Develop children's exploration of what is under our feet with a look at animals who live underground and minibeasts.
Approach
Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage (page 11) emphasises the importance of providing children with a balance of adult-led and child-initiated learning. 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 practitioner's role to observe children's learning daily to inform individual children's Profiles and future planning. Children should be encouraged to use available resources to support their own learning, so the possible learning outcomes will be wide-ranging and varied for each child.
* advocates that settings should be organised and resourced using a 'workshop' approach so that children can access resources autonomously and independently (see box).
Adult-led activities
Going underground
Provide opportunities for children to learn about animals that live underground.
Key learning intentions
Be able to play alongside others
Move in a range of ways such as crawling and climbing
Explore an experience using a range of senses
Pretend that one object represents another
Adult:child ratio 1:up to 4
Resources
Outdoor play tunnels, ideally interlocking with several exits
Activity content
* Place the tunnel on a 'soft' surface outdoors, ideally on grass, or on bark, and explore the tunnel with up to four children at a time. Look through it and wave to each other from opposite ends to reassure the children that there is a way out.
* Encourage them to go through the tunnel one at a time. Suggest they go backwards as well as forwards.
* Talk about animals that live in underground tunnels, for example a badger, a rabbit, a mole or even a worm. Suggest that they pretend to be one of these animals.
* Make statements about what the children are doing to reinforce appropriate vocabulary and support behaviour management throughout the activity: John is crawling through the tunnel; Nadira is waiting patiently for her turn at the other end of the tunnel, and so on.
Extending learning
Key vocabulary
Tunnel, careful, one at a time, turn, move, in, out, on, through, start, end, other end, crawl, slide
Key questions
* Can you see right through the tunnel?
* What can you see at the other end?
* Who would like to go through the tunnel first?
* Whose turn is it next?
* Can you go through the tunnel backwards?
* Which animals live under the ground?
* Which animal would you like to be?
* How would you move inside the tunnel? Would you jump/crawl/hop?
* Why can't you stand up in the tunnel?
* Who can you see coming out of the tunnel?
Extension activities
* Make the outdoor tunnels a permanent feature for outdoor play during the project.
* Put small-world play 'underground' creatures and cardboard rolls in the sand for explorative play.
* Make clay tunnels by rolling thick sausage shapes of clay and pushing a pencil lengthways through the middle.
On the hunt
Organise a minibeast hunt. Minibeasts can be found in grass and soil but they also like moist, dark areas such as beneath stones, logs (especially rotting ones), and flower tubs. If your outdoor area really does not support any minibeasts, take small groups of children on minibeast hunts in a nearby park or in one of the children's home garden. Enlist the help of adult volunteers.
Key learning intentions
Show care and concern for living things and the environment
Use language for an increasing range of purposes
Examine objects and living things to find out more about them
Adult:child ratio 1:up to 3
Resources
log or stone where minibeasts can be found underneath ,plastic tweezers for removal or trowels to scoop up the minibeasts ,magnifying glasses ,paper ,pencils ,colouring pencils ,table ,non-fiction books on minibeasts ,observing pots (see box)
Activity content
* Take each group into the garden and explain that they are going on a minibeast hunt.
* Gently lift the log or stone where you know they will be. Emphasise that this needs to be done carefully to avoid frightening or disturbing the minibeasts. Ask the children what they can see.
* Explain that they are going to choose a minibeast and carefully put it into their observation pot to look at it properly.
* Let each child collect their minibeast, one at a time. Explain how carefully this needs to be done because these animals are very delicate, and focus the children's attention on taking care.
* Take the observation pots to the table, observe the minibeasts under the magnifying glasses and talk about their features. Refer to the reference books.
* Ask each child to draw their minibeast as a means of recording the experience.
* Support them by labelling their drawings. Do this as you encourage the children to talk about the different parts of their minibeasts.
* Let the children add colour to their drawings.
* Return the minibeasts to where they came from. Explain that otherwise many of the minibeasts, especially woodlice, earthworms, slugs and snails would soon die if they were away from their damp environment.
Extending learning
Key vocabulary
Minibeast, woodlouse, ladybird, spider, beetle, care, careful, quiet, environment, habitat, disturb, frighten, look, see, features, draw, record, return, put back, moist, damp
Questions to ask
* Why do you think we are taking these things into the garden?
* What do you think we are going to do?
* Where do you think we might find some minibeasts?
* What can you see under this log?
* Which minibeast would you like to put in your pot?
* Why do you need to put it in your pot carefully?
* What does your minibeast look like?
* How many legs does it have?
* What colour is it?
* How does it move?
Extension ideas
* Create a display of the children's observational drawings.
* Provide paper and pencils and magnifying glasses in the garden for the children to record further observations of their choice, such as plants and flowers.
* Put small-world play minibeasts in the sand tray outside and in the water tray. Add some natural materials and let the children create their own environments.
* Read stories about minibeasts.
Child-initiated learning
Small-world play
Additional resources and adult support
* Provide a small-world play scenario either in the sand tray or in a builder's tray using plastic minibeasts, stones and other natural materials, such as small logs and fresh greenery.
* Provide information books on minibeasts for the children to access independently.
* Read storybooks about minibeasts with the children.
Play possibilities
* Creating a minibeast environment.
* Playing imaginatively as part of a group.
Possible learning outcomes
Shows care and concern for living things and the environment
Listens to others in one-to-one/small groups when conversation interests them
Uses talk to connect ideas, explain what is happening and anticipate what might happen next
Knows information can be relayed in the form of print
Engages in imaginative and role play based on own first-hand experiences
Sand area
Additional resources and adult support
* Provide a selection of natural materials, including small, medium and large stones and pebbles, for children to create their own environment on a sand surface.
* Model the use of the language of comparison, size and shape and count to ten using one-to-one correspondence.
* Allow access to resources of their own choosing to support their creativity.
* Make the sand wet one day and make a rock pool for animals such as crabs.
* Provide small buckets, moulds and spades. Compare successes in making sandcastles in dry and wet sand.
Play possibilities
* Building on first-hand experiences of visits to the seaside and/or knowledge and understanding gained from the topic.
* Exploring the properties of sand as water is added.
* Learning to share resources.
* Sorting minibeasts according to various criteria and counting them.
* Sorting stones and exploring shapes.
Possible learning outcomes
Shows increasing independence in selecting and carrying out activities
Interacts with others, negotiating plans and activities and taking turns in conversation
Uses language to imagine and recreate roles and experiences
Counts reliably up to ten everyday objects
Uses the mathematical language of size and shape
Creative area
Additional resources and adult support
* Provide a selection of tubes, pieces of material, glue, Sellotape, penne pasta, corks and buttons.
* Mix sand into paint.
* Encourage the children to be creative with the available resources - explore with them what they want to do and how to achieve an end product.
Play possibilities
* Designing and making tunnels for creatures that live underground or using the tubes creatively to make items such as telescopes with which to investigate the environment or using a tube to represent a minibeast body.
* Making collage pictures using tube pasta and other 'round' or 'circular'
resources.
* Creating textured paintings.
* Exploring joining techniques.
Possible learning outcomes
Talks through activities, reflecting on and modifying what they are doing
Shows an interest in shape and space
Constructs with a purpose in mind, using a variety of resources
Explores colour, texture, shape, form and space in two or three dimensions
Computer area
Additional resources and adult support
* Let children take digital photographs of minibeasts that they have observed.
* Download the photographs on to the computer and print them off.
* Provide a drawing programme such as Doodle and encourage the children to draw their minibeast.
* Make a display of the photographs and drawings alongside each other.
Play possibilities
* Exploring the potential of the digital camera to make 'instant'
pictures.
* Using a specific computer programme for a purpose.
* Learning how to access the program for further independent use.
Possible learning outcomes
Completes a simple programme on the computer
Finds out and identifies the uses of everyday technology and uses ICT to support their learning
Engages in activities requiring hand-eye co-ordination
Malleable materials
Additional resources and adult support
* Provide playdough and a bug-making kit.
* Support children making real and fantasy clay minibeasts.
* Model rolling techniques.
Play possibilities
* Designing and making fantasy creatures.
* Making a minibeast from observation.
* Exploring the properties of a malleable material.
Possible learning outcomes
Has a positive approach to new experiences
Uses a widening range of words to express or elaborate ideas
Manipulates materials to achieve a planned effect
Further explores an experience using a range of senses
Areas of learning
Personal, social and emotional development
Communication, language and literacy
Mathematical development
Knowledge & understanding of the world
Physical development
Creative development
Core and enhanced provision
* Areas of provision such as the book area, role-play area, creative workshop, sand and water play and outdoor climbing equipment form a setting's core provision.
The core provision should give children daily access to relevant high-quality resources. Sometimes these may be unchanging, for example, a writing area should always be well stocked with paper, envelopes, stamps, cards, staplers and pencils. 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 need to plan how to enhance the core provision in response to children's interests. For the purposes of this topic, for example, the role-play area could become a garden centre.
Resources to support the theme
* Packs of minibeasts, bug- making kit and gardening themed equipment from the Early Learning Centre (www.elc.co.uk)
* Magnifying glasses and observation pots from Nes Arnold (www.nesarnold.co.uk)
* Pop-up Peek-a-boo kids play tunnel (19.50) and zig-zag tunnel (Pounds 29.95) from www.jacksons-camping.co.uk
* New and used play tunnels on www.eBay.com
* Jasper's Beanstalk by Nick Butterworth and Mick Inkpen (Hodder and Stoughton, 5.99)
* Percy's Friend the Mole by Nick Butterworth (HarperCollins, 2.99)
* Minibeasts in Close-up by Sally Morgan (Kingfisher Books, 4.99)
* Minibeasts Pet series by Theresa Greenaway (Hodder and Stoughton, Pounds 4.99)
* Worms by Sally Morgan (Chrysalis books, 4.99)
