Five currant buns in a baker's shop,
Round and fat with a cherry on top.
Along came (Jack) with a penny one day,
Bought a currant bun and took it right away
RHYME TIME
Share the nursery rhyme with the children.
Resources
Five salt dough buns, painted and varnished (for a recipe for salt dough, visit www.bigeyedowl.co.uk ), five laminated card 'buns' to fit on headbands, five coins, tray, baker's hat
Activity content
* Introduce the rhyme to the children and encourage them to join in.
* Look at the props with the children. Discuss the similarities and differences between the buns and the coins.
* Choose a 'baker' and five children to buy the buns, letting each child choose a coin.
* Chant the rhyme again, with the baker holding the tray with five buns, choosing one of the children with a coin on each appropriate occasion.
Encourage the children to 'pay' the baker and select a bun.
* Chant the rhyme one more time, with different children using the props.
* Extend the activity by baking real buns and decorating them. Enhancing core provision to support child-initiated activities
Book or music and sound-making area
* Display the printed version of the rhyme. Provide a taped version of the rhyme, five saltdough buns, a baker's hat, five laminated magnetic buns and coins and a magnetic wedge or board
* Join in as appropriate as the children listen to, sing or re-enact the rhyme.
Role-play area
* Set up a role-play bakery, with till, coins, price labels, receipts, shopping list formats, assorted salt dough buns, cakes, bread, aprons, hats, baking trays and shopping bags/baskets.
* Support the children as they make connections with their own life experiences. Let them take on roles and bake, buy and sell buns, cakes and bread.
Dough area
* Provide laminated numerals 1-5, dough, rolling pins, cutters, baking trays, bun tins, paper cake cases, birthday cards with numerals on them, birthday candle holders and candles.
* Encourage the children to make their own cakes, retell the rhyme or sing 'Happy Birthday'.
Maths area
* Provide a home-made 'buns' matching game. Either draw or computer-generate an outline of a simple bun shape. Create four A4 sheets of six buns, each with a slightly different variation on colour of bun, icing, or decoration. Print two copies (or photocopy each sheet). Create four base boards and 24 playing cards. Laminate them to create a lotto game.
* Support the children as they sort and match the cards, modelling the use of descriptive language and concepts 'the same as' and 'different from'.
Interactive display area
* Display the poster and cover the table top or storage unit with bright fabric or wrapping paper. Add props: a simple zigzag book with images showing 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, buns on a tray, five salt dough buns, and information texts and story books that include bakers, such as Master Bun the Baker's Boy by Allan Ahlberg (Young Puffin Books) and information texts, such as Bread by Claire Llewellyn (Franklin Watts).
* Encourage the children to explore the resources, add more where appropriate, and retell the rhyme.
Next month
Final part of the series: 'I'm a little teapot'
Judith Steven is an early years adviser in Lewisham, London
