"The saw must always be held with both hands – otherwise the risk of injuring yourself with the sharp edge is much too high, explains harry hammer alias matthias theobald. Around him and his partner nicky nagel (corinna sichart) 16 preschool children sat in a circle. Visibly excited and highly concentrated, the girls and boys follow the explanations given by the two. After each child has been given a yellow construction worker’s helmet, they finally go into the next room. There are already hammers, tools, files, pliers and building blocks ready for the little ones to use.
"Today, a total of four stations will be completed – by the end of the morning, all the children will have made a wooden house and a fence to go with it. The handling of wood and tools is an integral part of our culture and is unfortunately often neglected today", according to matthias theobald. Through the "master builders wanted" project! Harry hammer and nicky nagel on tour", the aim of the bavarian construction industry’s young talent initiative is to enable preschool children to gain their first age-appropriate experience of the building trade. "The project is already in its fourth year, with a total of 21 daycare centers being visited in 2017. Unfortunately, practical experience is increasingly taking a back seat in education and training – we want to counteract this trend in the long term", says matthias theobald.
A lot of preparation was necessary for the day of action. "Last week we told the children that we would soon be getting a visitor and that they would then become little master builders themselves. Together we looked at the subject of building houses – it was really amazing how well some of the children already knew about it," says gisela salwender, reports educator stefanie wachsmann "the joy of the children today is indescribable. It is very exciting for the boys and girls to be able to try out tools for themselves".
As part of the project, the kindergarten received its own workbench and a matching toolbox, and the items will definitely be used even more often in the future. "When you see how happy the children are, it definitely makes sense to continue with the project and let the children work with the tools again and again in small groups", gisela salwender. The head of the kindergarten is particularly enthusiastic about the conversations that develop between the children: "the children ask each other how the tools work and also learn something from their neighbors. I would like to thank the company hauck tiefbau for sponsoring the project and making this day possible."
If it had been up to the company hauck tiefbau, nicky nagel and harry hammer would have already come to the kindergarten grobheirath last year. "I became aware of the project a year and a half ago, but after our first application we only ended up on the waiting list – but this year it finally worked out," says matthias theobald, isabell hauck "it’s getting harder and harder to get young people interested in craftsmanship. But as you can see today, the children are very enthusiastic about their work. In my opinion, the bavarian construction industry’s project is a good way of getting to grips with tools for the first time," says harry hammer.
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