Students in Years Prep – 6 love woodwork and it is an engaging way to build fine motor skills and develop students’ understanding of a variety of Mathematics concepts.
Recommendations
- Ask for donations and connect with experts in your community. There is no need to buy a lot of new tools and equipment, see what the community wants to donate first. It is also worthwhile looking for opportunities for parents and community ‘experts’ to come in and help students develop wood work skills.
- Keep your tools stored carefully and organised. If they are organised from the beginning, the students will take care of them.
- Ensure Health & Safety regulations are adhered to and risk assessments are done for all tools. This is time consuming but necessary.
- Build student skills and develop ‘experts’. These students can be of all different ages, not just the older students. During the lunchtime woodwork sessions it is easy to see the students who are interested and it is empowering for them to be leaders and help others.
- If you would like information on the tools we have available for woodwork at Canterbury Primary, please contact me, I am more than happy to share – it’s a long list!
Project Ideas
The Sphero Maze was a coding and woodwork project. You can read about it here.
Other projects I have done have been with classes of students in Prep – 6 and also with students of different ages during ‘Woodwork Wednesday’ lunch times in the Makerspace.
Toolboxes (Years 3 and 4)
We created these in Maths, Students measured the lengths of wood they would need for their project and calculated the total amount of wood required. We calculated the budget for this project for individual projects and for the whole class. Students researched and designed their own boxes. They also had the option of making a rectangular or square frame. Here are the slides I used for this project.
Frames (Years Prep – 6)
Students made these in the Makerspace during ‘Woodwork Wednesdays’.
Steps included sketching the design, measuring the wood, sawing, sanding and putting it together using either a hammer and nails or a screwdriver (or a drill with 1:1 supervision).
There were painted and displayed as a gallery wall in our Makerspace (final photos to come!).
String Art (Prep)
Students were describing the setting for their stories when we decided to create it using nails, string and paint. They developed fine motor skills when they hammered the nails in and used coloured string to create the lines. This project also enhanced Speaking & Listening skills as well as descriptive language for Writing.
The Maker Difference 