Montessori Materials: Clay Hammering Exercise

Wooden hammer and large convenient nails will help the child develop visual-motor coordination, fine motor skills, and practical life skills.

This exercise involves the use of small muscles that control the wrist, hand, fingers, and thumb. The child's wrist, hand, and fingers should develop strength, dexterity, and fine motor skills. This exercise helps establish a foundation for future tasks, including writing, reading, buttoning shirts, and zipping up jackets.

Presentation:

1. Introduce the child to the materials for the activity. Show and name them in detail.
2. Arrange the materials in a convenient working position: place the hammer on the dominant side, nails opposite it, and a plastic base in the center. It is recommended to work at a table, using a tray.
3. Slowly demonstrate to the child how to hold the hammer. Take a nail and, holding it by the base, place it on the surface of the plastic. Coordinate the hand to accurately hit the nail with the hammer.
4. Invite the child to repeat the task.
5. Show how to remove the nail in the easiest way. Optionally, additional tools available at home can be used for this purpose.

Later on, the child can use this hammer for working with real metal nails. Plastic can also be used for creative activities.

The material is suitable for both boys and girls, who will eagerly practice this activity for a long time.

This activity is common in Montessori settings and has long caught my attention. Starting with such work, the child will later be able to easily acquire skills for working with adult tools. It will not only learn to think logically, calculate the force of the strike, control its body and precision, but also develop creative thinking and imagination.

Such a simple yet brilliantly useful activity for a child!