Shortly after turning 2, Adrian finally mastered the Nuts & Bolts Activity. This activity is great for boys as they are more inclined to mimic seeing their fathers work with tools, but Julia occasionally would enjoy this activity as well.
rolling out a mat to define the work-space
He has to unscrew the bolts first…
He soon realized that he has to hold the bolt with the other hand while unscrewing/screwing the nut to prevent futile spinning …
unscrewing is done! Let's screw them back together!
He is very precise even with the tiniest bolt & nut. The activity is pretty self-correcting as the bolts are made to fit its respective holes, so are the nuts. If the whole is too big, such will be obvious to the toddler since they will have difficulties screwing on the nut.
Adrian decides to insert all the bolts first …
& he starts with the tiniest nut
then he chooses the second smallest …
this time, the nut is too small for the chosen bolt
This is the one! I love the "control of error" concept in Montessori education where the child is able to self-correct without any adult help/supervision. Like here, one 1 nut will fit only 1 respective bolt, so any mistake will be quite obvious.
All done! What is next?
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