From a tree to a toy in the kindergarten

The theoretical part of the thesis is divided into two parts. The first one includes themes that are connected with development characteristics of children aged five to six (cognitive, emotional, social and cognitive, oral and motor). Since each child brings to kindergarten his own habits and needs and is different from others, it is necessary that the nursery teacher is aware of his development levels, rules and features of each individual in order to adjust activities to the child. The chapter dealing with wood introduces the structure of wood, its characteristics and processing. The second part illustrates child's game and education in the kindergarten. The empirical part involves the questionnaire technique which was carried out before different activities took place. It helped me find out how much the children knew about wood in natural environment, forest in order to make connections between trees, wood and wooden toys. There is the description of activities in the playroom and the children's active involvement in the research themes. Some activities were provided outside the playroom: a guided tour to the forest with a forester, a visit to a wood-processing plant Uniles in Laze, a visit to a woodworking workshop and wooden products at the market. The practical part in the kindergarten included work with wooden toys that were made together and with the one made by each individual. The description of wooden toys involves introduction of material, tools, accessories, methodical procedure of making a toys with some photos and the analysis