I happened to have a bunch of kids at my house. I also happened to have a VCR that I bought at the thrift shop for $3.98 on 1/2 price day. Borrowing Dennis' tools, I gave them something to keep them busy for an hour and a half.
I did not give them any instructions, but I told them that they were welcome to the tools and the VCR if they had interest. They all went promptly to work.
They were all interested in different parts of the machine. Some liked the circuit boards, other copper wiring, some smooth spinning wheels on ball bearings, and some were interested in fashion - look, Janet...I made a headband!
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I was watching 'headband girl' for several minutes, because she seemed to be on the periphery of the project and I was trying to see if she needed me to intervene for her. Then I noticed what she was doing was taking the discarded screws and matching them to the screwdrivers that were available. She informed me that there were 'star-shaped' tops and 'lines'. Neat.
When they all had their fill of unscrewing, wire clipping, hammering, unsnapping, and breaking the VRC down it's tiniest elements, they procured Ziploc bags and divided up the booty. There was trading and negotiating, a little fighting and then they all seemed to gather an acceptable cache of 'treasure'.
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No tools or children were hurt in the carrying out of this challenge.
Dangerous? No, not really. But really interesting.
Love!
ReplyDeleteThis is a super idea! You should (if you'd like!) link it up at Look What We Did...http://lookwhatwedid-homeschool.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteThis is the best kid activity ever! My five-year-old son does it all the time (with help) and he has even started saving his money to buy thrift store treasures to dismantle. Usually it's easier to wheedle something out of his grandpa, though.
ReplyDelete