Toy Workshop

What you need

• small boxes, cardboard tubes and plastic tubs
• masking tape
• crayons
• a gift tag or a scrap of paper for a label
• two or three soft toys as customers

How to do it

1. Set up a workshop on a low table with the boxes, tubes, tubs and tape, and sit the soft toys in a row as customers.
2. Let each toy ask for a present: "Bear would like a car", "Bunny wants a house".
3. Build each toy with your child, joining boxes and tubes with tape and adding details in crayon.
4. Write the toy's name on a gift tag, tape it on and let your child hand each present to its new owner.

Why it matters

Building to an order is planning, making and fixing all in one, and handing it over at the end makes the work feel worth it.

What they're learning

Joining things

Holding two boxes together while taping them takes two hands and a plan.

Making a plan

Deciding which box will be the car and which tube the chimney is thinking ahead.

Giving

Making something for someone else and handing it over is a happy, finished job.

What to look for

Notice them telling you what each box is going to be before they start taping.

A tip

Tear a few pieces of masking tape ready along the table edge. Anything goes: a wonky car is still a car.

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