Strengthen the Mind
Just being a kid
7-12
Welcome To 'Elfland': 8-Year-Old Somerville Boy Builds Miniature Community In Vacant Lot
Photo and reporting by
CBS Boston
An 8-year-old in Somerville started building tiny houses out of scrap in a vacant gas station lot: a library, a hospital, a skating rink, all sized for elves. Neighbors kept finding them and started adding their own.
Two sets of hands
When he told his parents he'd seen signs from elves asking for help, they didn't correct him. They just started building small houses next to his.
Why we picked this one
Nobody drew up a plan for this. A kid decided elves needed a hospital, and his parents decided the correct response was to help build one, not to ask if elves were real. The lot filled in from there, one house at a time, added by people who were never given instructions either.
Cardboard, tape, string, whatever's sitting in the recycling bin. No instructions, no theme, no plan for what it's supposed to be. Leave it out somewhere and see if anyone else adds to it.
Read the full story at
CBS Boston
Where it happened:
Somerville, MA
There's a scrap of nothing near you too, a vacant lot or a dead corner of yard, waiting for someone to decide it belongs to elves.