The role of woodwork in children's development

“These are exciting times. In recent years there has been a surge of interest in woodworking in early childhood education right around the world. The childminding sector within the UK has certainly been no exception with increasing numbers of home educators now including woodwork as part of their provision. In many ways, woodwork is even more suitable in a childminding context, as that involves smaller ratios and it can be set up indoors, in the garden or beyond. 

This renewed interest is very welcome as the benefits of woodwork for children's learning and development run deep across all areas of learning. Educators who provide woodwork regularly observe exceptional levels of sustained engagement, with deep focus, concentration and perseverance with challenging tasks – especially with complex problem solving. It is not unusual for children to spend all morning at the woodwork bench. Woodwork really engages hands, minds and hearts.

The great advantage of home education is that having smaller ratios really fosters strong relationships and we develop in-depth knowledge and understanding of the children. This really lends itself to woodwork. Of course, depending on the ages of any younger children it can take some planning to ensure younger children are kept safe. The guidance is that children should be at least three before starting woodwork but there are many preliminary activities younger children can do in preparation, such as making leaf and petal prints on fabric with a rubber mallet. It’s surprising just how quickly children gain confidence and competence and can work with a high level of independence.  Woodwork is also ideal for any afterschool children – who will thrive with practical hands-on exploration after a day in the traditional classroom. One of the issues frequently faced by home educators is the availability of CPD at suitable times. Fortunately, woodwork training is now available at any time. It is available online and can be accessed when and where practitioners like, making it ideal for childminders. 

The rise in the popularity of woodwork is not surprising given the levels of children’s enjoyment and the fact that it provides such a profound learning experience. The renewed interest is perhaps in part a reaction to our increasingly digital world, where children have learnt to swipe before they can walk, and also the fact that currently ‘making’ is back in fashion, with a renewed interest in craft and upcycling, perhaps a reaction to our overly homogenised world. In terms of sustainability, woodwork gives children the experience of making and repairing, countering the prevalent culture today of consuming and disposing. 

Perhaps the biggest factor though, has been the shifting attitudes away from risk aversion. Following from Lord Young's review of Health and Safety 2010: Common Sense Common safety, and subsequent positive guidance from the Health and Safety Executive (2012), the DoE (2013) and recently from Ofsted (2017), schools in the UK have felt encouraged to take a more balanced attitude towards risk and embrace woodwork once again. This is a significant culture shift and whilst still in its infancy, should be wholeheartedly celebrated. 
There is something really special about woodwork. It is so different from other activities. The smell and feel of wood, using real tools, working with a natural material, the sounds of hammering and sawing, hands and minds working together to express their imagination and to solve problems, the use of strength and coordination: all go together to captivate young children’s interest. 

We observe children working with their hands, tinkering, constructing models, and working on projects, but in fact the real transformation is inside the child – personal development is at the heart of woodwork.

For a combination of reasons, woodwork is a powerful medium for building self-esteem and confidence. Children feel empowered and valued by being trusted as they take responsibility to work with real tools. They accomplish tasks that they initially perceive to be difficult and problem-solve to resolve challenging tasks. They show great satisfaction in their mastery of new skills and take immense pride in their creations. This sense of empowerment and achievement provides a visible boost to their self-esteem and self-confidence. Children have a natural desire to construct and build. This imparts a ‘can-do’ attitude and imbues children with a strong sense of agency – a belief they can shape their world.

When we analyse activity at the workbench it is extraordinary to see just how much learning is involved. It encompasses all areas of learning and development and invites connections between different aspects of learning. It supports current thinking on how children learn best, embracing all the characteristics of effective learning and thus fostering confident, creative children with passion for life-long learning. Woodwork really can be central to curriculum. It incorporates mathematical thinking, scientific investigation, developing knowledge of technology, a deepening understanding of the world, as well as physical development and coordination, communication and language, and personal and social development. 

Woodwork provides another medium through which children can express themselves. Creative and critical thinking skills are central both in terms of imagination and problem-solving as children make choices, find solutions, learn through trial and error and reflect on their work. 

Children are drawn in as they explore possibilities, rise to challenges and find solutions. Woodwork is really unrivalled in terms of providing children with problem solving opportunities and challenge. I know no other activity that promotes creativity and critical thinking in quite the same way that woodwork does.

Children are surrounded by complex technology but this has limited their experience of basic technology, with fewer opportunities to watch and learn and to understand processes.  In recent years there has been a marked decline of woodwork in primary and secondary schools with less than half of pupils ever using tools in their entire education. Some children particularly flourish when working with wood, enjoying working three-dimensionally and working with their hands. It can really be the key that unlocks their learning. 

The confidence to work with tools provides a skill set for life. Many children will need practical skills for their future work and woodwork in the early years could well be children's only experience of working with tools. Fortunately working with tools leaves a deep memory – so even if early childhood education is their only experience of working with wood it will leave a long lasting impression. Many adults recount that experiencing woodwork is one of the memories from early childhood that still really stands out.
With woodwork once children have mastered basic skills, they move into open-ended exploration - tinkering, exploring possibilities and then start making unique creations. Their imagination, creative thinking and problem-solving skills really flourish as they meet and conquer new challenges. 

Some educators and parents are surprised that we introduce woodwork to children as young as three, but it must be emphasised that it is a low-risk activity when introduced and monitored correctly. 

Woodwork really can be an ideal activity to make available in the childminding setting. It does take some investment getting the workbench and a basic tool kit – but this will last years and seeing the sustained engagement and the levels of enjoyment, let alone all the learning and development happening will make it well worth the initial effort getting set up. It would be wonderful to provide all children with this valuable opportunity.” 

Pete Moorhouse is the UKs leading authority on woodwork in early-years education and has written several books and journal articles. He is currently working his latest book – ‘Creativity in Practice: Nurturing creative and critical thinking in early childhood education’. Pete won the national award (2019) from the Creative Learning Guild for his work promoting creativity in education. Pete is a national trainer for Early Education and a Froebel tutor. Pete can be contacted through his website:  https://irresistible-learning.co.uk 

 

Case study: Woodworking in my childminding setting, by Sally Harvey

“I first came across the idea of woodworking with my mindees through Kathy Brodie’s (Early Years TV) interview with Pete Moorhouse back in September 2019. I had one particular child in mind, Max, he always wanted to play with the brio wooden building set, he wanted to emulate his father who had his own workshop, I thought he would love to be able to use the same tools as his dad. 

I got hold of Pete’s book and became even keener on the idea but, I was concerned about the expense of setting up an area and using a saw!  

When I spoke to Max’s father about my plans, he offered to make a little woodworking bench for us; I gathered together a very basic kit of parts, screwdrivers, hammers, safety glasses, nails, screws, lids, hama beads, buttons, washers, odds and ends of pine and some balsa wood - I found this hard to buy in what I thought were sensible sized/priced pieces and ended up buying an off-cuts pack which were really small pieces, but they did work.

I kept all the tools together in a gardener’s tool bag and the wood in a carrier bag so that I could easily keep them in the garage away from the children, as much as I would like this to be part of my continuous provision it is not a possibility with the differing age groups I have.
I introduced woodworking, in the kitchen, on a 1 to 1 basis to the pre-schoolers, I was lucky enough to be able to do this whilst the younger children slept, but I do feel confident that this could be done on a 1:2 basis if needs be. They took the safety rules on board immediately and subsequently were always quick to remind me about the rules!  Although I started this journey with Max in mind, every single child has been thoroughly engaged with the creative process; as soon as they see the different pieces of wood and extra bits and bobs they generally have an idea of what they want to create, be it a vehicle, a robot or something quite abstract; they are very keen to do as much as possible by themselves and, as their creations develop, you can see the thinking taking place as they adapt their ideas to match their current skills.  I started without a clamp or a vice and, in retrospect, would suggest the use of a clamp at the very least. 
The creative process and learning doesn’t end once the woodworking has finished, my mindees like to see the whole process through and decoration is part of that:

- What colour is best for a fast car, yellow? No that’s not right, maybe red?, Oh look it’s orange now!  
- Should a robot have knees? Of course it should!

During the summer I was able to start woodworking with my afterschool children, their ages – 4, 5 and 6 – meant that I could quite easily work with three of them at a time. I still didn’t have a dedicated woodworking bench so they used the bench I use for the mud kitchen, which, although not having a flat surface, worked well, it offered the bonus of holding their creations in place as they worked.

Their imagination and attention to detail was fantastic, as was the speed with which they picked up how to use the tools and the length of time they could focus for.  It was interesting to see how each child dealt differently with the hurdles they were facing, hurdles that they had generally created for themselves, some persisted, some asked for help and others just adapted their design.  

Like the younger children, the excitement and pride in seeing and sharing what they had created was immense.

I was excited recently to find Pete’s training available online – like most childminders I find it very difficult to attend training due to work commitments and hadn’t managed to attend Pete’s face to face training, having the opportunity to train at home was something I jumped at. The course offers lots of reassurance about the use of tools, health and safety and gives lots of detail on the learning I have already been lucky enough to see in action.  I wish I had thought about the idea to have a go at using the tools myself before starting with the children. The course gave me the confidence to finally buy and use a Japanese hand saw, not as scary as I thought, and the children are amazingly sensible about using it.
I have found that I do not need a fancy work bench or a dedicated area to provide the most amazing opportunity for the children, through woodworking they are thoroughly engaged, thinking for themselves, improving their physical skills, developing a growth mindset, building self esteem and so much more, it is definitely going to stay a part of my provision.”

CPD woodwork training is available throughout the UK and Pete is now offering an in-depth online woodwork course – a set of eight pre-recorded videos and a set of 14 handout proving you with all the information you need to get started. Click here to visit his website.

Pete’s book ‘Learning Through Woodwork: Creative Woodwork in the Early Years – Routledge 2018 – goes into considerable depth and makes for a wonderful resource for any school.

 

The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of Morton Michel.