Recently, our team worked hard to set up a technology workshop area that children could access on a daily basis. This proved to be quite a challenge, as provision has to be cleared away at the end of each session.
However, small plastic boxes in a portable vegetable rack provided us with ideal storage and enabled the children to see easily all the materials that were on offer.
In addition, a little imagination with a needle and thread from the manager resulted in hanging pockets with applique labels for the storage of tools.
With adult support as the area was introduced, children soon became confident in using the tools and materials independently and amazed us with their creations.
Staff and parents try hard to keep up with demand for materials by recycling boxes, packets and packaging and these seemingly mundane items never fail to fuel the children's ideas. The arrival of some wrapping paper inner tubes, discarded after Christmas, provided the stimulus for a large-scale project.
Children, supported by staff, worked enthusiastically to build a 'car run'
positioning and joining the tubes with masking tape. They encountered a few practical problems but, building on their experiences in the technology workshop, they were able to find feasible solutions to these by modifying their construction. For example, they recognised that the tubes needed to be arranged at a steeper incline and decided to suspend the entry tube from a cupboard handle with a length of ribbon. Later it became apparent that the middle tubes had sagged and needed raising so, after careful consideration, the children taped a shorter, upright tube to a chair as a support. The run evolved over time and its construction generated learning opportunities across the curriculum.
Who would have thought that someone's household 'rubbish' could provide children with hours of fun and a wealth of challenges? Perhaps it is true that the best things in life are free!
Gill Nobbs, manager of Bardsey Pre-school in West Yorkshire, was talking to partnership advisory teacher Jane Drake