More fun with fixing

An opportunity to fix things helps children develop problem solving and critical thinking skills!

As mentioned in a previous post, we read the book “Fix-It” by David McPhail then explored different opportunities and tools for fixing things all around our classroom. Today, I want to share with some more fun we had with fixing…

Preparing the Invitation to Explore

On our “Fix-It” table, the children found a set of broken dishes and silverware with a sign up above that said, “Can you fix it?”  Who on earth would have broken Mrs. Stewart’s dishes and “Can we fix it? Yes we can!”…

The dishes I used for this process are all plastic that I got from the Dollar Store (Deals). I chose the dishes because they look almost real.  To cut the plates in half, I used a pair of scissors to snip one edge then carefully snapped the plates in half. The children did ask me if the dishes were real and I had to explain that they were plastic dishes and only looked real…

For the silverware, I snapped the handles off kind of low so the children could more easily tape the handle back to the fork, knife or spoon…

And as the tool of choice for fixing the dishes, I set out rolls of tape on our tape dispenser (which was our tube holder last week and a paper dispenser on other weeks) and invited the children to use the tape to see if they could fix the dishes…

Matching Their Dishes

The children spent a lengthy portion of the morning fixing dishes. For the plates, the children had to start by matching two sides of a plate together.  Most of the plates matched up pretty nicely but since they were broken, we didn’t worry about perfection here. Once their plates were matched up the children used tape to fix them (put them back together)…

Using Trial and Error

To put the silverware back together, the children had to match the handle of the silverware to their fork, knife, or spoon. Again, we were not looking for perfection in the matching process but I did hear several of the children discussing with one another which handle went with the knife versus the fork or spoon. The knife handle was a little different than the other two handles. Once they found a match, the children used tape to fix the handles on our silverware…

Building Fine Motor Skills

While fixing the dishes, the children had to really work to keep their items in place, pull off their desired tape from the tape dispenser, cut or tear the tape, and put the tape around the handles or across their plates. The children would test their dishes to see if they were secure. If not, the children added more tape until they were satisfied…

Eventually, we ran out of “real plates” so the I gave the children some left-over paper plates to fix. While watching the children try to coordinate so many different skills to fix their dishes, it was often tempting to want to jump in there and help them but I always try to remember this quote…

“Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed.”

~Maria Montessori

And the children did succeed – in fact, the children were master dish fixers!

Adding to the Process

As the morning progressed, the children continued to add to the process of fixing their dishes and started drawing or printing on them too…

The children’s dishes were more beautiful after they had been fixed than they ever were before!

A couple of the children went home with an entire set of dishes…

Expanding on the Activity

And real quick, I want to go ahead and share this final “fix-it” process of the day. Someone tore up all of the pictures in the basket and the children had to find the matching two pieces of a picture and glue the picture back together. I wouldn’t say that this was the most popular center of the day but we did have a few takers and they did a wonderful job searching through and finding the matching pieces to their picture they chose to fix…

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Deborah J Stewart

Deborah J Stewart

Every time I think I know everything I need to know about teaching young children, God says, "Hold on a minute!" and gives me a new challenge.

Let me tell ya...

With each new challenge that you overcome, you will find yourself better equipped and more passionate about teaching young children.

God didn't call wimps to lead, teach, or care for His children. Nope, he has high expectations, so get ready. You will have to give your very best but after teaching for over 30 years, I can tell you that it is a wonderful and rewarding journey.

Whenever your calling feels hard, just remember, 'He who began a good work in you (and in the children you serve) will be faithful to complete it.'

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