the hand drill

Last week the hand drill came out for the first time ... not sure who was more excited. the children or me... there is something very satisfying about drilling holes and creating something that wasn't there before (or are we creating nothing from something that WAS there before? HMMM, what IS a hole actually?)

Of course the children need to learn all about the risks involved with using the hand -drill - and it is wonderful to see how seriously they take this information and how they have treated the hand drill with respect (so far at least)...

For the moment they are exploring the drill on the stumps... the hard inner wood and the softer bark - the different coloured dust that is created depending on where you are drilling. As well as taking turns...

We have a little side project of building a den - the children in another big discussion about decision making said that if they could decide they would make a den (koja) - so they have drawn designs and they are making a first prototype our of ice-lolly sticks - we will eventually look into the prices of how to make such a den - so that they can discover that making decisions is not always that easy as they are often more complicated, lengthy and costly that what the children think... and there is a lot of responsibility...

BUT IF we do get as far as making a read den... well maybe the hand-drill practice will come in handy then?

one of 6 designs... all but one was square/rectangular

the children opted for a square den... and have been let loose with the glue gun to get this far... this is built sporadically over two weeks. The roof at the moment just rests on the walls... but they will have to re-look at their designs and work out of there are any missing details...