Learning from Home: Week 6 Activities

Feb 26, 2021Home Learning

Videos

Shark in the Park Story

Talking about Coronavirus

Tinlips Language Story

Volcano Science Experiment

Hello again,

Welcome back to home learning. We hope the half term break was restful and safe for you all. It looks like there will only be a few more weeks of this post but we hope to keep the videos rolling as these have proved very popular.

Here’s this week’s activities –

Shadow puppets and a show!

Willow continues its exploration of shape and cutting as well as exploring our imaginations using our cuttings to put on a puppet show.

Key learning –

  • Scissor control – beginning to cut in a curve as well as straight lines and following a drawn line
  • Creating puppets
  • Exploring shadow and projection – looking at how size changes when closer to a light source
  • Imagination and story-telling skills

You will need –

  • Scissors – one pair each
  • Card or thick paper to cut
  • A plain light sheet hung up across a space (you could hang between 2 legs on your dining room table).
  • A bright portable light like an angle poise or similar.

Ask your child what they would like to make and join in – I drew just faces, a happy girl, a sad boy and a monster. Cut it out making sure you make eye sockets and mouth (eg. Like a mask). You can either help your child or let them make what they like. It doesn’t have to look like a real object!

Explore creating shadows on your sheet by shining the light on it and getting in the way. Your child could sit on the other side of the sheet to see the shadows and then swap over. Make shape with your hands moving them closer to the light source to make them bigger, then back to the sheet to make them smaller. Introduce your puppets working together to make up a story or just have fun exploring how shadow works. Follow your child’s lead.

Bubbles

Key learning –

  • Physical skills of blowing gently
  • Exploring size and number
  • Talking about direction

You will need –

  • Bubbles with blowing wands – have a bottle each
  • Outside space

The children always love bubbles and Beech have been having fun watching their bubbles move around the garden. It can be very tricky for young children to coordinate successfully. Get them to focus on holding the wand near their mouths and blowing gently. They could practice just blowing on their hand to start.

Once mastered, get them to notice how big and how many bubbles they have blown. Where are they going – use the language of position and direction eg. ‘wow your bubbles have gone over the fence and up into the sky. My bubbles were blown left in the wind then went under the tree’.

Extend by chasing the bubbles to pop them. As always, have fun.

Digging and making a mud pie!

The children have been enjoying our mud kitchen with the warmer weather this week. They have also been digging our vegetable beds ready for spring planting.

Key learning –

  • Capacity – filling and emptying various sized containers
  • Science – mixing mud, with leaves and twigs, sand and water
  • Imagination – pretend cooking
  • Talking about plants and what they need to grow

You will need –

  • Outside space
  • Soil, twigs leaves etc.
  • Any old pot and pans
  • Plastic containers
  • Old spoons and mixing tools from the kitchen
  • Water (optional!)

This activity is totally open ended! Just give your child the tools and see where they go with it. You can copy their ideas and maybe introduce some of your own. Keep in mind key learning above so that you can comment if they become interested in a particular idea eg. Wanting to know how the plants grow etc or what happens when water is added to the soil (at nursery they make muddy water for hot chocolate!).

Here’s a link to more ideas of things to do outside with your child –

https://www.madeformums.com/toddler-and-preschool/20-amazing-things-to-do-outdoors-with-your-pre-schooler/

Got a Question/Comment about Home Learning?