Exciting real-life experiences for the children provided through visitors to the setting or trips out – we recently went to the zoo – can become powerful ‘hooks’ for learning and drawn on for weeks after the event.
One way that we encourage communication and language development following a special experience is to use photos taken on the day, which can prompt children into remembering different parts of it, making comments and having conversations. We display them in our A2 floorbook over a double page and make sure there is at least one photo of each child. The floorbook is left out in the environment as an enhancement some days, and children are always drawn to looking at their photos. The first time the children see the page, an adult will often jot down their comments.
ZOO TRIP
Our children were showing particular interest in the wild animal toys. We decided to arrange a trip to Thrigby Hall, a zoo that has tigers, jaguars, snow leopards, crocodiles, a red panda and many other animals.
We had a wonderful day and took lots of great photographs of the animals and children with their family members. The next day, I made our usual floorbook pages with a range of the photos. I like to include photos of the coach journey, having lunch and the play park, as sometimes the parts of a trip that aren’t necessarily seen as special by the adults are special for the children and inspire lots of talk! The children gathered around the book when they saw it, excitedly pointing and describing what they saw, recalling what they did. ‘That’s me and my Daddy! We saw the snow leopard!’ a girl told her friend. ‘I saw the snow leopard too! He ate some meat!’ her friend replied.
The children regularly enjoy looking through the floorbook, starting at the autumn term and working through the year. It not only contains photos of special events but our day-to-day learning in nursery, including children’s work samples. It helps them to reflect on how they have progressed with their learning, developing a sense of pride, as well as bringing back memories. We leave the floorbook out at parent stay-and-play sessions for them to look through and discuss with their children. Including photos of the parents shows we value their input and that they are a part of the nursery too.
DEAR ZOO
One of the children’s treasured books in nursery is Dear Zooby Rod Campbell. The simple language, repeated refrains, liftable flaps and clear illustrations thatthe children use as prompts make it a popular choice for children to choose to read independently. Many can recite all the sentences off by heart, so when they flick through and read the story, they develop a growing confidence and a self-image of themselves as ‘readers’ even though they can’t decode the actual words yet.
After the children’s trip to the zoo, I decided to make a ‘Dear Zoo’ enhancement display and table. It involved ‘lift the flap’ doors similar to the ones in the book, and we had photos of the animals that we saw underneath. The children were shown the display at ‘together time’, and we thought of different words that we could use to describe the zoo animals together. On the enhancement table there were templates for children to make their own lift-the-flap pictures, with a door folded over and space for a picture. Tags like in the story were on the table too to encourage writing, and many children made marks to represent the name of the animal they had drawn. Children were heard using language from the text – ‘I wrote to the zoo to send me a pet. They sent me a…’ – and they would say their animal that they had drawn.
This brings us to the end of the enhancements alphabet. Adding enhancements to the provision inspires children in their play, bringing new interest and lines of enquiry. It is not only interesting and exciting for the children but for the staff too when you see the children’s eyes light up at an enhancement that you have carefully planned and prepared.
