1 Station master
CHILD-INITIATED
Use the ever-popular train set to help develop children's learning across the curriculum.
Resources
Train set (any type will be fine), folded card (to make station signs), blank sticky labels, clipboards, pens and pencils, small-world people, maps of the local area.
Play suggestions
* Position this activity within the construction area so that children can build, for example, platforms, steps and kiosks.
* Encourage children to work together to build a track.
* Talk with the children about local towns and cities and encourage them to decide which towns their train will stop at.
* Encourage them to make signs and labels such as numbers on the carriages and station names.
* Provide a range of additional small-world equipment to enable children to build up the environment.
Possible learning outcomes
* Works co-operatively.
* Develops imaginative ideas.
* Uses speaking and writing in play.
* Explores number through play.
* Talks about features of the local environment.
* Engages in activities that require hand-eye co-ordination.
* Asks questions about how things work.
2 Going underground
ADULT-LED
Use the underground system as a basis for a board game. This will be particularly appropriate for children with experience of travelling on an underground system.
Planned learning intentions
To be familiar with the rules of a game and to take turns To count, and recognise numbers to five
Adult:child ratio 1:3
Resources
Large board showing a simplified tube map with three coloured routes (red, blue and yellow) and five numbered stations on each route; coloured die or spinner with two red, two blue and two yellow spots; three small engines.
Activity content
* Explain the rules of the game. Each of the three players picks a line and take turns in rolling the die. If the die shows the colour that corresponds with their chosen line, they can move their engine along to the next station. The first player to reach the last station on their line is the winner.
* Encourage the children to talk about numbers and to count the stations.
Ask questions such as, 'Which station will you go to next?' 'Which number is the last station?'
Stepping stones
* Children with little experience will show interest in the game equipment and enjoy moving the engines along the coloured lines. With support they may be able to wait until it is their turn to have a go. They may show curiosity about numbers and use some number names in their play.
* Children with some experience will grasp the basic rules of the game and be able to take turns, but may need support to resolve disagreements. They will recognise some or most of the numerals one to five and count in order to five.
* Children with more experience will be able to explain the rules of the game to others and may reason with other children over issues that arise while playing the game. They will count with confidence, recognise all numerals one to five and begin to manipulate numbers.
Extension ideas
* Draw a large-scale tube map, with chalk or paint, on the tarmac or paving stones in the outdoor area, and play the game with the children as the 'engines' moving along their line to the stations.
* Explore the idea of travelling through tubes and tunnels using cardboard and plastic tubing with cars and engines.
3 Train sounds
ADULT-LED
Develop children's listening and early phonological skills through a music activity.
Planned learning intentions
To discriminate between sounds and develop an awareness of rhythm and rhyme To represent sounds and match movement to sound
Adult:child ratio 1:4
Resources
Audio tapes of train sounds, pictures and books about trains, a range of musical instruments (such as tambourines, maracas and drums), chairs (arranged to resemble seats in a train), wide parcel tape (to mark a train track).
Activity content
* Listen with children to the tape in a quiet area of the setting.
* Encourage the children to imitate the train sounds with their voices by developing a rhythm and clapping or making wheel movements with hands.
* Make up some simple rhymes as you are sitting together in the 'train' and encourage the children to join in with, for example, 'Chug-a-chug, chug-a-chug, we're off to town; chug-a-chug, chug-a-chug, bumping up and down.'
* Provide enough percussion instruments for all involved children to experiment in making train music.
Stepping stones
* Children with little experience will enjoy experimenting with their voices and show interest in the way instruments sound. They may be able to discriminate between quite different sounds and will respond to sound with their bodies.
* Children with some experience will join in with a simple rhythm, experiment with the sounds they can make with instruments, and will show an awareness of rhyme.
* Children with more experience will attempt to make up their own rhythms and rhymes, and will be able to continue a simple rhythm independently, matching movements to sounds. They will discriminate between similar sounds and explore how sounds can be changed.
Extension ideas
* Tape the children's train music and play it to them and other groups.
Leave the tape in the music area so they can listen and join in, or use it in a train station role-play.
* Encourage them to make their own 'shakers' or drums in the technology area and to use these to reproduce train sounds.
4 Ticket office
CHILD-INITIATED
Give your mark-making area a 'train station' theme to motivate children to write.
Resources
Train timetables and leaflets, whiteboard and dry-wipe markers, Post-it notes (to make tickets), hole punches, platform tickets (rolls of cloakroom tickets are ideal), clipboards, blank forms (tables that children can fill in as trains arrive and depart), booking forms, toy mobile phones, calendar, clock, till, date stamp.
Play suggestions
* If possible, take children to visit a train station before introducing this activity.
* Encourage children to buy and sell tickets, and to talk about departure dates and times and about destinations.
* Support children in, for example, writing out and punching tickets and writing times up on the departures board (whiteboard).
* Link the booking office to a larger role-play area and include a platform and carriage.
Possible learning outcomes
* Makes marks to communicate meaning.
* Attempts writing for different purposes.
* Selects tools and materials independently.
* Uses tools and equipment with increasing control.
* Uses some time vocabulary such as 'today', 'tomorrow', 'next week'.
* Talks about own experiences.
* Imagines roles and experiences.
* Plays co-operatively with others.
* Uses numbers as labels and for counting in the context of imaginative play.
