Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school Good things for my 4-year old to take apart?

My son is about to turn 4 (next week!) and is fully entering a bit of a destructive stage. He's super into cars and loves his model die-cast cars but he loves them to death. Wing mirrors, headlights, wheels, seats, steering mechanisms, and anything else you can think of ends up coming off of his cars. He also takes apart the tape dispenser while we're doing crafts, takes the knobs off of our lamps, etc etc. He does love building things with Lego and stuff like that, but he seems to have a particular urge to disassemble things right now.

Anyways, I was wondering if anyone could suggest some good toys or household objects that he could take apart? I've let him play with ballpoint pens and flashlights, but couldn't come up with anything else with a simple 'cool' mechanism that he could explore that wouldn't be too dangerous. Bonus points if he could actually maybe get it back together by himself. He is proficient with a screwdriver and can change the batteries in his toys and stuff like that.

My hobby at that age was taking apart calculators and I never injured myself.

We work on bikes (raising the seat once in a while).

We do try to wear safety glasses as much as possible.

Not sure if Snap Circuits or some kind of toy like that might be fun. It's safe and they have a Remote Controlled rover and also a kit where you can build machines that move.

I agree with the safety glasses suggestion! There are kid-sized versions available.

I think I would wander through a nearby Goodwill or Salvation Army store and see what's cheap/interesting. Certain types of toys, along with small household appliances, would be my suggestion.

We go to thrift stores and buy electric kettles, irons, computers, hair dryers, bike pumps, clocks, toasters, and coffee makers to disassemble and reassemble. I've also bought inexpensive new electric toothbrushes and have been known to take apart the vacuum.

"How it's made" is my son's favourite show, and you can find 5-6 minute segments on many topics on YouTube.

Anytime we need to do household repairs or installations, we ensure DS does as much work as possible. We did a simple woodworking project together recently to build a toy dump truck, which he also enjoyed.

We also do a lot of science play at home, making things like anemometers, hovercrafts, thermometers, etc.

Garage sales are a great source of old computers and appliances, too - usually free. Computers are serious fun to dissect (but they might not go back together so well).

For less supervision-intensive play, if he's not already too old, you can also make a wood block(s) with lots of different sized and types of screws, bolts, and whatever else is within your safety margins.

At our local kids consignment store, I found a number of plastic build-and-take apart toys (trucks, cranes, etc) that could be (dis)assembled with plastic drill/ screwdriver, wrenches and sockets. Some had many different kinds/ sizes of attachments, and 40 or more parts to fit and attach together, so these could get a little more sophisticated.

And of course, there's Meccano, of the traditional ilk as well as the younger kids plastic stuff.

I used to love taking old broken clocks and clockwork mechanisms apart. You can buy these pretty cheaply at thrift stores. Just watch for choking hazards if there are even younger siblings around. A set of watchmakers screwdrivers, Allen keys and wrenches would be required too,of course.

We just took apart an old DVD player. My son is 4.5. It was fantastic.

My daughter 3 years old is always coming up to me to ask for tools to take things apart. I consider each thing for the risk analysis, but most things I do let her take apart with what I consider to be a fair amount of supervision. There are a few things that I tell her that if she wants to take it apart she needs to keep asking me until I am convinced she really really wants to take it apart. An example is one of her favorite toys when I know the way she wants to take it apart will destroy it. I make sure that she understands there is no putting it back together, and if she keeps insisting... well we have a broken toy.

I will say that I try to neither encourage, nor discourage this drive, therefore the what gets torn apart is largely her decision, but she has to ask if it is not hers, and she has to ask to use grown up tools.

I will also add that I do encourage constructive activities like helping assemble things. She did a lot of the work on putting her big girl bed together.

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone! I love this forum.

We do have some 'construction' type toys (especially Lego) and he likes those as well but his urge to disassemble is pretty strong so I wanted to help feed that a bit. I was mostly picturing something he could fiddle apart at the dinner table while I made dinner, so I'd step in and help/supervise a little but not do the whole thing with him.

As I think about it more though, I think a lot of the fiddling apart the cars is because he's wanting to play 'mechanic' so he breaks something and then tries to put it back. Just doesn't always work out for him... it doesn't help that his dad is pretty good at fixing stuff and takes it as a personal challenge to get it back together. So my son has a sense that everything is fixable eventually.

Are there any types of small appliances that should definitely be avoided because they contain mercury/strong capacitors/anything like that?