FOR FAMILIES:
Explore the following programs and websites that provide your family with the resources and knowledge to make informed choices for your child's education.
Why Children Should Use Real Tools
This video is one example of an experience with tools your child can have.
Home Depot offers classes -->
Other Ideas
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Hammer nails into a ceiling tiles
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Let children paint their projects
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Start nails in a tree log
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Attach bolts to a piece of wood – have children match the corresponding nuts
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Add Styrofoam craft shapes to go with the next upcoming holiday
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Hammer golf tees into a styrofoam
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Nail milkcaps or bottlecaps onto wood (good for wheels)
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Hammer bubble wrap
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Make "geoboards" (adding rubberbands)
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Have children write their initial or draw a picture on a piece of wood, then hammer nails to form that shape
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Take apart a broken appliance. Cut off the cord(s) for safety.
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Take the woodworking bench outside in the summer.
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Have an area to display finished products (or "works in progress")
How Infants Learn to Use Tools -->
"Babies are teaching us something, all the time. Some of the building blocks for both the preschool period and later adulthood are really present in the infancy period."
-Developmental psychologist Jeffrey Lockman, PhD