Educational Value of Making

The following is from Mason and Houghton's Educational Value of Making, Issues in Design Technology

Making is inherently pleasurable in itself and a critically important biological drive... the pleasure children experience in handling and crafting physical materials is inextricably linked to the tool making and ceremonial (artistic) functions of human activity that play an essential part in human evolutionary development and are crucial to human survival.

This quoted from a paper by Elizabeth Garber, "Craft Education in Finland". which can be downloaded in full as a .pdf file.