Materials
Five unusual gadgets or parts of gadgets, safe enough for the children to handle
Cards describing in words or symbols a variety of activities, such as washing dishes, building adoghouse, riding a pony, at least one per child
Instructions
1. Ask the children to sit in a circle, and allow them to pass around and examine each of the gadgets.
2. Collect the gadgets and place them on the floor in the center of the circle.
3. Begin with a child who often produces creative responses. Let her draw an activity card from the deck and help her read the card aloud. Say, "Which one of the gadgets on the floor might you use to help someone (name the activity on the card)?" Encourage her to demonstrate how the item would be employed.
4. Now the child can return the gadget to the center of the floor, and you can ask another child to select an unused card from the deck, repeating the procedure in step 3. Continue until each child has had the opportunity to explore how a gadget might be used.More to doLanguage: Encourage children to describe their new inventions and to explain how they work and what they're used for.More science: Supply your young inventors with safe gadget-building materials such as empty spools, drain stoppers, large metal bolts, rubber washers, pieces of broken gadgets, zippers, etc. Encourage them to create new, never-before-invented gadgets.
