It’s been a busy week so far in our Woodwork area! We have been very interested in where wood comes from, so we decided to have a wee look for some books that might tell us!

“look it’s trees. Wood comes from trees!”

”that looks like the wood we have outside”.

”and it says paper is made from trees. So that’s wood too. And pencils”.

We decided to go on a wood hunt to see what else was made of wood! Off we set with the iPad to see what we could find!

“Look the blocks are made of wood”. “So is the door. And the table”

”is this box made of wood?”  “I think so”.

Our families have very kindly donated lots of materials to our junk modelling area, so we decided to have a look through and sort out the materials we thought would be made from wood.   We couldn’t believe a Rice Krispies box came from a tree!

We also had a look around our woodwork area and discovered we had lots of “things that are made of wood but look different”. Wood shavings that “were curly and bouncy”, sawdust “my mummy buys me sawdust for my horse.  It makes his bed all cozy when he’s sleeping”.  “The shopping back is made from trees. Look it has a picture of a wee tree on it!”.

It was time to get creative! Using cardboard tubes, paper, wood and of course lots and lots of glue, we produced some fabulous 3d models and artwork!

There was lots of discussion about why trees are cut down to make wood and paper, which led to us deciding to make our own trees and Forest!

Of course we had to “make a giant tree so we can grow it on the wall”.

We proudly displayed our recycled wood and paper artwork in our woodwork area.  We are so lucky to have such talented children at Cart Mill!

“Wood can provide endless opportunities for creative expression and developing design thinking.  There is something special about woodworks’s ability to engage young children.  It is learning through doing”. (Froebel Trust, 2023)