Hammer Heads!
This is an old preschool staple, but none of my mommy friends had ever heard of it, so I am sharing so everyone can try this super simple and fun activity.
- Gather your materials. You will need some Styrofoam, golf tees, a play hammer and your child. Seriously how simple is that?
- Put the golf tees in the Styrofoam – don’t push them all the way in though.
- Add your little one and let them pound it in.
- You will not want to leave them unattended, in case a tee breaks, or small bits of the Styrofoam breaks off. So watch carefully as they have a blast hammering! Oh and don’t tell them they are building fine motor skills too!
Song!
This Is The Way We Build A House
This is the way we pound our nails,
pound our nails, pound our nails,
This is the way we pound our nails, so early in the morning.
This is the way we turn the screw,
Turn the screw, turn the screw
This is the way we turn the screw, so early in the morning.
This is the way we saw the wood
saw the wood, saw the wood,
This is the way we saw the wood, so early in the morning!
This is the way we build a house,
build a house, build a house.
This is the way we build a house so early in the morning!
Book!
” Building a House” by Byron Barton is a no frills look at how homes are built. The bright colors and concise wording is perfect for preschoolers. I love that there is writing on one page and illustrations on the other, makes it super easy to show children the pictures as well as for them to see you follow the text with your finger!
** Since originally reviewing this book, it has become a bedtime book at our house, my 2 year old is thoroughly obsessed!
Professional Mommy says
Oh, this is so neat!
Bonnie says
Even more fun if you use colored golf tees. You can also do color matching by putting marker dots of different colors on the Styrofoam for your child to match the golf tee to.
Suzanne says
cute video…my 3 year old is in my lap and he really enjoyed it!!
Gottfredsen says
Hi,
I am a lurker mostly on your blog but I love the activities that you do with your son. I wanted to share on this activity that you can use clay instead of styrofoam. It cuts down on the mess a lot. I actually picked up one of the two sided tupperware containers for it. I put the clay in one side and golf tee in the other side, makes for easier storage. I do have one picture of them playing it recently. here is the link for it. http://gottfredsenacademy.blogspot.com/2008/12/photo-recap.html It is the last picture.
Ruth says
Oh, I remember doing this with my oldest son when he was littler. He was really into Bob the Builder at the time, so he absolutely loved this. He did it over and over until the styrofoam was so holey it was useless and had to be chucked.
Amber, That's Me! says
Our Parents as Teachers lady brought this to our house. Brock had so much fun with it and I saved some of our Christmas stryo. to make some more. One tip she did though was that she covered the block in packing take and that keeps any little pieces from breaking off and it can still be used over and over.
Allie says
Great tips !
Thanks for sharing- I will try them all!
Julie says
with my lil guy, we’ve used a cardboard box and real nails/hammer. he loved it.
Sunshine says
Perfect for my little craftsman! You’re ideas are wonderful.
Clemencia says
Oh my! what an awesome idea, I would never thought of that, but thank you so much for the activity 🙂
Anonymous says
to add more difficulty i get my son to put the tees in by himself and then he has to balance a marble on top…u could also use golf balls.
Challenges him to put tees in neatly so marbles stay on 🙂
(he is 2.5 yrs by the way)
Nicole B. says
this seemed like the easiest, fastest activity ever, so i got stuff together quickly while my son was playing. so i put the tee in partway while he was watching, and unfortunately this became the way it was to be done. i think also he got quicker results with his finger than the hammer in terms of pushing it into the styrofoam…
have you ever considered doing an “outtakes” post? i have a hard time getting my almost 3 year old to do ANY craft or art, despite having what seems like dozens of great activities printed out and ready. i guess it would just make me feel better to know i’m not the only one 🙂
Allie says
Did he have fun putting the tees in with his hands? I have a few classic catastrophe’s to – my lentil flowers resulted in lentils all over my floor, when I did the island Christmas tree I knew there would be sand everywhere, which I had resigned myself too- however I forgot that when you clean sand up with a dust buster the sand scatters and shoots out like tiny bullets- my son got some in his face and was traumatized.
Our main “out take” is my son’s insatiable appetite for glue and paint. I can’t get him to eat people food for breakfast 5 days out of 7 but glue and paint always hit the spot!
Fran says
LOVE this idea….J & J will love it! I'll have to get ready for this tomorrow! I love the out take idea! 🙂
Heather says
We introduced this hammering golf tee activity to our daughterwhen she was 18 months old. She LOVED and still asks now and then if she can do it. She is now 4-years-old.