Arouse children's curiosity about the fascinating world beneath their feet with an exciting story, The Biggest Hole in the World by Penny Little (Hodder Children's Books, 5.99).
Charlie, his Dad and Doggo the dog are at the seaside. Charlie decides to dig the biggest hole he can in the sand. Nothing strange here, you might think... until he falls in!
The story follows Charlie down through the layers of the earth, into the centre and out the other side. As Charlie finds out, you never know what is hidden beneath your feet!
The design of the book adds to the excitement of the story, with ever- decreasing holes cut in the centre of each page as Charlie works his way down and deeper into the earth.
The storyline is printed around the rim of each hole, while along the top and bottom of each page are strips of interesting facts and figures - many too advanced for Foundation Stage children, though some are guaranteed to interest and amuse.
The suggested activities provide a good balance of stimulating learning opportunities across all six areas of learning.
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, to introduce or develop children's understanding of the topic through stimulating, meaningful experiences which offer 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 which inform individual child profiles and future planning. Children should be encouraged to use the resources to support their own learning. This means that the possible learning outcomes will be wide-ranging and varied
* advocates that settings should be organised and resourced using a 'workshop' approach so that children can access resources autonomously and independently.
Adult-led activity
Dig deep
Follow Charlie's example and dig the biggest hole in the world.
Key learning intentions
To interact with others, negotiating plans and taking turns in conversation To handle tools, objects, construction and malleable materials safely and with increasing control
Adult:child ratio 1:4
Resources
* The Biggest Hole in the World * garden tools such as spades, forks, trowels, rakes, buckets * Wellington boots * stones
Preparation
* Share the story with the children. Talk about what Charlie discovered in each layer. How did Charlie feel as he travelled deeper and deeper into the earth? How do the children think they would feel if they went down into the centre of the earth?
* Choose a suitable area outdoors and create a circular 'digging patch' by outlining it with stones.
Activity content
* Invite the children to put on boots and stand around the patch you have created. Show them the pictures in the book to remind them of how Charlie dug a big hole in the sand.
* Explain that this is their 'digging patch' and that it is round, just like Charlie's hole.
* Leave the children to explore the range of tools and to dig the soil to make a hole in the ground.
* Visit the area regularly to provide additional resources, discuss findings and extend ideas.
Extended learning
Key vocabulary
Dig, hole, patch, soil, stones, pebbles, earth, mud, sticky, wet, dry, buried; the names of the tools the children are using and the minibeasts that they find
Questions to ask
* Which of the tools works best for digging a big hole?
* How does the soil feel?
* What did you find under the soil? What do you think you might find if you kept on digging to the centre of the earth?
Extension ideas
* Provide teaspoons, small scoops and a builder's tray filled with soil.
Hide some model minibeasts and coins in the soil to be discovered as the children dig.
* Create a display entitled 'Under our feet'. Provide such titles as First Discovery: Under the Ground (Moonlight Publishing) and Let's Look At: Animals Underground as well as stones and minibeasts that the children found while digging. (Make sure the minibeasts are kept in a suitable container and returned to where they were found.) Talk about about creatures that burrow underground, such as rabbits, worms and moles. If possible, include a wormery as part of the display and encourage the children to observe the holes that the worms make.
* Look at a globe and discuss the shape of the earth. Try boring a hole through a ball of playdough until it emerges at the other side. Talk about how Charlie's hole went right through the centre of the earth to the other side.
* Talk to the children about how Charlie dug a deep hole on his visit to the seaside, and provide resources for the children to create a seaside in the sand tray using wet sand. Make available small-world characters, shells and pebbles, ice cream spoons (for spades) and small yoghurt pots (for buckets).
* Go in search of holes in your outdoor area and local environment. Can you find any funnels, tubes, a keyhole, a manhole, a hole in the pavement, the hole in a postbox?
* Take the children to see some workmen digging a hole in the road and let them look down it from a safe distance. Why are they digging the hole? What are they using to make the hole?
* Dig a small hole in the outdoor area and place in it a small chest full of 'treasure' as a stimulus for the children's role play and storytelling on the theme of pirates, which are mentioned in the story.
Blowing their top
Demonstrate what happens to the melted rock in the centre of the earth by creating exploding volcanoes.
Key learning intentions
To begin to use mathematical names for 'solid' 3D shapes and 'flat' 2D shapes and mathematical terms to describe shapes
To show an interest in the world in which they live
Adult:child ratio 1:4
Resources
* The Biggest Hole in the World * books, pictures and posters of volcanoes such as First Discovery: Volcanoes (Moonlight Publishing, 6.99) and Eyewonder: Volcano (Dorling Kindersley) 3baking powder 3vinegar 3playdough * red food colouring
Activity content
* Show the children the section of the story entitled 'The centre of the earth'. What colours can they see? Introduce the word 'volcano' and look at other pictures of volcanoes. Explain how the melted rock from the centre of the earth spits out from the top of the volcano as lava and flows down the side.
* Suggest making a model volcano. Encourage the children to mould their playdough into the shape of a volcano. Refer the children to the posters and pictures of volcanoes as they mould the shape.
* Ask the children to press a hole in the top of the volcano and sprinkle some baking powder and a few drops of red colouring into the hole.
* Move the volcanoes one by one onto another table away from the children and drip some vinegar into the hole. Watch as the red 'lava' flows over the side of the volcano.
* Encourage the children to describe what they have seen and link their observations to what happens when a real volcano erupts.
Extended learning
Key vocabulary
Centre, earth, volcano, melted rock, lava, hot rocks, erupt, flow Questions to ask
* Will it be hot or cold in the centre of the earth?
* What shape is a volcano?
* What happened when we added the vinegar?
* Why is it dangerous to stand near an erupting volcano?
Child-initiated learning
Creative area
Additional resources and adult support
* Leave a selection of cones created from card in the area, along with lengths of red, yellow and orange ribbon and wool and thick paint.
* Make available large sheets of paper and brown, black, red, orange and yellow paint. You could also make available such resources as coloured sand and glitter that the children might enjoy adding to their paintings.
Encourage the children, wherever possible, to experiment with colour mixing.
* Play pieces of music that suggest the sounds of exploding volcanoes, such as Tchaikovsky's '1812 Overture' or Handel's 'Music for the Royal Fireworks'.
Play possibilities
* Creating model volcanoes
* Painting pictures of volcanoes
* Choosing appropriate colours and materials to represent the boiling lava
* Experimenting with resources such as glitter to add texture to their paintings and models
* Talking about how they feel about volcanoes
* Using the cone shapes for their own creations
Possible learning outcomes
Uses shapes appropriately for tasks
Engages in activities requiring hand-eye co-ordination
Chooses particular colours for a purpose
Explores colour, texture and form in two and three dimensions
Construction
Additional resources and adult support
* Make available resources that will enable the children to make and explore tunnels, such as cardboard boxes, folding tunnels, lengths of fabric, planks and wooden crates.
* Add resources as the children's play develops and any themes from the book emerge in their play, such as toy dinosaurs, plastic minibeasts, treasure and pirates' hats and costumes.
* Remind the children, when you make available the resources, of the importance of taking turns and working together.
Play possibilities
* Constructing with large materials such as cartons, long lengths of fabric and planks.
* Making tunnels.
* Using the resources to build a different structure unconnected to the focus story.
* Introducing their own story ideas into their play.
Possible learning outcomes
Begins to use talk to pretend imaginary situations
Builds and constructs with a wide range of objects, selecting appropriate resources and adapting their work where necessary
Practises some appropriate safety measures without direct supervision
Plays co-operatively as part of a group to act out a narrative
CORE AND ENHANCED PROVISION
Areas of provision such as the book area, home corner, creative workshop, sand and water play and outdoor climbing equipment form a setting's core provision.
This core provision should give children daily access to an unchanging set of high-quality resources. For example, the home corner should always include core resources to support early literacy, such as calendars, address books and take-away menus.
Such an approach ensures continuity and allows children's play themes to develop and evolve. By regularly revisiting these resources, children can extend their experiences and consolidate their learning.
In addition, practitioners can plan how to enhance this core provision in response to children's interests. If, for example, they have an interest in pets, practitioners could add to the home corner a cuddly dog puppet, dog basket, tinned food, feeding bowls, collar and lead, information texts, vet's appointment card and a calendar about dogs.
THE IMPORTANCE OF OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONING
* One of the key findings of recent EPPE research (Technical paper 10 - DfES/Institute of Education, 2003, London) is: 'Good outcomes for children are linked to early years settings that provide adult-child interactions that involve open-ended questioning to extend children's thinking.'
However, the majority of questions that practitioners ask are 'closed'
questions: What colour is your jumper? How many cars are there? Do you want milk or water? It is vital that practitioners plan to increase opportunities to ask open-ended questions:How do you think we could dry the clothes? What will happen if we add water? Why do you think Nikki isn't at nursery today? Can you think of a way to fix the boxes together? (page 51, Focus on Planning - Effective Planning and Assessment in the Foundation Stage, LEARN, 2004 (tel: 020 8695 9806)
