Many children enjoy exploring materials and objects to see how they were put together and how they work. They will happily take things apart and invent new uses for them. Young children make 'houses' and create play spaces that require considerable inventiveness and planning. They enjoy handling construction materials, experiencing their solidity and exploring their expressive and construction possibilities. Developing spatial awareness and awareness of the strengths and possibilities of materials go hand in hand with imaginative play and makebelieve. Construction activities at all levels provide opportunities for developing ideas about structure and space and for organising, planning and carrying them through.
Construction starts in infant classes with simple building and balancing, for example with a number of small boxes. Children may be asked to build high, to incorporate a bridge or doorway, or to play with the boxes in a creative way, arranging and rearranging them to express the world of their imagination. It should be understood that an element of 'let's pretend' is part of this, and they should be encouraged to talk about their constructions. At times there may be an opportunity to define spaces in their own way, for example with large lightweight boxes, and to play makebelieve within these spaces: there areopportunities for integration with drama here. On the basis of this type of experience, children will be able, as they develop, to build increasingly complex structures. They will be encouraged to create more subtle and varied spatial configurations, using open and closed spaces. They should always be encouraged to view their work from a variety of angles to maintain a threedimensional consciousness of the whole.
Starting points for construction
Children need some form of stimulus as a starting point for construction. Experiences in other media will enrich their work in construction, especially in
The ability to create three-dimensional spaces and inhabit them imaginatively and the ability to express this in a variety of media is a crucial development in children's visual awareness. The subject matter can range from abstract constructions, castles, robots and models with moving parts for space adventure stories to objects designed to fulfil a function in the home or on a building site. Stories, poems, songs, films, videos, television programmes or works of art could inspire ideas. Sources for the latter could include the work of artists such as Anthony Caro, Vivienne Roche and Michael Warren. Construction is an ideal medium for group work, for sharing ideas and discovering ways of reconciling aesthetic and functional requirements so that the object or structure is the children's personal response to an idea or theme and works as intended.
EXEMPLAR 20 - Construction: an imaginative plaything (first and second classes)
Focusing on construction materials and tools provides children with opportunities to concentrate on
- the challenge of working in three dimensions
- exploring the possibilities of the materials and experimenting in combining and re-combining them in as many ways as possible
- improving their understanding of structural strengths in construction.
Experimenting with the properties of materials and discovering their suitability for particular tasks is an important part of construction, and there are opportunities here for integration with science. Material resources are a major consideration in planning a programme in construction. The variety and quality of the materials available will greatly influence the value of the construction activities. Open-ended exploration of a wide range of materials should be encouraged -- without any preconceived idea of a final product -- so that children can discover what the materials can do, what happens to them as structures are developed and how the materials themselves can sometimes dictate form.
Children should be encouraged to collect suitable scrap materials so that they can see what choices they have for different tasks and plan accordingly. Found materials provide opportunities for deepening understanding of the properties of a wide variety of materials, for solving problems of balance and for developing design ideas in three dimensions. In designing with discarded materials, children can also explore how combinations of materials can add textural and decorative interest.
A large collection of small white painted boxes is useful in helping less experienced children to concentrate on structure when they are experimenting with building, balancing and grouping and as they attempt to glue pieces together as a piece of sculpture. They will need stimulation and encouragement in solving problems in design and balance, as well as adequate time and, where possible, space.
Construction resources could include
- an assortment of cardboard boxes and possibly small wooden blocks
- sheets of cardboard
- cardboard cylinders
- cardboard, plastic and polystyrene packaging
- fabric and fibre
- wood offcuts
- disused small machine parts
- discarded oddments from, for example, house renovations or building sites
- general junk
- glue
- scissors
- hammer and nails
- tempera paint.
Working from observation and curiosity gives children opportunities to
- look at natural and manufactured structures analytically, critically and appreciatively
- develop sensitivity to underlying form in the environment
- develop an understanding of how artists and architects organise spaces and adapt this to their own needs.
Exploring structure in nature and in the work of artists, architects and craftspeople from their own and other traditions and times will help to raise their consciousness of spatial organisation as well as helping to imbue in them a sense of wonder and appreciation of nature and art. In the natural world, their attention can be drawn to sea shells (bivalves or spirals), plants and parts of plants, flowers, seed pods, human and animal skeletons, birds' and insects' nests, rock formations, and crystal formations. Close observation helps to stimulate ideas for construction activities. Classrooms should therefore display stimulating collections of toys, games, boxes and other artefacts with interesting structures and should have a selection of slides or prints for reference.
Looking at important buildings and structures and at models, plans, prints or slides will also help to spark ideas and develop emerging ideas further. Visually stimulating buildings of a wide range of styles from different times and cultures would include civic, religious, industrial and domestic examples. Railway stations, hospitals, religious houses, courthouses, town halls or city halls and commercial banks are often interesting features of towns and cities, as are structures such as bridges, harbours and public sculpture.
The range could extend from stone forts, passage graves, dolmens (portal tombs), standing stones, crannógs and the pyramids, through romanesque churches, mediaeval and Renaissance castles, palaces and churches to the modern era of, for example,
Le Corbusier's church at Ronchamp- I. M. Pei's glass pyramid at the Louvre
- Antoni Gaudí's Church of the Sagrada Familia, Barcelona
- the head office of Met Éireann in Dublin, as well as examples of Georgian architecture and buildings by Gandon. Examples of Scandinavian design and of the eastern design traditions of India and Japan could also be studied.
Vernacular architecture and craftsmanship from different cultures are also sources of design ideas. Children will be interested in both the structural and the decorative aspects of mud houses, houses on stilts, boat houses, cave dwellings and caravans, as well as in our own native cottages and tower-houses.