Wednesday, 8 May 2013

Tinkering (& 100 Days of Play)

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Tinkering, exploring how things work with kids from Making Boys Men


We are delighted to be taking part in '100 days of Play' today, every day for more than 100 days different Kids bloggers are sharing their play ideas.  You can check out the list of great bloggers below.

We've been on a bit of an experimenting kick recently following our DIY Water Wheel and Simple Circuits so we continued our play the other day by letting the boys tinker with and explore an everyday object - in our case an old remote control.


Tinkering, exploring how things work with kids from Making Boys Men

We started off by taking a look at the remote control and I asked the boys to write down or draw what they thought might be inside.  They came up with wires, a screw, buttons and a light.


Tinkering, exploring how things work with kids from Making Boys Men

Then they set about exploring.  Any chance they're given the boys want to use 'real' tools, so I gave them a screwdriver each, unfortunately the remote didn't contain any screws (whoops!  Bad planning by me!), but they still enjoyed poking everything with a screwdriver each!


Tinkering, exploring how things work with kids from Making Boys Men

They checked out the battery compartment then we split the casing open.


Tinkering, exploring how things work with kids from Making Boys Men

Inside we found a circuit board with light.


Tinkering, exploring how things work with kids from Making Boys Men

Plus lots of rubbery buttons.


Tinkering, exploring how things work with kids from Making Boys Men

The boys really enjoyed exploring the remote and discussing the various bits.  They poked it a lot with their screwdrivers and when they'd had enough they took the various components off with them to include them in their imaginary play.

Tinkering, exploring how things work with kids from Making Boys Men

Before, we finished I got the boys to look back over what they thought would be inside the remote and compare it to what was actually inside, this promoted a bit more discussion about what did what, why there weren't any screws etc.

We really enjoyed this and should any other appliances or gadgets in the house get broken I'm definitely doing this one again!  

For more play ideas check out the bloggers below, or for tinkering specific ideas try my Tinkering Pinterest Board.



100 Days of Play Blog Hop
Sharing simple ideas on how to connect with your children through play!
New ideas shared each day from 4/1 - 7/20. 

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8 comments:

  1. This is so great! My son loves things like this, and it is a great idea for those old electronics and things that no longer work! Thanks for sharing in our 100 Days of Play! I've linked and shared your post!!

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    1. Thanks Rachel, I know I'm definitely keeping an eye out for when appliances get broken as the boys had a lot of fun, thanks for sharing

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  2. A remote control is a great safe one to start with. I have been thinking recently about letting Goblin run wild with a screwdriver and get him to take something apart but I couldn't think of an age appropriate object (a clock would be awesome but he's still a bit young to appreciate its magnificence).

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    Replies
    1. A clock sounds great, but I guess it might take more patience if its got lots of small bits. I was going to do an old phone, but the best bit for the boys was definitely being allowed a screwdriver each!

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  3. Awesome! I hadn't thought to try this out. We've got old remotes and phones and draws full of stuff to pull apart:) The hard part will be where to stop :)

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  4. Oh, how fun!! Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!

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  5. Just popping over to say I've featured it this week:
    http://www.herecomethegirlsblog.com/2013/05/18/the-sunday-showcase-activities-for-boys.html

    ReplyDelete
  6. I would love if you shared this at our linky party all about robots!

    http://suzyhomeschooler.com/autobots-androids-artificial-intelligence-and-other-robotics/

    ReplyDelete

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