They didn’t waste any time. They scanned the area for building materials. They found lots of pine boughs on the ground.
“Maybe good for the roof!” Owen suggested.
They found plenty of rocks—large and small—on the bank of the brook.
“We could use these for the foundation,” said Hattie.
“Great!” said Sophie. “My dad did say to use the strongest materials at the bottom.” Sophie stood and looked around. “But what we really need for the structure of the walls are a few sturdy sticks.”
They searched and searched. Almost all the sticks and branches on the ground were the bendy pine kind.
Finally Owen called out, “What about these?”
He had found two long sticks under some leaves.
“I think they’re perfect!” Sophie said. “I wish there were more. But maybe we could make a lean-to.”
“A what-to?” Owen asked.
Sophie laughed. She walked over to an evergreen tree. “My dad taught me that a lean-to is usually a building that is made when two things lean against something else. So we could lean our two sticks against this trunk,” she said, patting the tree trunk.
“Oh! I get it,” said Hattie. “The sticks would make our frame. And we can tie the pine boughs over the frame to make the walls!”
“Yes!” Sophie and Owen cried together.