Today we finally got to something I have been planning for a few weeks. I have often seen early childhood classrooms where there is a wood working center or station. It always makes me curious, but then I think of all the possible danger and I just put the idea away. Until now! The tools are a little different, as well as the outcome, but the concept is the same: children develop fine motor skills, and hand-eye coordination, all while have a splendid time together. I collected pumpkins, golf tees, and hammers. I just needed some time to sit down and do this with my buddies. Today was the day. We didn't get to it during centers, but it was such a nice day, we took it outside.
The first most important thing to do if you are going to nail things into a pumpkin, is to have the proper safety gear!
Next, you need some friends who will help you with the serious task at hand.
You also need a teacher who is willing to hold the tee while you get it started. (Yikes!)
Some children were able to drive the tees in instantly, when this happened, I was able to challenge them by starting the tee at a different part of the pumpkin. It was fascinating to see how they approached the tees from new angles. It definitely took them a few minutes to figure out how they were going to hold the hammer now.
Finally, to make things interesting, you need a challenge. I told this little girl that the tees were stuck and I couldn't get them out. I modeled trying with my hands, then I demonstrated how to use the hammer in "reverse". I really didn't know if it would work of not, but it sure did!
This was a great free-exploration activity. This is also something that you can do together at home. You could use real nails, it just wasn't idea for the playground at preschool :)
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