Carpentry

In our talks about Jesus as a little boy, the children learned that Jesus was a carpenter and he learned carpentry skills from his father, Joseph.  In the Bunny Rabbit class the children have frequent experience with wooden things.  To learn more about carpentry the children painted wood and created a class sculpture.  We're pretty sure Jesus didn't have plastic paintbrushes or wood glue, but still we recreated what basic carpentry was like.

We read a book about tools and what each tool does and then we had tools to try out.  The children are very familiar with hammers - we use them often!  They also got to try out sandpaper.  By far the most favorite tool was the hand drill.  Oh my, there was a long waiting list for that hand drill! 

At home, don't be afraid to put real tools in your children's hands.  With some simple safety demonstrations, they can be quite confident with tools.  Using the same tools that adults use gives the children confidence and a sense of control.  Go for it!