“Me and Toby make a rock finder every day!” Isaac told Mrs Shipley as the boys made their way outside to test their latest innovation. How wonderful!

Brimming with limitless imagination, Reception children are drawn to the DT workshop, where they are encouraged to bring their wonderful ideas to life. We explore different materials and consider how to use them on a small or grand scale. As we grow through the year and develop our fine motor skills, the children will be taught how to use materials and tools most effectively. They are invited to plan their models and are supported in considering how they can adapt and improve their creations.

In this first term, we focus on joining different materials and exploring different textures: glue, masking tape, paper clips, hole punch and treasury tags. We discover that we need to share! This week, the children have been shown how to create texture by folding paper into zigzags and curling paper strips around a pencil. Look at the monsters we made.

You can set up a simple workshop at home by saving boxes, tubes, lids and adding glue sticks and masking tape. Ask the children to show you how they have been taught to look after resources in school: for example, only twisting up the glue stick a little bit at a time and replacing the lid so the glue does not dry out.

If you make anything at home, we would love for you to upload a photo to Tapestry so the children can inspire us with their creations, explaining the materials and processes that they have used.