There are certain shops I won’t walk out of empty handed; even if I tell myself (and my husband) that I’ll just walk in there just for a look. Determined as I may be to not spend a cent, I walk out with a bag and lighter wallet. In my younger days, (pre babies and kids) my soft spot was the stationery shop. I would buy some pretty paper, or some stamp, or a special pen. I still adore those things, but as a mum of four young kids now, my paper crafting time has been placed in storage. My practical voice has shifted my soft spot to the art and craft store: paint, glue, crayons, low temp hot glue gun. You know, just the essentials – ha!

One day I walked into the art and craft store. The store assistant asked what I was after and I asked for some florist’s oasis. She asked what I needed them for and I told her, “So my kids can hammer golf tees into them”. “Hmmm,” she said. The sort of hmmm that was a polite way of saying, “You’re nuts lady”. After some explanation of the play I had in mind, she said, “Oh – we’ve got a hammer and cork board play set for that!”. Well, I think I’d just fallen in love that that store even more. I better not walk within 100 metres of that shop for the next few months.

 Materials
Hammer
Corkboard
Thumbnails
Predrilled pieces of wood

How We Played

Using one hand, stabilise the thumbnail into the board.
Using the other hand (usually the dominant hand), hammer  the nail into the board.

To start, we just hammered thumbnails into the board.

As N & M grew more confident with the tools, they hammered small wooden pieces to the cork board and created various pictures by putting different pieces together.

Ways to Extend the Play

Have races with each other – first to nail a set number of pieces to the board, etc.
Create patterns with the wood to be copied.
Mark places for the wood to be nailed to, aiming to improve accuracy.

Check out our other fine motor skill activities.

Be sure to follow along via our Facebook page (Lessons Learnt Journal) or Lessons Learnt Journal Pinterest Boards. We have many fun ideas to share.

N&M: 3 years, 11 months.
May 2012