Recently I was reading an overview of educational theories. One of the repeated phrases I heard included kids doing real work with real tools.
So I began to review my photos to see if and how I may be following this idea. As I looked through photos for the past months, I saw examples of incorporating real tools in the children's work (play). Here are some of the things I found.
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| Using a sweeper |
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| Using brush and dust pan |
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| Using rulers and other measuring tools |
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| Using a glue gun |
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| Using an electronic scale |
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| Using a magnifying glass |
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| Using mixing bowl, whisk, cutting board, and recipe book |
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| Using a laundry basket |
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| Using measuring tapes and tool aprons |
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| Using the camera |
As you can see, I expanded the definition of "tools" beyond what we may normally think about. But all of these items were "real items," items that I purchased from the "grown up" parts of a store.
When I think of real work with real tools, I think of Teacher Tom. He gives kids tools for
construction and
creating in ways that I admire and hope to one day emulate. (There are lots of posts on Tom's blog; these are just a couple.)
Also
Jenny at Let the Children Play has kids using tools outside.
Sherry and Donna at Irresistible Ideas for Play Based Learning encourage kids to explore with real tools to take apart stuff. And so on among all my blogging friends.
I guess the important thing to think about - don't just look in the toy aisles and teacher resources sites for stuff to use in the classroom. Look at "real" stuff for kids to use.
What ways do you use real tools with kids?
