ICT is not just about computers but encompasses all aspects of information and communications technology, and as such affects all areas of young children's lives. This should be reflected in the nursery with, for example, a till in the role-play area, mobile phones in the home corner, plus digital cameras and camcorders for the children to record their activities.
So what to buy? 'Pick things the children can use in many different ways,' says Angela Stanton, head of Alfreton Nursery School.
'Pick things the children can actually use. They have only got small hands and if buttons are hard to press or switches difficult to turn, they get frustrated. Also, it must be easy to understand how the equipment works - maybe with a visual illustration - because again the children will get frustrated if they cannot see how something works.'
- Ashbrow Infant and Nursery School, Huddersfield
ICT link teacher Jo Liversidge says: 'I am doing a project to raise the language and listening skills of the children, bringing the outdoors learning indoors and using ICT.
'Some of them have English as a second language and others are quite shy and not confident about speaking. I have been helped by educational consultant Chris Hargrave who introduced me to Easi-Speaks (see box, page 22).
'The children use them like a microphone and can record themselves and then play it back. It has a USB attached, so you can plug it into the computer. It holds several recordings at once so a child can use it and not record over what someone else has done earlier, which is really good.
'There are quite a lot of buttons to press, which can be hard for little fingers. A red light flashes and the children think they are recording, but it is only when the red light is full on that it is actually recording so that has led to some frustrations.
'When they replay it, they sometimes go too far back and hear someone else's recording, and the quality of the sound is not all that I would have wanted, but they do enjoy using it. We leave the Easi-Speaks out and have found that children who are quite shy will pick up the microphone and talk into it.
'They feel more comfortable talking when they have it as a prop. I have heard recordings of children using them outdoors whom I haven't heard speak otherwise. We have a recording of three of them singing together.
'We did a scavenger hunt around our forest garden last week and now the children are using the Easi-Speaks to add their commentaries to the images on screen of the things we found. One child might say "prickly" or will describe the item we found when an image comes on screen, while another might just say "flowers". So they are a great tool for observations.
'We have A3 digital photograph albums and the children make collages of images of things they have found outside and add their own voice-overs. We are going to use some of the 2simple software so they can create their own stories. It is like a child's version of PowerPoint.'
- St Andrews Nursery, Fife
'My top tip is invest in re-chargeable batteries and recharging units,' says Elaine Cunningham, who has responsibility for ICT at the nursery. 'Shop around. They might cost you a bit at first but they will save you a fortune in the long run.'
The children use ICT to put a modern twist on traditional activities like playing shop - using a digital till (Stainless Steel Effect Cash Register, £12.99, Argos) or singing nursery rhymes as they run the Come Alive Nursery Rhymes software (basic package £30, www.yellow-door.net) on the whiteboard.
'It is linked to an overhead projector and a laptop.
'If they are playing Baa Baa Black Sheep, they can sing along with it, move the images around on the screen, follow the links and find out about sheep-shearing. They can also experiment with rhyming words or play with a little set of wooden figures representing the characters in each of the rhymes.
'We also have a digital microscope (Digital Blue QX5 digital microscope, £79.99, see below). It is really robust and easy to use for little hands.
'There are three settings of magnification. The children can take a still photograph of something under the microscope or, because we have the Digital Blue moviemaker software (see below), they can make their own little films.
'If we are doing minibeasts the children will go out in the garden and collect things like leaves or insects and put them under the microscope. It has enough magnification to show a worm's antennae. Obviously they know only to put the minibeasts under the microscope for a few minutes and then they are put back in the garden.'
Digital Movie Creator, now available in Version 3 (£114.99), by Digital Blue, allows you to shoot your own movies, edit them and show them on your PC. Software lets you change scenes and add animation, sound-effects and titles. For a full range of products and prices, visit www.playdigitalblue.co.uk
- Homerton Nursery, Cambridge
'I wouldn't be without Duplo remote-control cars (from £12.99),' says Harriet Price, ICT adviser at the school. 'They come with three remote-control units which operate on different radio frequencies, so they can be used alongside each other without clashing. They are quite robust and can be used outdoors as well as inside.
'Also, we wouldn't be without a digital camera. They are changing all the time so it is hard to recommend a particular one. There are some pretty robust children's cameras around, for example Fisher-Price (Fisher-Price Kid-Tough Digital Camera, £29.99 at Argos), which are good because they are not too complicated to operate.
'Some digital cameras are battery operated and that can get expensive as well as being not ecologically sound. The children's cameras are designed for small hands but they tend to look a bit like toys, the display screens are small and the resolution is fairly low.
'The children who get keen on using the cameras tend to go for the adult ones. Some of the children develop photographic skills and really get the idea of the composition of a picture. They will take a photograph and immediately check it on the display screen. We have Olympus cameras at the moment with a three-inch display screen.
'We have also got Busbi Video, a point and shoot camcorder (BUSCD0001 Point And Shoot Digital Camcorder, £29.99, www.busbi.biz/shop). They are very simple, just the inside of your mobile telephone turned into a video camera. They have very few buttons so the children can operate them easily. You can press record without holding a button in, which makes it easier for small hands. The children can video something, plug it into the computer and play it back.'
CHECKLIST: BASIC RESOURCES
- DVD camcorder (appropriate equipment for use by both adults and children)
- digital cameras (for use by adults and children), for example, Tuff-Cam 3 MP digital movie/still camera (£82.95 from TTS) (www.tuffcam.co.uk; www.tts-group.co.uk)
- tape/CD player-recorder, listening centre
- role-play equipment such as 'electronic' till, battery-powered toy phone, barcode scanner, television, DVD recorder, remote control, washing machine, microwave, battery-operated door bell
- calculators
- torches
- remote-control toys, wheeled remote-control chassis
- floor robots, such as Beebots (£44.99, www.tts-group.co.uk) and Roamers (£79.95, www.valiant-technology.com)
- electric keyboards and sound pads - nice but not essential
- light box - nice but not essential (www.nesarnold.co.uk; www.reflectionsonlearning.co.uk)
- interactive whiteboard (www.nesarnold.co.uk)
- computer, mouse, keyboard, printer, age-appropriate software
- webcams to use with animation software
- resources to promote speaking and listening such as Easi-Speak micophones (from £25, www.tts-group.co.uk) and talking photograph albums - simply insert drawings or photographs into the plastic wallets and record up to a 10 second message on every page to support the image/text. Any message can be replayed at the push of a button. A5 from £19.99; A3 from £32.99 (www.tts-group.co.uk). See also www.talkingproducts.co.uk.
RECOMMENDED SOFTWARE
- 2Simple most of the 28+ titles are fantastic (from £29.99 for one user, www.2simple.com)
- Revelation Natural Art (from £56.05, www.rm.com)
- Communicate in Print uses Widgit symbols (symbol support for children) (single user licence, £93.00, www.widgit.com)
- Clicker 5 (single user licence, £120, www.cricksoft.com)
- Talking Topics V2 (from £44.95, www.Sherston.co.uk)
- Any talking stories
- Mouse Island (£19.99, www.themouseclub.co.uk)
- LEGO My World First Steps (£5.99, www.amazon.co.uk)
- Microsoft Photostory 3 for Windows Free download (www.microsoft.com)
- Audacity for use with MP3 sound files - free, for recording and editing sounds. (http://audacity.sourceforge.net)
- CrazyTalk animates children's own drawings. (from £30.97, http://crazytalk.en.softonic.com)
- All About software series including All about ourselves. (from £53, www.onestopeducation.co.uk)
Manufacturer or main supplier is listed.
Lists prepared with help of Jo Liversidge, ICT link teacher Ashbrow Infant and Nursery School, Huddersfield
