This week we have been considering ‘people who help us’. In September we were lucky enough to have a visit from the local fire brigade, but this time we wanted to focus on local people who help us. To do this, we took small groups of children on a walk around Highwoods; we visited the coffee shop, post office, hair dresser, doctor and dentist. We even spoke to one of the bus drivers about their role in helping people. This helps children develop their confidence and develop an understanding of people within our local community. It also provided a great topic to talk about at circle-time as we discussed what these people do.
To link in with this, we swapped our usual range of dressing up clothes for a range of ‘work’ inspired dressing up; nurses outfit, doctors, vet, police, fire and army clothes. Some of the children were happy to explore these, yet some missed their usual ‘princess’ style clothes – so they began to explore our material box and made their own capes and dresses from the material, declaring they were Elsa, Anna, and Ariel! This shows that using open ended resources can really help inspire children to use their imagination and develop their ideas for play.
We had our ‘play flats’ set up this week – a series of wooden boards that can be arranged in various ways to create spaces for play. Initially we had them set up as part of a doctor’s role play, then as a hairdresser. The children then decided to try and cover them with material! So, we removed the role play, covered the play flats with dark material and they became a dark den. The children added cushions and soft blankets and all tried to crowd in! It became rather over-crowed, so we started then using tables too; draping more material over and enlarging our space.
We wanted to focus on stories this week, and we also wanted to make sure some of those who are reluctant to listen to stories, might want to get involved. So, we had a ‘make-a-story’ craft session. Children were encouraged to use cut out story images to stick to a story book and to tell a story of their own. This proved a great way to encourage story telling.
Jolly Jo this week has been all about racing and chasing! We played a tail catching game, similar to tag, where children have to try and catch their friends’ tails; we also practiced our balancing with an egg and spoon race.
Ideas to continue this week’s fun at home: Why not create play spaces at home by using a sheet over a table to inspire ideas. Our play flats became a space adventure, as well as Elsa’s icy castle… what else might a cosy den become?
To link in with this, we swapped our usual range of dressing up clothes for a range of ‘work’ inspired dressing up; nurses outfit, doctors, vet, police, fire and army clothes. Some of the children were happy to explore these, yet some missed their usual ‘princess’ style clothes – so they began to explore our material box and made their own capes and dresses from the material, declaring they were Elsa, Anna, and Ariel! This shows that using open ended resources can really help inspire children to use their imagination and develop their ideas for play.
We had our ‘play flats’ set up this week – a series of wooden boards that can be arranged in various ways to create spaces for play. Initially we had them set up as part of a doctor’s role play, then as a hairdresser. The children then decided to try and cover them with material! So, we removed the role play, covered the play flats with dark material and they became a dark den. The children added cushions and soft blankets and all tried to crowd in! It became rather over-crowed, so we started then using tables too; draping more material over and enlarging our space.
We wanted to focus on stories this week, and we also wanted to make sure some of those who are reluctant to listen to stories, might want to get involved. So, we had a ‘make-a-story’ craft session. Children were encouraged to use cut out story images to stick to a story book and to tell a story of their own. This proved a great way to encourage story telling.
Jolly Jo this week has been all about racing and chasing! We played a tail catching game, similar to tag, where children have to try and catch their friends’ tails; we also practiced our balancing with an egg and spoon race.
Ideas to continue this week’s fun at home: Why not create play spaces at home by using a sheet over a table to inspire ideas. Our play flats became a space adventure, as well as Elsa’s icy castle… what else might a cosy den become?
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