Setting Up a Woodworking Center

Looking for a new way to help your students develop large and small motor skills, solve problems, encourage creativity and build self-esteem? Follow these suggestions from Project Learning Tree’s Environmental Experiences for Early Childhood to set up a woodworking center in your classroom.

Show the Tools
A woodworking center should start with a child-size workbench equipped with a vise. Introduce tools one at a time; by the end of the year, the woodworking center could feature the following equipment:

• safety goggles
• sandpaper and files in a variety of grades and sizes
• wood glue
• lightweight hammers
• large-headed nails, such as roofing nails
• short screwdrivers with large stubby handles (straight slot and Phillips)
• large screws
• hand drills
• pliers
• tape measures, rulers, and squares
• carpenter pencils and notebooks for planning and sketching
• vises or C-clamps
• small whiskbroom and dustpan for cleanup

Establish the rules

• Everyone must wear safety goggles in the woodworking area whether he or she is using tools or just watching.
• An adult must be present when tools are in use.
• Tools have special jobs and can be used only for that job. Hammers are used only for hammering nails into wood.
• Tools and supplies must be put away. Use a pegboard in the woodworking area to hold tools. Trace around the tools on the pegboard, and write the name of the tool next to the outline. This system makes it easier for children to return tools to their proper places.

Follow these suggestions

• Check home-improvement stores, lumberyards, and construction sites for scraps of wood. Soft woods are best.
• Introduce tools one at a time to small groups of students.
• Pound large-head nails (roofing nails) into stumps for practice. If your children are not ready for hammering real nails into wood, let them experiment by hammering golf tees into Styrofoam packing pieces.
• To avoid children hurting their fingers when nailing, use needle-nose pliers to hold the nail. Children can also push the nail through a small square of paper and then hold the paper to get the nail started.
• Use a vise or C-clamp to hold wood for sawing, drilling, and hammering. Most injuries happen to the hand that is holding the material-not the hand holding the tool.
• When sawing, either both hands must be on the saw or the “other” hand must be behind the child’s back.

Balancing Technology and Nature

Kids love to use technology. Technology offers an exciting way to engage children with the natural world. Use these suggestions to help your students learn new ways to interact with nature and each other.

Practice First

Before using a technology for the first time, let your students explore the technology and teach them how to use it properly. Something as a hand lens might be an entirely new experience for a child.

Get Digital

Take students on a nature walk. Give students opportunities to photograph things in their outdoor environment and bring this information back to the classroom.

Digital Recording Device

Record environmental sounds in a variety of areas around the school. Replay them in the classroom and have students use the information collected to construct a sound map.

Enhance Outdoor Exploration

View things in different ways by using magnifying lenses, bug boxes, and binoculars.

Changes in the Environment

Become aware of changes in the environment by observing sundials, windsocks, and thermometers.

Look Up Information About Nature

What kind of tree is that? There’s an app for that! See a cool bird? Google it!

• WildLab Bird - A free app that can be downloaded onto the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad (try iBird Lite for Android). Use WildLab Bird to learn the basics of bird identification. This application uses audio, photographs, maps, and the process of elimination to help identify over 200 bird species. Sightings can also be entered into a national bird watching database for comparison.
• WildObs Observer - A free app that can be downloaded onto the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and Android. WildObs Observer allows users to search for and identify thousands of species of mammals, birds, snakes, plants, and more. Log your wildlife encounters for your own calculations or upload them to a national database for comparison.
• Leafsnap - A free app that can be downloaded onto the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad (Andriod version in development). Leafsnap uses visual recognition software to help identify tree species from individual leaf photographs you take in the field. This application contains high-resolution images of bark, flowers, fruit, seeds, and more. Currently Leafsnap specializes in tree species found in the Northeastern United States, but expansion to include all US regions is underway.

The Sound of Nature

Nature is filled with an abundance of unforgettable sounds such as breezes whistling through leaves, birds singing early in the morning and streams gurgling over rocks. Use these fun ideas to help your students explore the many sounds of nature.

Forest Concert

Plan a field trip to a nearby nature area. Allow students time to sit and listen for the various sounds from nature, such as those made by birds, insects, and other animals. Talk about the different sounds you hear and ask students to imitate the sounds they heard. Try these suggestions for how to imitate the sounds:

•       birds – hoot, tweet, chirp or whistle
•        insects – buzz, hum, or chirp
•        squirrels – chatter
•       wind – rub hands together; blow air; whistle, swish, or swoosh
•        rain – tap feet or pat thighs; clap hands
•        thunder – stomp feet

Listening Walk

Before heading outside your listening walk, teach your students American Sign Language for a few outdoor sounds (e.g., wind, rain, animal, bug) – printable American Sign Language cards are available on the Project Learning Tree website.

Lead your students on an outdoor walk and use the signs to “tell” one another what you hear. Talk about the sounds heard:

• How would you describe this sound?
• Where to you think it is coming from?
• What do you think is making it?
• Can you imitate it?

Match the Sounds

Make two matching sets of plastic eggs filled with naturally “noisy” items (e.g., acorns, pebbles, grass, sand, soil, wood chips). Invite your students to shake the containers and find the matching sounds. Number the eggs and make a chart so you can record the matches.

Mother Nature Had a Prairie Song

Compose a song with your students using the sounds around the Old MacDonald theme. Instead of “Old MacDonald had a farm…,” create a new beginning that ties into the nature theme, such as “Mother Nature had a prairie” (or a pond, forest, etc.) A few animals found in a pond habitat, such as frogs and fish, would be a great verse or two. Integrating other animals and their habitats will reinforce student learning.

Natural Instruments

The natural world is home to many objects or materials that can be used to create sounds. Rubbing twigs together, crunching leaves, tapping rocks, or blowing on a blade of grass produce sounds that can be used to create “instrumental” creations. Combining natural items together would be an excellent way of making instruments. Challenge students to create their own natural sound makers to share with their classmates. Use their creations to study rhythms and other musical topics.

Recording Studio

Set up a recording studio with instruments, microphones, recording devices, CDs of nature sounds and blank media. Encourage your students to mix the sounds they make with natural sounds to create new sound recordings. Replay the new recordings and ask students to choreograph dances inspired by sounds in nature.

Reading Connections

Baylor, B. 1997. Other Way to Listen. Aladdin.

Carlstrom, N. 2000. Way to Wyatt's House. Walker & Company.

Clement, C. 1993. The Voice of the Wood. Puffin Books.

Davol, M.W. 1992. Heart of the Wood. Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers.

Merriam, E. 1993. Quiet, Please. Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers.

Owen, R. 1994. My Night Forest. Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers.

Showers, P. 1993. Listening Walk. HarperCollins Publishers.

Taylor, B. 1997. The Other Way to Listen. Alladin.

Shapes in Nature

Looking for a fun way to teach your students how to identify common shapes – take them outside. Shapes are all around us in nature. Here are some suggestions for finding them and fun ideas for further exploration.

Dance with Leaves 
Using a variety of leaves, ask the children to show you how they might use their body 
to look like the same shape as the leaves. Scatter leaves and play a version of musical 
chairs. When music stops each child goes to a leaf and makes their body look like 

the leaf shape. 

Hide and Seek with Shapes Game

Place small natural items (such as leaves, rocks, flowers) that are basic shapes onto a tray. Cover up the tray and take one away. Let the children guess which one is missing.

I Spy with Homemade Binoculars

Make binoculars for your students by stapling, gluing or taping two toilet paper tubes together. Punch holes in the tubes and attach yarn to make a neck strap. Encourage each child to decorate their binoculars with paints or stickers.

Using their binoculars, have children play, “I Spy”, for shapes within their natural environment.  Begin by saying, “I spy with my two eyes something the shape of…..”.  Children then have to look for that item and either name it, or go stand by it, if able.

Schoolyard Shape Guide

Make a shape guide to your schoolyard. Encourage children to find things outside that are different shapes and take pictures of them. Come inside and print the pictures and make a book. Have the child dictate their picture and write it down. Make into a book to read to the class and then add to your library.

Shape Scavenger Hunt

Take pictures of shapes both inside and outside the school. Make a copy of each picture. Have your students locate where that shape is.

Shape Walk

Give each child a construction paper shape cutout and have them string them onto a necklace (a labeled shape template is available on the Project Learning Tree website).  Take a short walk outside and have them look for various shapes outside.  When you return to your classroom, hold up each shape and have them tell you what they saw outside that was that shape.

• What did you see outside shaped like a ___________?
• Which shapes did you see the most?
• Which shapes are your favorites?

Spiral Art

Coil short lengths of rope into spirals. Press them into paint or ink and use them to print on paper. Make patterns or, with pens or markers, fill in more details to create artwork.

Twig Shapes
Provide twigs in varying lengths and shapes. Let the children make the shapes with 

the twigs (printable shape cards are available on the Project Learning Tree website). You could also cut the twigs so they are fractions of each other (e.g., two red twigs are the same length as one gray twig).

Reading Connections

Carter, D.A. 1996. Colors and Shapes. Little Simon.

Cole, H. 1998. I Took a Walk. HarperCollins Publishers.
Dodds, D. 1996. The Shape of Things. Candlewick Press.

Dotlich, R. 2000. What is a Triangle? HarperCollins Publishers.

Dotlich, R. 1999. What is a Square? HarperCollins Publishers.

Hoban, T. 2000. Shapes, Shapes, Shapes. HarperCollins Publishers.

Hoban, T. 1998. So Many Circles, So Many Squares.      HarperCollins Publishers.

Pallotta, J. 2004. Icky Bug Shapes. Scholastic, Inc.

Rau, D.M. 2006. Star in My Orange: Looking for Nature's Shapes. Lerner Publishing Group. Roemer, H.B. 2004. Come to My Party and Other Shape Poems. Henry Holt & Company, Incorporated.

Rotner, S. 1992. Nature Spy. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.

Roy, J.R. 2005. Patterns in Nature. Benchmark Books.

Sohi, M.E. 1995. Look What I Did with a Leaf! Walker & Company.

Stockdale, S. 1999. Nature's Paintbrush: The Patterns and Colors around You. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.

Swinburne, S.R. 2002. Lots and Lots of Zebra Stripes: Patterns in Nature. Boyds Mills Press.