Using real tools

Nothing is more discouraging to a child than to have toys or tools which prevent him from achieving the competence at which he most certainly aims, young though he is.

Toy tools so often fall into this category. It is therefore much more satisfactory to give a child the real tools for the job, although it means that he has to be supervised.

Hammers, nails, pincers, screw-drivers, saws, and gimlets are all tools which he can learn to use with care. Chisels are best omitted, as they are the tools most likely to cause accidents.

Do not overlook cardboard or balsa-wood as suitable materials for learning the technique of sawing or knocking in nails etc. fairly easy success is necessary to the beginner. There is a great deal of household material which the child can effectively use to make models which should, of course, be the result of his own imagination and inventiveness, however unreal they may seem to us.