the circus fun without the large expense. The idea was to target low income children so that they can have a different, fun experience that may otherwise not be available to them. I also wanted to further my circus talents. To complete my goals I have set up a timeline which can be viewed below.

Date	Completed Goal
19 Oct. 2015	Make Juggling Balls
2 Nov. 2015	Be able to continuously juggle 3 balls
16 Nov. 2015	Be able to trick juggle
30 Nov. 2015	Build Hand Held Wooden Stilts
14 Dec. 2015	Build Wooden Stilts
28 Dec. 2015	Spinning Plates/Devil Sticks
11 Jan. 2016	Balancing/Diabolo
25 Jan. 2016	Work on unicycling tricks
8 Feb. 2016	Go into at least one children’s center and teach children how to make and perform circus tricks
22 Feb. 2016	Be able to perform/revisit all my different tricks

Websites/What they cost to buy

• 

  https://www.colourbox.com/vector/
  cartoon-juggler-vector-6956591

  Juggling balls three for $5.00 up to five for $30.00

My project

• DIY Juggling balls five for $1.06

Materials I used:

• Balloons (I went to the Dollar Store and got 30 balloons for $2.12 which make ten balls)
• Dirt (From my yard)
• A Funnel (I used a piece of paper and two pieces of tape to make)
• A plastic bottled water bottle (Found in recycling)
• Tape (I got it from my classroom)
• A measuring cup (I estimated)
• Scissors (I borrowed a pair from my classroom)

All of these materials can be found at the Dollar Store except the dirt, but I wanted to make it as inexpensively as possible. With only buying the ballons, you can make five of these juggling balls for $1.06. I ended up making ten so I could keep them different places so as to have them with me wherever I go to practice.

This is a picture of my final product:

I did not make up this DIY project, but found it and followed the procedure that can be found at: http://www.juggler.org/diy/balls.shtml.

As shown on my timeline I will learn how to juggle the basic three ball pattern. I have already been doing this for a week and my record is 34 catches before dropping it, but I am still working at it. The two weeks following this one, I will start working on tricks, but have to get good at the basics first. I hope you enjoy juggling and thanks for reading.

--Alexa