- bars of soap
- foam blocks
- screws
- small screwdriver
- toy hammer
- wooden golf tees
- hammer
- hammering
- screw
- screwdriver
- tap
- turn
- twist
MA Standards:
English Language Arts/Language/L.PK.MA.6 Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, listening to books read aloud, activities, and play.
English Language Arts/Speaking and Listening/SL.PK.MA.1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners during daily routines and play.
Head Start Outcomes:
Logic and Reasoning/Reasoning and Problem Solving Classifies, compares, and contrasts objects, events, and experiences.
Science Knowledge/Scientific Skills and Method Observes and discusses common properties, differences, and comparisons among objects.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
English Language Arts/Language 2 Participate actively in discussions, listen to the ideas of others, and ask and answer relevant questions.
Hammering Time
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
Skill Focus: Hand-Eye Coordination, Vocabulary
Have children practice some building skills. Supply some firm foam pieces, wooden golf tees, and a hammer. Show children how to tap-tap as you hammer the golf tees into the foam. Then model how to press the point of a screw into a bar of soap and, using the screwdriver, twist it further into the soap. Be sure to show children how to unscrew by reversing the process. Have them note how the hole in the soap has the screw marks and how some soap has stuck to the screw “ramps.” Tell children that a screw is really an inclined plane that is wrapped around a “pole.”
Encourage children to practice the building skills on their own. Urge caution while using the materials.
Adaptation: You may wish children to use these materials only under supervision. Caution children to keep fingers out of the way when hammering and never to put small objects (like screws or golf tees) in their mouths.