Tag Archives: discovery

Busy at the workbench!

Today at the woodwork bench we have been creating new furniture for our dolls house. In a small group we talked about the different rooms we have in our homes. We discussed different kinds of houses, what makes them different and introduced The UN convention on the rights of the child (UNCRC) article 27 ‘I have the right to a home’.

We used the computer and magazines to look at different rooms and furniture and decided we would start to create some bedroom furniture. We talked about what we have in our bedrooms at home.

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“I have a bed in my room with pillows”

“I have a cupboard that mummy keeps my clothes in”

“I have a little table next to my bed”

Once we had decided what we were going to make we set about selecting our wood and tools for the job.

First one of the children decided they would like to make a bed. He looked in the wood bag and decided to use 3 pieces to make his bed. He used “one big bit and 2 little bits”. Next he decided he was going to use “nails to stick it together”. He put on his safety glasses “to keep safe” and set about using the hammer to make his creation. He then selected 4 screws to use as the feet. “I need 4” pointing to all for corners. Using the screwdriver with support he attached the screws.  Then using sandpaper he made sure it was nice and smooth ready to finish his design by decorating it with pens.

The second visitor at the workbench today decided to make “the cupboard for my clothes” He selected 3 pieces of wood. One for the cupboard and 2 more to use “for the bottom. He placed on his safety goggles to “stop the dust getting in my eyes”. Next he used the hammer and “2 nails” to attach the feet and added “a screw for the handle” The final step was to use sandpaper to sand it down so it was smooth ready to use pens to draw on the door.

What a fantastic start to creating some bedroom furniture to use during small word play.

Article 27 – The right to a safe home

Article 28 – The right to education

Article 31 – The right to play

Little Investigators ⚒️

Today at the tinker table we have been very busy learning a new skill, deconstructing! We have been learning to use our tools to join things together, now we will be learning how to use our tools to take things apart!

 We started by looking in our playrooms for items that we could take apart. We decided that if we broke down the appliances into parts, we could then investigate each component and discover how they work and were assembled together.

The children found a selection of items that we then took over to our tinker table to investigate.

“I wonder what is inside of this one?”

“What else can we find”

Once at the tinker table we had a discussion on what tools we thought would be best to use to open up our appliances.

“I think the screwdriver”

We chose to deconstruct the keyboard first. Once opened we discovered that the soft plastic inside is what makes the keys move.

“This has lots of screws”

“There’s so many buttons on this”

“It’s all squishy inside”

We then opened up a computer mouse to see what was inside.

“It has a wheel”

“It goes click click”

We had so much fun today learning a new skill. The  children explored how each of the appliances were assembled and learned about how the different elements all interact. We also discussed with each other the purpose of each component.

We are excited to explore what else we can find to deconstruct at our tinker table next!