Gifts and Gadgets

Being a former teacher and grandmother, it is only natural to think of things as ways to teach.  Tiny tots can learn to pick up toys.  Children a little older can learn to fold washcloths and small towels.  Older children can learn to vacuum and dust.  Teenagers can learn to do laundry.  Many things come to mind that children can learn just by living in their home and observing.  It usually takes an incentive to learn to do things that are not fun in and of themselves.  However, these things are necessary to a neat and tidy home.

Thinking of an incentive, brings to mind some wooden birdhouses that we have had.  One stays in the house and is used as a decoration from time to time.  Another was built as a tool to help a teenager learn to use a hammer and saw.  Wooden birdhouses can be both decorative and useful.  Our decorative birdhouse has been home to at least two different birds.  The house holds up better than those pretend birds.  The outside birdhouse was actually used by some real birds.  It is interesting to see them choose and use something you have put out for their comfort and safety.  Additional learning was obtained by realizing that birds need food and you can help provide it by putting it on their “porch” while they are gone.  It was also a learning tool that birds make messes and that they do not clean them up themselves.  That can be done, but is not as much fun as putting out the food and watching the birds.  Anyway,  using daily life as a learning tool is something we need to do. Using wooden birdhouses that can go inside or outside is one way to do it.