Preliminary School

One of the many reasons the Amish keep their tools and techniques simple is so that their children can grow up observing and practicing how work is accomplished, starting with the earliest inclinations to imitate.

A Steiner School teacher in Denmark presents her children, each with his own pocket knife on celebration of the child's sixth birthday. Children start this kindergarten at three and a half years of age so that by the time each one turns six he has observed the older children using their knives over the course of several years. The pleasure and the safety of using a real knife have been absorbed through the intense observation and imitation that belongs to the early childhood years.

Imitation nurtures my grandson, Liam, when he copies his father using manual and power tools. Of course, he will not be allowed to use a real power tool for a very long time but he can imitate the use of a chain saw (with a yardstick) so effectively that his friends all demand yardsticks to play with. Last year's Christmas gifts of a real hammer, pliers, wrench, measuring tape, work gloves and safety glasses coupled with observation and imitation, take him one step closer to turning play into work, training his hands, his body, his whole being, to useful activity.