Children can encounter 'magic' in three main ways, which will spark their interest and lead into opportunities for fantasy and role play or exciting explorations.
Magic is central to many traditional tales. There are Jack's magic beans, Aladdin's magic lamp and the fairy godmother's magic wand.
Fantasy play that can stem from such tales allows young children to dabble with magic and take on the roles of goodies, baddies, monsters, witches, heroes, wizards and fairy godmothers.
Through such play, children can explore themes of hope and fear, good and bad, kindness and cruelty. It is our role as practitioners to observe the children's play and enter, where appropriate, as a minor character to model language and behaviour.
Seeing a magician live or on TV may inspire children and leave them wanting to try to re-enact some of the tricks they have seen. Early years settings can have a supply of 'magic' resources to hand and be ready to teach the children some simple coin and card tricks.
Aspects of science and natural phenomena may also appear magical to children, such as plant shoots popping from the ground, rainbows, making a blade of grass whistle and so on.
Stage some exciting 'magical' experiments in response to children's current interests, and take on the role of scientist by observing, testing and hypothesising. Marvel with the children and model probing questions, conjecturing and speculating about what would happen if...
ROLE-PLAY AREA
Add 'magical' resources to the role-play area so that the children can act out fantasy stories. Provide:
- hats, bags, red shoes, shawls, cloaks, fabrics such as velvet, muslin, silk, gold lame, wings
- magic wands, conch shells, beans
- magic carpet, magic chair
- pot for magic porridge or making spells
- spell ingredients: bubble mixture, sequins, glitter, coloured water
- glow sticks, masks.
Learning opportunities
Seeking out other people to share experiences
Selecting and carrying out activities independently
Talking for a variety of purposes
Using language to imagine and recreate roles and experiences
Playing alongside other children who are engaged in the same theme
Playing co-operatively as part of a group to act out a narrative
ADULT ROLE
- Make sure that the action is centred on the children and is child-initiated. Follow the children's plan rather than a worked-out plan of your own, and engage as a secondary, rather than central, character.
- Offer new words and phrases to extend the children's play - for example, 'I'm going to cast a spell!' 'Abracadabra!' 'I love our magic carpet!'
- Suggest resources that the children might include in their play. 'Try this magic cloak. It will make you invisible.'
- Involve the children in making rules about fantasy play that is collaborative and considerate. 'We're kind witches that only make good spells.'
- Sit on the 'magic carpet' and fly somewhere. Model a description of what you see, and take turns to describe the scene.
- Take the fantasy play outdoors for stories featuring giants and ogres.
- Invite the children to later retell the stories they invented.
RESOURCES
Consider adding:
- resources for a particular story. For example, for Jack and the Beanstalk add: magic beans; large items for the giant's house such as washing-up bowls and ladles for the giant's bowl and spoon; a bucket as a tumbler; a broom as a hairbrush; huge clothes; a giant pencil; large sheets of paper; giant coins.
- storyboxes or small-world play, with similar but small-scale props, for children to act out the magic stories on a small scale.
Outdoors
Set up a magician's performance area, where children can invent magic tricks. Such an interest may arise after seeing a magician on TV or at a show or party. Talk with the children about conjuring tricks they have seen and how they think these tricks work.
In this area, provide:
- magician's top-hats, cloaks, wands
- white gloves
- a large box or chest
- a curtain
- playing cards
- coins, dice, hoops
- opaque plastic tumblers
- silk handkerchiefs and scarves in different colours
- fabric flowers, soft toy rabbits and doves
Learning opportunities
Using language to imagine and recreate roles and experiences
Using developing mathematical ideas and methods to solve practical problems
Recognising numerals 1 to 9
Showing curiosity about why things happen and how things work
Recreating roles and experiences, imaginative play
Using available resources to create props to support role play
ADULT ROLE
- Work with the children to set up the magician's performing area - ideally, outside - and devise a list of all the items a magician needs to perform tricks.
- Help the children work out simple tricks, such as holding a coin in one hand and dropping it behind the back while pretending to pass it from one hand to another. Children will have other ideas that they can work out for themselves.
- Talk about the playing cards and the conventions for describing them: the ten of hearts, the ace of spades and so on.
- Help the children to organise a show, with numbered seating and tickets, a time to start, and different performances.
EXPLORER'S WORKSHOP
Explore the 'magic' of science through a variety of activities:
- Children can freeze toy animals, such as dinosaurs, in ice trays, then play with them and melt them or fill a range of objects with water and freeze to produce some interesting ice shapes. Provide a block of ice for children to build with.
- Set glitter shapes in jelly, that the children can then play with.
- Use a prism to explore the colours of the rainbow.
- Add food colouring to water, dip in white carnations or celery and watch as they take on the colour of the coloured water.
- Drop food colouring on to water sprinkled with drops of cooking oil, and see it magically disperse.
- Attach a small magnet to the end of a ruler, put it under a sheet of paper, and make a metal car move magically above the paper.
- Watch a raisin dance in a bottle of fizzy drink.
- Make wonderful shaped bubbles with wire blowers.
Some activities will need adult support; in others, children can explore freely on their own. As you join in, make statements such as, 'I wonder what colour the celery will turn now', 'I'm going to see whether the dinosaur or the little dog will melt first.'
LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
Exploring and experiment with sounds, words and texts
Looking closely at similarities and differences, patterns, change
Observing and finding out about features in the natural world
Exploring colour, texture, shape, form and space in two or three dimensions
Sheila Ebbutt is director of maths specialist company BEAM. Visit www.beam.co.uk
RESOURCE BOX
Invite staff, parents and carers to supply magical role-play resources.
- wands, cloaks, magician's hats, magic shoes
- fabrics such as velvet, net, lace, silk, gold and silver, plush
- storybooks about magic spells, magic happenings
- resources for magic tricks, such as playing cards, coins, dice, toy rabbits and hats
- ideas for simple tricks to teach children
- science resources for doing simple experiments
LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
Tuning in
Making time to talk to parents and carers is an important way of finding out about children's current interests and about what matters to them. Such information helps practitioners to provide a curriculum that is both relevant and meaningful.
Having an existing interest in a particular theme means that children approach it with enthusiasm and expertise, giving them confidence and increased motivation to engage in the activities provided. Children can use this expertise best in carefully planned, open-ended learning opportunities without prescribed, uniform outcomes.
Enhancing provision
Any significant interest that a child or children may have should be explored by enhancing a setting's continuous provision - that is, by adding theme-based resources to the areas of provision that are available daily to children. These should comprise:
- role play
- small-world play
- construction play
- sand and water
- malleable materials
- creative workshop area
- graphics area
- book area.
By taking this approach, children can choose to engage with the theme, or pursue their own interests and learning independently. Adults need to recognise that children require a suitable length of time to explore any interests in depth and to develop their own ideas.
ADULT ROLE
If children's interests are to be used to create the best possible learning opportunities, the adult role is crucial.
Adults need to be able to:
- enhance continuous provision to reflect the interests of children
- use enhancements to plan meaningful learning opportunities across all areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
- know when to intervene in children's play - and when to stand back
- recognise that children need a suitable length of time to explore areas of provision to develop their own ideas
- model skills, language and behaviours
- recognise how observation, assessment and reflection on children's play can enhance adults' understanding of what young children know, and realise how these should inform their future planning.
AREAS OF LEARNING
Personal, social and emotional development
Communication, language and literacy
Problem-solving, reasoning and numeracy
Knowledge and understanding of the world
Physical development
Creative development
Book box
Anansi and the Magic Stick by Eric A Kimmel and Janet Stevens (Holiday House) Lazy Anansi stomps off when hard-working Warthog, Lion, and Zebra laugh at his messy house. He tries to steal Hyena's magic stick, which follows his orders, but disaster results.
The Magic Book by KT Hao and Giuliano Ferri (Purple Bear Books) Wise monkey gives Ellie the baby elephant a magical book that helps her fall asleep. When she loses the book she is sad, but then she begins to see what the magic really is.
Beany and the Magic Crystal by Susan Wojciechowski and S Natti (Walker Books) As Beany's magic wishing crystal will grant only one wish, she waits for the perfect moment to use it.
The Magic Sky by Lucy Richards (Egmont Books) The night that Rory, the polar bear, can finally see the 'magic sky', he gets lost in a snowstorm. Mum comes to the rescue and together they watch the Northern Lights.
Wish by Thong Kleven (Chronicle Books) A compilation of wishing customs from around the world.
I Wish That I Had Duck Feet by Theo LeSieg (Dr Seuss) and B Tobey (Collins) A little boy imagines what life would be like with duck feet, or deer horns, or a whale's spout.
Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler (Macmillan Children's Books) The witch and her cat make room on the broom for more and more animals. Then, the broom breaks...
The Magic Hat by Mem Fox and Tricia Tusa (Voyager Books) One day a magic hat appears and tumbles through the air, making magic wherever it lands. Everyone is delighted as, one by one, the townspeople are transformed into giant playful animals. And then a wizard arrives...
Hee-Haw-Dini and the Great Zambini by Kim Kennedy and Doug Kennedy (Harry N Abrams) The other farm animals don't share Hee-Haw and Chester's love of magic, nor do they believe that they can be real magicians, until one day a magician's trunk falls off a passing train.
The Magic Porridge Pot, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Thumbelina, The Sorcerer's Apprentice and other nursery, folk and fairy stories.
