This part of our project on sound provides opportunities for children to investigate objects and materials by using all their senses and have fun with banging, splashing and blowing.
Adult-led activities
Take a sound walk
Take the children out to listen to noises in the environment.
Key learning intentions
Demonstrate flexibility and adapt their behaviour to different events, social situations and changes in routine
Build up vocabulary that reflects the breadth of their experiences
Observe, find out about and identify features in the place they live and the natural world
Respond in a variety of ways to what they see and hear
Adult:child ratio 1:2
Resources
* Adult helpers * paper, pen and clipboards (one per pair of children and adult helper)
Preparation
* You will need to make a risk assessment of your planned route. Take into account factors such as the length of time you want the walk to take. Think about interesting landmarks to pass - a train station, a level crossing and a pedestrian crossing.
* Ensure that each pair of children has a clipboard with pen and paper to record the sounds they hear.
* Send a letter out to parents and carers encouraging them to listen with their children to the sounds they hear on the way to and from the setting, or generally when they are out and about together.
* It could be that not all the children can go on the walk together, or indeed on the same day. Reassure them that they will all have a turn.
Activity content
* Explain to the children that they are going on a special sound walk. Ask them what they think a sound walk might be. Show them the route they are going to take on a map.
* Think about the sounds they might hear on the walk. Make a list to compare with what they actually do hear.
* While on the walk, stop at regular intervals so that the children can take in the sounds around them. Write the sounds down.
* When everybody has completed the walk, compare the sounds that everybody heard and compare with the sounds the children had thought that they might hear.
Extending learning
Key vocabulary
Sound, walk, noise, loud, quiet, around, listen, look, route
Questions to ask
* What sounds do you hear on the way to (the setting)?
* What sounds might we hear on our walk?
* Where is that sound coming from? How can you tell?
Extension activities
* Go into the setting garden with the children and listen for the sounds around you there.
* Encourage the children to bring in a list of sounds they hear as they walk to the setting one day.
* Read Peace at Last by Jill Murphy (Pan Macmillan, 3.99) with the children. This is the story of one family's very noisy night!
Animal sounds
Use the lift-the-flap version of Old MacDonald Had a Farm by Colin and Jacqui Hawkins (Egmont Children's Books, 5.99) to support singing a familiar song with the children in which animals and their sounds must be identified.
Key learning intentions
Listen with enjoyment and respond to stories and songs
Use talk to connect ideas, explain what is happening and anticipate what might happen next
Show an interest in the world in which they live
Sing a familiar song
Adult:child ratio 1:10
Resources
* Copy of Old MacDonald Had a Farm by Colin and Jacqui Hawkins (Egmont Children's Books, 5.99) * a small-world play or puppet version of each farm animal referred to in the book Preparation
* Make sure you are familiar with the order in which the animals are referred to in the book.
* Put the animals or puppets in a basket. Cover with a piece of cloth.
Activity content
* Ask the children if they can guess what the book is about by showing them the front cover.
* Ask them if they know the rhyme 'Old MacDonald'.
* Suggest that those children who do know it help you to sing it for those who do not.
* Start to sing the rhyme, turning the pages of the book accordingly.
Before each flap is lifted, revealing the animals Old MacDonald had on his farm, give the children an extra clue by taking the appropriate animal or puppet from your basket. If using puppets, the puppet animal could 'check'
whether the children's guess is right by lifting the flap in the book.
Extending learning
Key vocabulary
Farm, animal, noise, clue, sing, lift-the-flap
Questions to ask
* Which animal do you think we will find next?
* What makes you say that?
* Do we have any clues to help us know which animal it will be?
* Which animal noise did you like making the most? Why?
Extension activities
* Leave the book and animals out for the children to access independently.
* Play Old MacDonald's Soundtracks Game (7.99 from the Early Learning Centre) in small groups.
* Read The Very Noisy Night by Diana Hendry and Jane Chapmen (Magi Publications, 5.99) and Goodnight, Owl! by Pat Hutchins (Simon and Schuster, 2.95) about animal noises at night.
* Talk about the noises that the children's pets make. Do they make different noises according to how they feel or what they want?
Child-initiated activities
Exploration and investigation area
Additional resources and adult support
* Create a tabletop interactive sound display in your setting. The display can be added to as the project progresses and items changed to keep it interesting.
* When focusing on body sounds (see Part 1), provide a tape recorder and tape of action songs. When the focus is music, add some musical instruments (including some of the shakers the children have made) and a tape of nursery rhymes.
* Take photographs of the children engaged in various sound activities and add to the display. Make a photo album or mount on the wall.
* Provide a tape recorder and blank tapes for the children to record their own voices. Provide story tapes and tapes of everyday and animal sounds for them to listen to.
Play possibilities
* Practising clapping rhythms alone, with a friend or in a small group.
* Moving to music spontaneously.
* Singing along to familiar songs.
* Exploring the functions of toys that make sounds or that change the sound of their voice.
* Talking about and reflecting on activities when looking at photographs.
Possible learning outcomes
Listening to favourite nursery rhymes, stories and songs, joining in with repeated refrains
Listening to others in one-to-one or small groups when conversation interests them
Investigating objects and materials by using all their senses as appropriate
Using voices in different ways and controlling sounds through singing
Clapping, moving to or playing the beat/pulse of songs
Sand area
Additional resources and adult support
* Use core provision resources and encourage children to think about the sounds that the various items make in the sand, such as spades scraping along the bottom of the sand tray or banging on an upturned bucket to release the sand to make a sandcastle.
* Encourage the children to think about the different sounds that dry and wet sand make. Try sieving dry sand or using funnels.
* Very wet sand makes some wonderful noises - let the children explore it with their hands.
* Think about sounds that the children might hear or have heard at the seaside.
Possible learning outcomes
Exploring the properties of wet and dry sand
Investigating sounds and talking about them, such as banging a spade on a bucket
Being able to take turns in speaking and listening
Being able to play alongside others
Extending their vocabulary, exploring the meaning of new words
Using talk, actions and objects to recall and relive past experiences
Talking about what is seen and what is happening
Water area
Additional resources and adult support
* As with the sand, use core provision resources and encourage children to think about the sounds that the various items make in the water, such as pouring and emptying and filling jugs and bottles, or blowing bubbles.
* Explore sounds that the children can make in the water using their hands.
Can they make water drip from the ends of their fingers? Model this for them.
* What does it sound like when various items are dropped into the water? Provide a selection of light and heavy items. What noise do they make when they hit the water? Have a mop ready to mop up spillage from this activity.
* Read Pig in the Pond by Martin Waddell and Jill Barton (4.99, Walker Books) about a pig who lives on a farm and jumps in the pond on a very hot day.
Play possibilities
* Using words to describe water sounds.
* Making water sounds with their voices.
* Working as part of a group, co-operating and negotiating, sharing resources and encouraging each other to explore the resources.
* Making connections with their own experiences of water, such as going swimming or having a bath or helping with the washing up at home.
Possible learning outcomes
Working as part of a group, taking turns and sharing fairly
Using a widening range of words to express or elaborate ideas
Investigating water by using all their senses as appropriate
Noticing what adults do, imitating what is observed and then doing it spontaneously when the adult is not there
Construction area
Additional resources and adult support
* Create a noisy builder's site outdoors. Provide tools, hard hats, wheelbarrows, large plastic or wooden bricks, trowels, buckets and drills.
If possible, incorporate the sand pit into the site area.
* Turn a shed into the site office. Put plans on the wall; add paper and pens, and tea and coffee-making facilities.
* Enter into children's imaginative play. Ask open-ended questions about what they are building, what needs to be done next and how they are ensuring that the bricks do not fall down. Ask for a cup of tea from time to time!
* Talk about safety issues on building sites and why it is important to wear a hard hat.
Play possibilities
* Playing imaginatively in a role-play situation.
* Playing co-operatively in a small group.
* Listening to others and taking their views into account.
* Exploring and investigating brick patterns.
Possible learning outcomes
Beginning to accept the needs of others, with support
Interacting with others, negotiating plans and taking turns in conversation
Investigating construction materials
Observing, finding out about and identifying features in the place they live and the natural world
Using their imagination in role play
Small world play
Additional resources and adult support
* Provide a selection of farm animals. Set up a farm in a builder's tray or larger area such as the carpet with the children.
* Encourage children to tell you the sounds the various animals make. Refer to Old MacDonald Had a Farm by Colin and Jacqui Hawkins (Egmont Children's Books, 5.99) with them.
* Provide information texts about farm animals such as Farm Animals by Katie Daynes (Usborne Publishing, 5.99). If there is somewhere nearby to visit animals, hand out relevant information to parents and carers suggesting they take their children.
Play possibilities
* Designing and making farms.
* Gathering information from texts.
* Playing in an imaginative way with small world equipment.
Possible learning outcomes
Knowing information can be retrieved from books
Retelling a story using props
Finding out about, and identifying, some features of living things
Resources to support the theme
* Peace at Last by Jill Murphy (Pan Macmillan, 4.99)
* Old MacDonald Had a Farm by Colin and Jacqui Hawkins (Egmont Children's Books, 5.99)
* The Very Noisy Night by Diana Hendry and Jane Chapmen (Magi Publications, 5.99)
* Goodnight, Owl! by Pat Hutchins (Simon and Schuster, 2.99)
* Pig in the Pond by Martin Waddell and Jill Barton (Walker Books, Pounds 5.99)
* Farm Animals by Katie Daynes (Usborne Publishing, 5.99)
* Old MacDonald's Soundtracks Game (Early Learning Centre, 7.99, www.elc.co.uk)
* Echo microphone (2.50 from the Early Learning Centre, www.elc.co.uk)
* TUFF spot (builder's tray) (11.75, TTS, tel: 01623 447686 www.tts-group.co.uk)
