The children hopped on our magic tarpet in search of natural materials.
In my bag, I had a range of leaves, bark, pebbles and other materials I had collected 'on my travels.'
I showed the children a piece of bark and asked if they could find some the same. They ventured off and soon came back with a piece of bark. We compared the colour and the texture of our sample. I had planned to move on to the next object in my bag, but the boys had other ideas. They wanted to collect more wood. Before long, our magic tarpet was groaning under the weight of wooden planks, pine branches, logs, sticks and bark chippings.
I asked the boys what they would like to do with all their booty. At first they suggested making a fire, but then Ruben spotted a hammer in my bag, "We can hammer it".
From my bag I produced a rubber mallet, two wooden mallets and a small metal headed hammer.
We talked about how we could use the hammers safely. Billy said that we should work in different spaces so that we didn't hit each other. Danny said we shouldn't swing them in the air like Thor and we should be careful not to hit our hands. Danny said we should not put our faces to close to where we were hammering in case anything flew off.
Ruben and Danny wanted to use the same hammer, so I asked them to think about how they could solve this problem. Danny suggested they should take turns, but he wanted to go first. After giving this solution some thought, Ruben decided that Danny could use the hammer and he would pick another one.
At first they experimented with hitting the different types of wood with their hammers. Ruben noticed that one of the log stepping stones had some nails in it in the shape of an arrow. He asked if we had some nails he could use and after a quick rummage in the kit bag, found a box of felt tacks. The boys began by hammering the tacks into the log stepping stones. Initially, they were hitting the tacks as hard as they could, but they eventually began to notice that the tacks didn't always go in how they wanted them to. So experimented with using less force until the tack had started to go into the wood. Next, they moved on to hammering nails into the wooden planks. Danny showed me that the tack had gone all the way through the plank. He hammered the sharp end flat against the wood to make it safe.
Ruben found that he could attach the plank to a stepping log and rotate the plank around. "Look, I've made a clock."
Danny wanted to join two planks of wood together. "It's gone in but they're not sticking." I turned the top plank over to show him the back. "Oh it's not big enough, I need a bigger nail, Miss."
Billy was using the small headed hammer to hammer tacks into the log stepping stones. He was hitting them really hard and it was taking several strikes to drive the nails home. He decided to try the rubber mallet. "Look Miss, I can do it in one go with this one."
Ruben decided he wanted to make a border with his planks between the grass and the playground because he was 'sick of people going on the grass!' He created his plank border and then decorated it with pebbles to 'make it look nice.' He added some pine branches and a plant pot, before moving on to building fire pit with the rest of his wood. He asked if we could leave his creation where it was so that he could carry on.
We finished our session with the obligatory hot chocolate and cake sharing challenge.
In my bag, I had a range of leaves, bark, pebbles and other materials I had collected 'on my travels.'
I showed the children a piece of bark and asked if they could find some the same. They ventured off and soon came back with a piece of bark. We compared the colour and the texture of our sample. I had planned to move on to the next object in my bag, but the boys had other ideas. They wanted to collect more wood. Before long, our magic tarpet was groaning under the weight of wooden planks, pine branches, logs, sticks and bark chippings.
I asked the boys what they would like to do with all their booty. At first they suggested making a fire, but then Ruben spotted a hammer in my bag, "We can hammer it".
From my bag I produced a rubber mallet, two wooden mallets and a small metal headed hammer.
We talked about how we could use the hammers safely. Billy said that we should work in different spaces so that we didn't hit each other. Danny said we shouldn't swing them in the air like Thor and we should be careful not to hit our hands. Danny said we should not put our faces to close to where we were hammering in case anything flew off.
Ruben and Danny wanted to use the same hammer, so I asked them to think about how they could solve this problem. Danny suggested they should take turns, but he wanted to go first. After giving this solution some thought, Ruben decided that Danny could use the hammer and he would pick another one.
At first they experimented with hitting the different types of wood with their hammers. Ruben noticed that one of the log stepping stones had some nails in it in the shape of an arrow. He asked if we had some nails he could use and after a quick rummage in the kit bag, found a box of felt tacks. The boys began by hammering the tacks into the log stepping stones. Initially, they were hitting the tacks as hard as they could, but they eventually began to notice that the tacks didn't always go in how they wanted them to. So experimented with using less force until the tack had started to go into the wood. Next, they moved on to hammering nails into the wooden planks. Danny showed me that the tack had gone all the way through the plank. He hammered the sharp end flat against the wood to make it safe.
Ruben found that he could attach the plank to a stepping log and rotate the plank around. "Look, I've made a clock."
Danny wanted to join two planks of wood together. "It's gone in but they're not sticking." I turned the top plank over to show him the back. "Oh it's not big enough, I need a bigger nail, Miss."
Billy was using the small headed hammer to hammer tacks into the log stepping stones. He was hitting them really hard and it was taking several strikes to drive the nails home. He decided to try the rubber mallet. "Look Miss, I can do it in one go with this one."
Ruben decided he wanted to make a border with his planks between the grass and the playground because he was 'sick of people going on the grass!' He created his plank border and then decorated it with pebbles to 'make it look nice.' He added some pine branches and a plant pot, before moving on to building fire pit with the rest of his wood. He asked if we could leave his creation where it was so that he could carry on.
We finished our session with the obligatory hot chocolate and cake sharing challenge.
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