At Sarum Hall School we devised an 'our world' project, which drew on the children's and their parents' experiences of countries around the globe. We 'visited' every continent and at least one country within each. This week we outline our 'travels' to Africa and Asia.
Africa
The children's earlier free paintings resembling African art provided the most immediate inspiration for the project, and prompted us to make Africa our first destination. Painting and pattern remained a focus in much of the work we did on this continent.
First hand
* One of the children's families had been living in Nigeria, so her mother came to talk to the children. She brought with her artefacts including dolls, carved wooden figures, printed African material and photographs of the school that her daughter had attended in Nigeria.
* A father then visited to talk about his time in Egypt. He brought in traditional Egyptian hats and music and taught us how to belly dance! He also showed us hieroglyphics and wrote each child's name in these symbols, which we coloured in and laminated for bookmarks.
* We listened to a variety of African music and shared books about Africa, including Almaz and The Lion by Jane Kurtz (Puffin, 5.99) and Masai and I by Virginia Kroll (Puffin, 5.99). We also listened to Senegalese and South African music.
Display
* As with all the other continents, the centrepiece of our display was a cut-out map which the children had sponge-painted. We surrounded it with paintings and African artefacts.
* Also in the display were African dolls, non-fiction books from the library, jewellery, gourds, wooden animals, a large wooden mask and pictures of traditional African designs.
* I set out a gourd and an African bracelet, which resulted in interesting drawings and inspired the children to draw some of the other artefacts.
In print
* The children were inspired by African prints and made some of their own.
* Many children started to include African-inspired patterns in their drawings and paintings. One returned from half-term having worked on a painting for a week, each day adding a new layer of pattern to her work - just as we had done in class.
* To make prints, you will need: A3 sugar paper, black paint and other bright colours such as burnt orange, blue and green (limit the colours to two or three), an assortment of brushes from very thin to medium, and printing blocks or objects suitable for printing, such as potatoes, cotton reels, cotton buds and wooden clothes pegs.
* Using one colour, invite the children to sponge-paint the whole of an A3 sheet of sugar paper and leave to dry.
* Encourage the children to use another colour to draw and fill in bold freehand shapes.
* Once dry, edge the shapes with a black line. This needs concentration and good hand-eye co-ordination. Encourage the children to 'pull' the paint towards them, rather than 'pushing' it away from them, to promote proper use of a paintbrush.
* Next, ask the children to choose whether they want to add to the foreground or background. (Use black paint for the best effects.) * Encourage the children to add to their designs. For example, they could create a spotted effect with a cotton wool bud.
* The prints take a lot of time to complete, as each stage must dry before the moving on to the next. Encourage as much experimentation as possible.
African village
* One of the reference books featured a Kenyan village of huts with straw roofs. We decided to make a village, but stressed that many people in Africa live in houses in towns and cities.
* To make the huts, cut cardboard rolls into 6cm lengths and paint them light brown.
* From medium-thick card, cut circles large enough to make roofs, and paint them ochre.
* Paint on a dark brown front door.
* Stick the hut on to a hexagonal card.
* Cut into the centre of the circle and overlap the edges to form a cone shape, large enough to fit on the hut.
* Glue on the roof and stick on small pieces of straw.
* Cut four sticks or twigs long enough to fit between the ground and roof, and glue them into place. Being on hexagonal cards, the huts fit together quite snugly to form a Kenyan village.
Gourds
* Gourds are a common source of food in Africa and their dried shells are made into a variety of items from ornaments to kitchen utensils and musical instruments. We decided to make our own.
* To make a gourd, cover an inflated balloon in four layers of papier mache. Apply one layer a day and hang to dry.
* Pierce the papier mache with a pin to burst the balloon and cut the top off the 'gourd' using a knife and then scissors. Cut straight all the way round, or cut a small groove on each side (to keep the top in place when the gourd is finished).
* Paint the inside a sandy brown colour and the outside an earthy brown.
* Pierce two holes in the lid.
* Thread African beads on to a string about 10cm long, leaving enough string free at either end to thread through the holes in the gourd and tie a knot.
* To create a criss-cross pattern on the gourd, dip a 20cm piece of string in black paint and place it at an angle to the length of the gourd. Make similar lines all the way round the gourd and leave to dry. Repeat the process with more dipped string and with the lines running the other way.
* To complete, place a spot of black paint in the centre of each of the sections made by the string.
Asia
On display
* As with other continents, we created a huge display for Asia. We let the project develop in whatever direction the children's and their parents' experiences of the continent took us.
* Children brought in a huge variety of artefacts, including Indian puppets, Chinese figures and small Indian gods which were added to the display.
* To reflect the different religions practised across the continent, we incorporated the Everyday Religion:My Buddhist/Muslim/Sikh/Jewish Life series (Hodder Wayland, 4.99) into the display.
* As usual, we also included pictures of famous monuments across the continent and books.
* Also on display were the children's drawings of the Chinese yin/yang symbol which we talked about.
First hand
* A father visited to tell us of his experiences in Israel and brought some fruit with him. We then made a fruit tree by placing a branch in a pot and decorating it with clay 'oranges' and 'lemons'. To secure them on the 'tree', we pierced a hole through the middle of the 'fruit', passed a thread through, knotted one end and made a loop at the other. At the end of the project, we took the finest twigs from the tree, each with a piece of 'fruit' hanging from it, and stuck them into the children's topic books.
* A mother who speaks Arabic visited the school to talk to the children about the language. Her daughter told us the alphabet in Arabic and we all tried to say some Arabic words. The mother also told us the song 'Incy Wincy spider' in Arabic, and each child was given a copy of the Arabic alphabet to put in her topic book.
Asian wardrobe
* We sent letters to the children's parents, asking them to bring in any Asian clothing they had at home. Among the outfits brought in were Chinese and Indian clothes, to which we added items taken from our dressing-up box or borrowed from other classes. Every child had something to wear and they enjoyed dressing up and playing in these traditional clothes.
Fine foods
* No project about Asia could be complete without investigating food, so we organised a special Asian day, and had a tea party with jasmine tea, prawn crackers, fortune cookies, rice crackers and lychees.
Little monkey
* I have a model of the three monkeys which 'Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil'. We did the actions together and talked about what they might mean. Each child then made a monkey to take home and we made three more to hang on a branch. One covered his ears, another his eyes and the third his mouth.
* To make a monkey, cut a 6cm x 4cm oblong and a head shape (showing the monkey's ears) from brown felt.
* Paint three pipecleaners and one small pompom brown, and leave them to dry thoroughly.
* Twist one pipe cleaner round the top of the other to form the spine and arms.
* Glue one end of the piece of felt, attach it just below the arms and wind it round the pipecleaner to form the body.
* Draw features on the head and glue to the 'neck'.
* Bend the bottom part of the 'spine' pipecleaner to form the tail.
* Twist the third pipecleaner around the lower part of the body to form the legs.
* Hang the monkey on a branch.
Sarum Hall School 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.
