At Peopleplace, a cooperative preschool in Camden, Maine, children explore, wonder, experiment, and problem solve in several spaces. These include a yurt nestled into the woods that serves as a nature-based classroom and a room in our main building that we use as a woodworking space. 

During early fall 2022, the 10 4- and 5-year-olds in Ms. Duffelmeyer’s and Ms. Grover’s Branching Out class began showing an interest in birds. They explored nesting balls, used small figurines of different bird species during dramatic play, and made bird habitats with materials provided by the teachers. They enjoyed listening to fiction and nonfiction books on birds and shared personal stories about runaway guinea hens, the adventures of a pet parakeet, and their experiences looking for turkey tracks. Then one winter day, while eating a snack outside, they heard an intense knocking. 

“That’s a pileated woodpecker!” one child said. Other children asked, “What is a pileated woodpecker?”; “What is he pecking at?”; “What does he eat?”; “Isn't he cold?” 

Asking the children what they knew about woodpeckers and what they would like to know, Ms. Duffelmeyer and Ms. Grover began facilitating a variety of activities. These included exploring field guides, reading nonfiction bird books, and asking the children to share their own knowledge. The group took several hikes with binoculars, listening and looking for woodpeckers.  

Many of the children’s questions were about how and what woodpeckers ate. Noticing that there was an active birdhouse in the woods but no birdfeeders, they decided to build some.

Woodworking is an ongoing theme at Peopleplace: It reflects the building and carpentry that many of our families contribute to the cooperative. It also allows children to use their hands to create and express themselves (one of the 100 languages inspired by the Reggio approach to early childhood education). 

The woodworking space at Peopleplace is equipped with tools and supplies needed for various woodworking projects. After researching different types of birdfeeders, the children created a materials list. This included small branches they had hand-sawed off of trees, boards in the workshop, wire for hanging, and bird seed. They also came up with a list of tools to use: hand and power drills, safety glasses, clamps, levels, and different sizes of drill bits.  

The teachers laid out clipboards and paper and asked the children to use their imaginations, knowledge, and research to design their own woodpecker feeders. Using the designs as a guide, each child chose their woodworking materials. Ms. Duffelmeyer and Ms. Grover instructed them on safety, then encouraged them to practice drilling boards with hand and power tools.  

When the children were ready to begin building, the teachers assisted them as they measured, leveled, clamped, and drilled. By trial and error, they learned it was easier to start holes with the power drill and finish them with the hand drill. They learned that soft wood is easier to drill through than hard wood and that bigger drill bits are more effective than tiny ones. After the birdfeeders were built, the children used thin popsicle sticks to place lard and sunflower seeds inside the tiny holes. Then they hung the feeders in the woods.  

Besides fostering a valuable learning experience, this woodworking project promoted creativity, eye-hand coordination, imagination, problem solving, collaboration, math, fine motor development, and literacy. But most of all, it nurtured an appreciation of and stronger connection to our natural world.  

Photographs: courtesy of the authors
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