Introduction
At Sarum Hall School we embarked on an 'our world' project, which proved to be a huge success. By drawing on the children's and their parents' experiences, we devised a project that allowed the children to 'travel' to every continent. We were fortunate to have unusually well-travelled parents, but settings planning a similar project may discover that their children's families also have experience of a rich variety of cultures.
A mother's talk on the Muslim festival of Eid was one spur for developing the project, as were the children's drawings. We had set out black, white and grey paints for the children to use whenever they chose, and we offered no suggestions on their work. The end results were bold and inspiring paintings, which reminded us of African art. Africa became our first destination.
Parents
Parents were crucial to the success of the project, so we wrote to them explaining our plans to 'go round the world in 51 days' (the number of days in the term) and inviting them to come and talk about their experiences of travelling or living abroad.
Project
The project followed on well from our earlier topic work on 'myself' and the seasons, as this had led to discussions about the countryside and holidays at home and abroad.
We allowed the project to develop as spontaneously as possible, happy to be guided by parents' talks, though we did plan to 'visit' at least one country in each continent.
Many activities were adult-led, but we also encouraged the children to try their own ideas, which resulted in a lot of original and very creative work.
Concepts
To help develop the children's understanding of the 'world' and how it can be represented in 3D (as a globe) and 2D (as a map), we used an inflatable globe, a traditional globe and two Montessori globes - one had sandpaper continents and smooth seas, the other had each continent marked in a different colour and no writing. Accompanying the second globe is a puzzle map with two circles showing each 'side' of the world and indicating the continents in the same colours as the globe. To help the children understand how a map is a 2D representation of the world, we made a ball of blue plasticene, cut it in half, then flattened it and we used the same colour key for the continents throughout the project. The globes and the map were available throughout the project. Early in the project we made displays of the world and marked the places that the children had visited.
Flying high
To introduce the ideas of travelling to another continent we sometimes used a small hot air balloon, a permanent feature in the classroom, and stories (see the back of the Nursery World poster for a story that you could use to introduce travelling abroad). Some of the stories involved Charlie, a little figure made from a piece of stick and plasticene.
Nursery assistant Mandy made up stories about how Charlie visited the different continents. He arrived in his first continent, Africa, on a kite, which had carried him and his magic raincoat from London. Each button on his raincoat then magically transported him to another continent. The coloured buttons on his coat corresponded to the colour key we used for the continents. The stories then recounted Charlie's experiences in each continent.
Sometimes, when introducing a different country, we also acted out preparing for a journey, packing our bags, climbing into the balloon and taking off.
Classroom displays
By the end of the project, our classroom was filled with displays and artefacts. Each continent was allocated its own area on the wall, and below on tables were artefacts and books from countries around the world.
Home time
At the end of the project we helped the children compile a book of their work. We drew circular maps of the world on the covers, with the front showing one half of the earth's surface and the back the other half. We made the map on the front into a hot air balloon and stuck geometric boats the children had made alongside the map on the back.
At the beginning of the book we stuck their pictures of the English countryside, along with their drawings and writings about their homes and places that they had visited on holiday. We also had a special page for their pictures of the Great Barrier Reef.
The children then coloured and cut out each of the continents, which were stuck on separate pages of their book alongside the name of the continent, their drawings, pictures and things that they had made during the project.
Feedback
Feedback from parents was particularly positive. Some felt that it brought them together, and one mother said her daughter had told her about every last detail of each visit from a parent.
Outline
Here, and in articles over the next two weeks, we will set out the main activities we covered for each of the continents, starting with Europe and Antarctica.
Europe
Africa was our first destination, but settings planning a similar project may prefer to start with Europe if some of the children have been on holiday there.
* We started by asking children to draw pictures of and write about their own homes. Then we discussed places that they had visited in Europe and sponge-painted a map of Europe to display.
* We looked at the flags of countries they had visited and made a collage of them. To make the flags, draw them on A5 card and colour-code them. Encourage the children to colour the flags and add glitter, sequins and other collage materials in the same colours.
* We arranged a visit by one girl's mother who was Polish. She brought with her Polish toys, dolls and sweets, and sang some Polish nursery rhymes with her daughter. The children later did paintings of the dolls.
* A Greek mother visited and told us the story of Perseus, a hero in ancient Greek mythology who killed the gorgon Medusa who had live snakes for hair. She brought some great visual aids to make the story fascinating, funny and not too frightening. Greek dancing to traditional music then followed. We also tried Greek cakes and a pomegranate. Finally, the mother showed the children how to make a Greek vase.
* Show the children pictures of Greek vases. Cut out the shape of a typical Greek vase from black paper and have the children cut from light brown and brown paper shapes that appear on the vases. Let the children glue the shapes to the vase and add decoration with white and light brown crayons.
* The third mother to visit had been a professional ballet dancer, so she linked her talk to Russia by discussing Tchaikovsky's 'Nutcracker Suite', in which toys come to life and which includes dances from around the world. She brought with her some of her ballet shoes and costumes and organised a dance class, where we pretended to be the living toys in the ballet.
Antarctica
* Mandy used Charlie as a means to introduce Antarctica and its icy wastelands. We also looked at books such as Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Can You Hear? by Bill Martin Jnr and Eric Carle (Puffin, 4.99), Suki the Seal by Kate Petty and Shona Grant, A Whale's Tale by Jill McBarett and Life in Polar Regions by Melanie Merger. These resources generated discussions about the climate in Antarctica, its wildlife and how it is uninhabitable by humans (except under closely regulated conditions).
* We listened to recordings of whale song.
* We made penguin pictures using geometric shapes. To make them, draw an oval on white card using a template and thick black felt tip pen. From black card, cut two isosceles triangles (for the wings) and two equilateral triangles, with serrated bases (for the feet). Cut a small isosceles triangle (for the beak) from orange card. Stick (or draw on) eyes and glue on the wings, feet and beak.
Sarum Hall is a girls' school in north London. The project was devised and carried out by the nursery team Hetty Kothari, Mandy Croker and Sam Walsh
