Approach
The Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage (page 11) emphasises the importance of providing children with a balance of adult-led and child-initiated learning opportunities. This project, therefore:
* Identifies adult-led activities that aim to introduce or develop children's understanding of the topic through stimulating, meaningful experiences that offer a challenge
* Suggests ways to enhance areas of core provision to consolidate children's learning about the theme. It is the practitioners' role to make daily observations of children's learning that inform individual child profiles and future planning. Children should be encouraged to use the resources to support their own learning. This means the possible learning outcomes will be wide-ranging and varied
* Advocates that settings should be organised and resourced using a 'workshop' approach so children can access resources autonomously and independently.
It is important to recognise that:
* Children need lots of first-hand experiences, and the time and space to develop knowledge and understanding, skills and attitudes through play
* The practitioner has a key role in supporting and extending children's learning
* It is essential to provide an exciting learning environment indoors and outdoors that stimulates children's interest and curiosity
* Creativity is fundamental to successful learning and children's own ideas should be valued
* The process of learning is central and should not be undermined by an inappropriate emphasis on products or predetermined outcomes.
Adult-led activities
In the mud
Share a rhyme with the children about five mucky pigs.
Key learning intentions
To work as part of a group To listen with enjoyment and respond to rhymes To begin to use the vocabulary involved in adding and subtracting
Adult:child ratio 1:up to 10
Resources
* Five laminated magnetic props of pigs, pig puppets or soft toys * words of the rhyme 'Five mucky pigs' (see right)
Preparation
* To make pig props stick digital photographs of real pigs (if possible, taken by the children during a farm visit) to card and laminate them.
* Print out the words to the rhyme and laminate them so that all practitioners and families can use the same words.
Five mucky pigs all playing in mud...
Squelch, squelch, squelch, Thud, thud, thud.
One fell asleep in a nice cool sty, Snore, snore, snore, My, oh, my.
Four mucky pigs all playing in mud...
Three mucky pigs...
Two mucky pigs...
One mucky pig alone in the mud Squelch, squelch, squelch, Thud, thud, thud.
Called to the friends in the nice cool sty Join in the fun, My, oh, my.
So they did...... SQUELCH!
Activity content
* Introduce the rhyme using the props. Encourage the children to listen and enjoy the rhyme before getting them to join in.
* Choose five children to stand up and hold the props, and 'play in the mud', taking turns to curl up and 'fall asleep' and join in the snoring, as the rhyme suggests.
* When the last 'pig' calls for the friends to play again, the four who have 'been sleeping', jump back into the 'pond' and roll about playing again.
* When the children are confident with the words, encourage one child to take the lead and choose others to hold the props until they have all had a turn.
* Emphasise the use of number names, encouraging the children to count the number of pigs left at the end of each verse in unison.
Extending learning
Key vocabulary
Pig, piglet, one, two, three, four, five, mud, mucky, sty, squelch, thud, more than, less than Questions to ask
* Where do you think the pigs could be living?
* Can you think of other words to describe the mud?
* How do you think we could make the mud even more squelchy?
* What would happen if the mud dried up?
* Why do you think the pigs wanted to have a sleep in a cool sty?
Extension ideas
* Support the children as they chant the rhyme independently using the props or plastic pigs in sand or compost.
* Encourage the children to make up their own versions of the rhyme, using other descriptive words to describe the pigs and the sounds they make in the mud.
* Make a book about the rhyme, using the children's drawings, mark-making and early writing.
* Share The Pig in the Pond by Martin Waddell or Pigs Love Mud by Richard Powell with the children, giving them opportunities to retell the story with magnetic story props or puppets (see Resources).
* Create a small-world farm in a builder's tray. Encourage the children to develop the small-world scenario to create environments for the animals, including mud for the pigs.
On a hunt
Organise a treasure hunt using metal detectors.
Key learning intentions
To interact with others, negotiating plans and activities, and taking turns in conversation
To find out about and identify the uses of everyday technology
To use a range of small and large equipment
Adult:child ratio 1:up to 8
Resources
* Sieves, shovels, forks, rakes, hand trowels, assorted buckets, wheelbarrow, plastic trays * assorted metal and non-metal large objects * metal detectors 3gardening gloves * Wellington boots 3magnifying glasses and sheets * large magnets
Preparation
* Prepare the digging area. If necessary, carry out a risk assessment to ensure the children's health and safety.
* Ensure the children have had a chance to explore how metal detectors work.
* Gather together any interesting objects that you discover while preparing the digging area.
* Re-bury any interesting objects you have found along with several large metal and non-metal objects, such as a kettle, wok, chain, padlock, keys, old tin box, old boot, broken plastic toy, damaged book, wooden box, rope.
Bury some near the surface, others deeper.
Activity content
* Ensure that the children have had many opportunities to explore the digging area, digging and transporting soil independently, before planning to extend their play.
* Encourage the children to explore the use of the tools and to dig holes.
* When the first object is discovered, take time to discuss it with the children. If no one mentions 'buried treasure', introduce the idea into conversation. Discuss ways of finding objects and introduce the use of metal detectors.
* When several objects have been uncovered, begin to sort them and discuss which were or were not found by the metal detectors.
* Introduce and reinforce the use of vocabulary around 'a sense of time'.
* Ask open-ended questions and encourage children to communicate and talk through the options.
Extending learning
Key vocabulary
Soil, stones, pebbles, rocks, mud, roots, trowel, fork, shovel, rake, metal detector, bucket, dig, deep, deeper, deepest, shallow, holes, metal, non-metal, magnet, magnetic, the same as, different from
Questions to ask
* Why do you think this is in the ground? What do you think it was used for?
* Which is the best tool to use to find something made of metal?
* Do you think all the metal objects are attracted to the magnets?
* How do you think we can find non-metal objects?
* When do you think it could have been lost? How?
* What will happen if we keep digging deeper?
* What do you think we could find next?
Extension ideas
* Give the children free access to the digging area and support them as they develop their 'treasure hunt' play.
* Introduce the use of clipboards and pens so they can draw maps and record finds.
* Encourage the children to take photographs of their play and record their comments through the use of speech bubbles.
* Introduce a hunt for 'dinosaur bones', ensuring the children know that real bones can't be found with a metal detector.
Child-initiated learning
Building-site imaginative play
Additional resources and adult support
* Where possible, take a small group of children to see a building site.
* Plan to develop the digging area to support children's imaginative play.
* Add diggers, dumpers, plastic people, buckets, spades, plastic trowels, watering cans, wooden and plastic building bricks.
* Laminate photographs of real buildings, building sites and children's earlier constructions, and make a temporary freestanding display.
* Observe the children's play, extending it where appropriate.
Play possibilities
* Exploring the soil, with the children using their own bodies and tools.
* Digging and building with mud.
* Fixing the blocks together with mud.
* Creating and developing imaginative play scenarios.
* Mixing 'concrete' and 'cement'.
Possible learning outcomes
Initiates interactions with others.
Listens to others in one-to-one and small groups.
In practical activities, begins to use the vocabulary of measure.
Makes connections between the small-world provision and events in their own lives and those of familiar others.
Expresses creativity through imaginative play.
Creative workshop
Additional resources and adult support
* With the children, collect assorted stones, gravel, leaves, twigs, cones and other natural objects from your outdoor area.
* Provide assorted reclaimed shallow trays, glue and spreaders, the array of objects that you and the children have collected plus additional pebbles, gravel, sand, potting compost and topsoil.
* Encourage the children to explore all the materials.
* Support the children in creating their own temporary scenarios or if they decide to use the glue to make more permanent scenes or collages.
Play possibilities
* Exploring the materials.
* Making temporary patterns and designs.
* Sorting materials and counting.
* Making collections of stones and pebbles.
* Making collages.
Possible learning outcomes
Persists at an activity of own choosing.
Initiates conversations and takes account of what others say.
Talks about and recognises simple patterns.
Selects tools and techniques to join materials being used.
Manipulates materials to achieve a planned effect.
Explores colour and texture in two dimensions.
Wet clay
Additional resources and adult support
* Provide natural clay, wooden clay hammers and other clay tools, hessian, water sprayers, twigs, pebbles and gravel in a builder's tray in the outdoor area.
* Encourage the children to investigate the clay by adding water and seeing what happens.
* Talk to the children about how they use their large muscles to flatten the clay with the hammers, creating splashes of water and wet clay.
Play possibilities
* Mixing the materials.
* Adding water to make the firm clay 'squishy'.
* Squeezing the wet clay through fingers.
* Making marks in the wet clay with fingers, hands and tools.
* Exploring the use of vocabulary to describe the texture and sounds, creating real and imaginary words.
Possible learning outcomes
Persists at an activity of own choosing.
Sometimes ascribes meaning to marks.
Shows an awareness of change.
Explores malleable materials by patting, stroking, poking, squeezing, pinching and twisting.
Handles materials with increasing control.
Judith Stevens is an early years adviser for Lewisham Education
USING NATURAL MATERIALS
We bring sand, water and other natural materials indoors as representatives of the natural world because we know that they can offer children a broad range of experiences. However, indoor space and mess limitations usually mean that children are contained in their use of these materials: they have to reach into a tray and use only their hands and arms; they cannot be free about mixing sand with water and other substances; they cannot transport the substances around the setting. How much better to offer it outside, taking advantage of the special nature and freedom of outdoors? As providers of the opportunities for children in our care, we need to make the most of what can be experienced differently in this half of the learning environment.
* Early Years Outdoors, Play Notes (March 2005)
Resources to support the theme
* Early Years Outdoors is a specialist early years support service that is part of Learning through Landscapes. A subscription to EYO entitles practitioners to a wide range of services and products, including a bi-monthly mailing with lots of helpful information. For more information, visit www.ltl.org.uk
* The Pig in the Pond by Martin Waddell (Walker Books, 5.99)
* Pigs Love Mud by Richard Powell (Emma Treehouse, 3.99)
* Giant horseshoe magnet (3.75)
* Fresnal lens, pair of A4 sheet magnifiers (4.35)
* Metal detector (12.99)
* Hand-held mini metal detector (8.99)
All available from TTS Early Steps tel: 0800 318 686 or www.tts-shopping.com
