* settings should be constantly resourced and organised in such a way as to offer learning opportunities across all areas of the Foundation Stage curriculum
* topics can enhance basic provision and respond to children's interests
* children need plenty of first-hand experiences and time to develop ideas, skills and concepts through play
* the practitioner has a vital role in supporting children's learning.
This project, therefore, suggests:
* adult-led activities for introducing the theme
* resources that enhance basic provision and facilitate learning through child-initiated play
* how the practitioner can support children's learning.
When using the project, practitioners should recognise that:
* activities should be offered and never imposed on children
* children's experiences, and learning, may differ from those anticipated
* the learning, planned or unplanned, that takes place is valid
* the process is very valuable and should not be undermined by an inappropriate emphasis on outcomes or concrete end results.
The areas of learning are:
Personal, social and emotional development
Communication,language and literacy
Mathematical development
Knowledge & understanding of the world
Physical development
Creative development
Envision various ways to approach the topic of eyes with these suggestions for activities from Judith Stevens
A project about eyes can be approached as an individual topic, or as part of a much larger and ever-popular theme about the senses - sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch. Alternatively, the project could be linked to a theme about 'people who help us', including opticians, dentists, firefighters or doctors. The project will be particularly meaningful and relevant to children if it is linked to a visit to an optician, or an optician visiting the setting to talk to the children. If a visit is not possible, consider using video footage to share and discuss with the children (see box).
Adult-led activities
What do you see?
Use the story Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? as a starting point for the project.
Key learning intentions
To join in with repetitive phrases in texts
To use mark-making and writing as a means of recording and communicating
To express and communicate ideas using a range of materials
Adult:child ratio 1 up to 8
Resources
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? by Bill Martin (Puffin, 4.99) ,brown bear hand puppet ,laminated story props and magnetic board or magnetic wedge ,large, blank book ,assorted pens, pencils and paper ,clipboards ,rugs and cushions
Preparation
* Prepare a big book with a stiff cover for the children's work.
* Display the resources in an inviting way, preferably outdoors, with rugs and cushions for children to sit on and clipboards to lean on when writing or drawing.
Activity content
* Share the story of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?, emphasising the words 'What do you see?'
* After reading the story, point the bear puppet in different directions and encourage the children to predict what he can 'see'. Possibly emphasise this by making the bear use a telescope or wear glasses.
* Ask individual children to look at something and encourage the other children to guess what they are looking at. With older, or more able, children, the child can give clues.
* Encourage the children to record, in words and pictures, what they have seen.
* Make a 'big book' in the style of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, using the repetitive, rhythmic phrases.
Extending learning
Key vocabulary
See, sight, saw, eyes, look, describe, animal names, colour names, positional language such as, next to, under, over, behind, in front of.
Questions to ask
* What do you think the next animal in the book is?
* What can the children in the book see?
* Have you ever seen a blue horse? Why or why not?
* What can you see outdoors? Is it in front of the climbing frame? Is it behind the easel?
* Can you describe what you can see?
Extension ideas
* If the original activity took place outside, extend the 'looking'
activity indoors, or vice versa.
* Provide small zig-zag books for the children to make their own version of the Brown Bear story.
* Encourage the children to retell the story, using magnetic props.
* Create a display, with the children, of the things that they saw, photographs and drawings of those objects, and the children's own words in speech bubbles, written by themselves or scribed by an adult.
* Introduce the book The Boy With Square Eyes by Juliet and Charles Snape (Walker Books, 4.99). What would things look like if the children all had square eyes?
* Use a flexible painting software programme for the children to paint pictures of their faces and eyes. 2paint (2simple software, see box) is suitable for even the youngest child.
Colour mixing
Encourage the children to take a close look at their faces.
Key learning intention
To use a variety of tools with increasing control and confidence
To find out and identify some of the features of living things
To explore colour, shape and form in two dimensions
Adult:child ratio 1 up to 6
Resources
Sugar paper and brushes in various shapes and sizes ,mirrors ,graphical media ,paper speech bubbles ,block paints ,mixing palettes ,water Preparation
* Arrange the resources in an attractive way in the creative workshop.
* Cut out speech bubbles.
Activity content
* Encourage the children to look closely at their own faces in the mirrors, particularly their eyes.
* Ask the children to choose a partner, and to look closely at each others'
faces and eyes and notice similarities and differences.
* Invite the children to mix paints, to try to match carefully the colour of their own eyes and to paint a picture of their own face, with attention to details such as eyelashes.
* Encourage them to record their comments about their eyes in the speech bubbles, either by themselves, or with the adult acting as a scribe.
Extending learning
Key vocabulary
Eyelids, eyelashes, eyebrows, pupil, iris, shade, colour, blue, grey, green, brown, light, dark, the same as, different from.
Questions to ask
* What are the parts of the eye that move up and down called?
* What are attached to our eyelids? What are they for?
* What is the same/different about our eyes?
* Why do some people wear glasses?
* What colour do you have to add to make this colour lighter/darker?
Extension activities
* Leave mirrors in the graphics area and creative workshop for children to continue to work independently.
* Cut out eyes, noses and mouths from magazines and encourage the children to create collage faces.
* Encourage children to create imaginary faces for monsters. How many eyes do they have? Make a monster counting book.
* Create a three-dimensional block graph, using unifix blocks to match the colour of every child's eyes. Which colours have the tallest and the shortest tower?
* Cut squares of paper to match eye colours. Each child chooses a square to match their eye colour, and sticks it to a large piece of paper, creating a two-dimensional block graph of the number of children in the setting with grey, brown, blue or green eyes.
Child-initiated learning
Role play
Additional resources
Sight charts (a traditional one made with letters; another, in the same format, with graded outlines of objects such as animals) ,white coats ,laminated identity badges for staff (preferably on chains to hang around necks) - include small laminated photos of all children, which can fixed to the badges with Blu-Tack ,computer monitor and keyboard, till, money, plastic store cards, invoices, prescription and receipt pads ,appointment book, appointment cards, diary, phone, message book ,assorted frames, sunglasses and cases ,eye patches ,leaflets and posters about eye care and 'special offer' signs
Possible learning experiences
* Using language to recreate roles and experiences.
* Using imagination in role play.
* Making links with home and family experiences.
* Naming letters and symbols.
* Writing for a purpose.
* Reading in meaningful situations.
The practitioner role
* Create a role-play area based on an optician's surgery, with waiting room and areas for eye tests and displaying and choosing glasses. Use real resources where possible, preferably collected on a visit to an opitician's with the children.
* Act in role, introducing significant events and modelling the use of specific vocabulary.
* Support the children individually and collectively in the development of their creative role play.
* Promote discussion about links with events in their own lives and in the local environment.
* Make observations of the children's creative role play to inform individual children's profiles.
Interactive display
Additional resources
Kaleidoscopes, periscopes, cameras and binoculars .assorted mirrors, magnifiers and lenses ,information texts and photos and posters about eyes and sight
Possible learning experiences
* Investigating objects, using their senses as appropriate.
* Finding out about some features of objects.
* Asking questions about why things happen and how things work.
* Reading for meaning and making sense of print.
* Making links with home and events in their own lives.
* Beginning to understand the needs of others.
The practitioner role
* Set up the display and develop it with the children.
* Ensure the display is well maintained and continues to stimulate the children's interest.
* Introduce and reinforce specific vocabulary including the names of the resources.
* Ask open-ended questions about the resources.
* Support children's investigations and discussions about the objects.
Investigative area
Additional resources
'Feely box' - commercially produced, or a cardboard box covered with brightly coloured paper, with a hole cut for children's hands to fit inside - or a feely bag ,assortment of unusual and familiar objects of different shapes and textures, such as a potato, wooden block, sponge, carrot, shell, fir cone, squeaky toy, keys and bubble wrap
Possible learning experiences
* Predicting the contents of the box.
* Describing the objects.
* Asking questions, discussing answers.
* Noticing similarities and differences between objects.
* Co-operating and working as part of a group.
The practitioner role
* Encourage the children to investigate the contents of the box and to predict the contents.
* Introduce and reinforce the use of descriptive language.
* Act as a scribe, recording children's use of language.
Small-world play
Additional resources
Dolls in various sizes, including a doll with a white coat ,small eye charts ,children's sunglasses, empty frames and eye patches in various sizes
Possible learning experiences
* Making connections between the small-world provision and events in their own lives and the lives of familiar others.
* Developing the use of vocabulary and conversation.
* Using comparative mathematical vocabulary, such as small and smaller, big and bigger.
* Matching the smallest glasses or eye patch to the smallest doll.
* Recognising letters and symbols.
* Developing creative imaginative play.
* Retelling events with the props.
The practitioner role
* Introduce and support the use of comparative mathematical vocabulary.
* Support the children's discussions about the small-world play.
* Promote discussion about links with events in their own lives and in the local environment.
* Introduce and support the use of vocabulary specific to the small-world play situation.
* Answer children's questions and ask open-ended questions about their play.
Judith Stevens is an early years adviser for Lewisham Education
RESOURCES
* Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? by Bill Martin Jr (Puffin, Pounds 4.99)
* The Boy with Square Eyes by Juliet and Charles Snape (Walker Books, Pounds 4.99)
* Ourselves - Dentist, beauticians, hairdressers, opticians and blindness - a pack to support role play, including a video of real-life footage, teaching handbook and CD-Rom (Early Vision, 39.99, www.earlyvision.co.uk)
* Infant Toolkit Version 2 contains six programmes including 2paint (free trial available online, single user 75, www.2simple.com)
* Brown bear hand puppet - one of a selection in assorted sizes and prices (www.puppetsbypost.com)
* Soft frame concave mirror - shatter-resistant acrylic glass safety mirror and nine concave mirrors magnify and multiply images. Stand far away and the mirror turns you upside down (183.45, Kent County Supplies, tel: 01622 605436) NES Arnold (www.nesarnold.co.uk) can supply a range of resources, including:
* Magnetic wedge (A2) 69.95
* Feely bag (8.99)
* Our Five Senses - 35 expressive photos linked to the senses (Pounds 21.95)
* Senses photopack - 22 A4 photos (9.99)
* Our Body poster (4.50)
* Colour paddles - set of six (3.99)
* Mirror set - 16 flexible mirrors (4.25)
* Kaleidoscope (3.75)
* Large sheet magnifiers - five tough, flexible magnifiers (5.75)
