Little Girls and Their Tools

For the past couple of weeks, I've had several tools set up on the back deck as I work off and on at a few projects--fused plastic bead suncatchers, homemade checkers, and an expansion set of tree blocks.

This is, of course, the best kind of invitation for my girls to also work with tools. Mind you, they can work with tools anytime they wish, but that would involve the girls getting them out, setting them up, and putting them away again. If Momma already has the mess made and the responsibility for cleaning it up later, then how much more tempting the activity becomes!

I love to watch the different ways that they explore. There's some purposeful, product-driven work, yes--

drilling a hole to hang the suncatcher

 --but mostly it's just fun to use the tools and watch what they do:

drilling and engraving in scratch wood (and the workbench!)

hammering into an old piece of tree that I keep around just for using tools on

hammering and drilling (and some sawing)

smashing up a broken plate

It's still one of my goals to set up a workshop area just for the girls, similar to the one in their old Montessori classroom--but even bigger and better, of course! After finally getting around to making their Waldorf dolls this summer, after years of thinking about it, and feeling like I almost missed the window for Willow to really enjoy her doll (it helps my heart to notice that she sleeps with it every night), I'm trying not to let myself put off these big projects that I want to do for the girls, because they simply insist on continuing to grow and change and grow out of things that they used to love. They need that second batch of hand-dyed play silks that I promised, and the PVC pipe play house, and the workshop area just for them.

I suppose that the winter to-do list could always use just a few more items...

shared on Friday's Nature Table