angeldelight
27-03-2009, 11:57 PM
SPRING
PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Make a spinner from card and a pencil with coloured sections divided into different colours.Invite the children to take turns to spin the spinner, name the colour and find a flower that is the same colour
Look at daffodils , name parts of the plant and flower
Look for different signs of spring- record using a camera
Plant some seeds observe them growing - try cress
Do some cooking Easter nests or hot cross buns
Look at animals , mothers and their babies
Look at a cow for example with a calf, discuss how mothers care for their young
See if children remember being a baby - ask them to explain how their mom cared for them
Go for a walk in the woods or the park, emphasise the need to protect wild flowers by not picking them or treading on them
COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY
Find images of bluebells and snowdrops, ask the children why do they think they have been called these names
Ask the children to draw a flower and give it a name
Extend vocabulary by showing them pictures of more unusual flowers
Get some gardening leaflets etc and cut out pictures of bulbs etc, write the name of the flower under each picture.
Go to the library look at books about baby animals, read together and explore the pictures to extend children's knowledge
Draw pictures of flowers and animals
Make some snap cards with them and encourage children to say what they are
encourage children and baby to make animal sounds - you make a sound and encourage them to copy you - this is teaching them how to interacte with you and copy sounds that come out of your mouth
PROBLEM SOLVING, REASONING AND NUMERACY
Look at pictures with flowers - count them
Ask how many snowdrops, how many daffodils are there, ask them to count
Find pictures of animals with their babies get the children to match them up.
See if they can find more than one baby for each animal or 3 or 4
Ask is the animal big or small, is it taller than its mom , and so on
Sing songs, five little peas, five little speckled frogs
Get lots of pictures of animals and sort them into the correct families
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD
Get a magnifying glass (elc) and look and observe some flowers.Provide paper and mark making tools and encourage the children to draw what they see.
Discuss different parts of the flower, such as the petals, leaves etc , compare
Ask children to describe how flowers feel and smell, do they all feel the same ?
Look at pictures of sheep and her baby lamb,point out features, white face, black nose think legs etc
Explain lambs are born in the spring
Make a collage of a sheep using cotton wool
Observe and record the life cycle of a frog, frogspawn, tadpoles
Observe growth of seeds , carrot heads , seeds and bulbs
Do some Easter baking
Read the very hungry caterpillar and the enormous turnip
Notice change in the world around us , change to colour - leaves , trees , flowers
Blossom - Simple craft for young children - need twig or stick (even more fun if child finds twig themselves). Cut up tissue paper into small pieces (use white/pink or crimsom depending on what colour blossom you want). Pour small amount of PVA glue in bowl and cover work surface before starting!!! Scrunch up each piece of tissue paper and dip in PVA glue - stick tissue paper onto twig to create blossom and allow to dry.
CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT
Make some collage pictures using seeds
Paint some flowers
Do some painting of spring colours
Pictures of chicks , lambs Use natural materials eg twigs , leaves, feathers to make a flower and tree picture
Encourage children to copy and paint a flower use primary colours and encourage colour mixing
Talk about baby animals and animals, sing old MacDonald had a farm
Make a collage sheep and ask the children how does the sheep keep warm etc
Handprint Flowers - Dip child's hand in paint and stamp near the top of a piece of construction paper. This is the bud or flower part of the flower. Now stamp the child's feet to make the leaves. Draw in a stem. Don't forget to date it!
Duck Feet Painting - A spring art activity that I have used often with toddlers that they really enjoy is "Duck Feet Painting". We fill a tray with some yellow paint and use spatulas to make the webbed footprints on the paper. Playing or singing spring/duck songs during the activity reinforces the "duck" theme. Ex. Six Little Ducks, 5 Little Ducks, etc
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
Encourage the children to be bulbs and seeds that were planted in the winter and are now ready to grown into flowers because the weather is getting warmer
Ask them to sit on the floor and curl into a ball and gradually put one arm out to form a shoot and stretch up to form flowers and hands could be trees
Pretend to be a tree swaying in the gentle wind
Use tools with play dough and make some flowers , leaves
Role play , movement to Jack and the beanstalk or the enormous turnip
Look at rabbits and ask the children to point to them and explain what they see
Extend to talk about Easter
Point to rabbits eyes, nose, ask children to pretend they are a rabbit and encourage them to bounce around the room
FLOWERS GROWING SONG
Tune: "The Mulberry Bush"
Have your children lay on the floor and curl up into balls.
Have them pretend they are tiny seeds buried in the ground.
This is the way we sprout our roots,
Sprout our roots, sprout our roots.
This is the way we sprout our roots,
When spring time is here.
This is the way we pop through the dirt,
Pop through the dirt, pop through the dirt.
This is the way we pop through the dirt
When spring time is here
Additional verses:
This is the way we stretch and grow.
This is the way we shoot up so tall.
This is the way we open our buds.
This is the way we bend in the breeze.
This is the way we smile at the sun.
Some websites
http://www.first-school.ws/theme/cpseasons_spring.htm
http://www.dltk-holidays.com/spring/mspringposter.htm
http://www.dltk-holidays.com/spring/index.htm
http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/spring_coloring_pictures.htm
http://switchzoo.com/teach_learn.htm
http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/frogcrafts/l/blfrogpp.htm
Angel xx
PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Make a spinner from card and a pencil with coloured sections divided into different colours.Invite the children to take turns to spin the spinner, name the colour and find a flower that is the same colour
Look at daffodils , name parts of the plant and flower
Look for different signs of spring- record using a camera
Plant some seeds observe them growing - try cress
Do some cooking Easter nests or hot cross buns
Look at animals , mothers and their babies
Look at a cow for example with a calf, discuss how mothers care for their young
See if children remember being a baby - ask them to explain how their mom cared for them
Go for a walk in the woods or the park, emphasise the need to protect wild flowers by not picking them or treading on them
COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY
Find images of bluebells and snowdrops, ask the children why do they think they have been called these names
Ask the children to draw a flower and give it a name
Extend vocabulary by showing them pictures of more unusual flowers
Get some gardening leaflets etc and cut out pictures of bulbs etc, write the name of the flower under each picture.
Go to the library look at books about baby animals, read together and explore the pictures to extend children's knowledge
Draw pictures of flowers and animals
Make some snap cards with them and encourage children to say what they are
encourage children and baby to make animal sounds - you make a sound and encourage them to copy you - this is teaching them how to interacte with you and copy sounds that come out of your mouth
PROBLEM SOLVING, REASONING AND NUMERACY
Look at pictures with flowers - count them
Ask how many snowdrops, how many daffodils are there, ask them to count
Find pictures of animals with their babies get the children to match them up.
See if they can find more than one baby for each animal or 3 or 4
Ask is the animal big or small, is it taller than its mom , and so on
Sing songs, five little peas, five little speckled frogs
Get lots of pictures of animals and sort them into the correct families
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD
Get a magnifying glass (elc) and look and observe some flowers.Provide paper and mark making tools and encourage the children to draw what they see.
Discuss different parts of the flower, such as the petals, leaves etc , compare
Ask children to describe how flowers feel and smell, do they all feel the same ?
Look at pictures of sheep and her baby lamb,point out features, white face, black nose think legs etc
Explain lambs are born in the spring
Make a collage of a sheep using cotton wool
Observe and record the life cycle of a frog, frogspawn, tadpoles
Observe growth of seeds , carrot heads , seeds and bulbs
Do some Easter baking
Read the very hungry caterpillar and the enormous turnip
Notice change in the world around us , change to colour - leaves , trees , flowers
Blossom - Simple craft for young children - need twig or stick (even more fun if child finds twig themselves). Cut up tissue paper into small pieces (use white/pink or crimsom depending on what colour blossom you want). Pour small amount of PVA glue in bowl and cover work surface before starting!!! Scrunch up each piece of tissue paper and dip in PVA glue - stick tissue paper onto twig to create blossom and allow to dry.
CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT
Make some collage pictures using seeds
Paint some flowers
Do some painting of spring colours
Pictures of chicks , lambs Use natural materials eg twigs , leaves, feathers to make a flower and tree picture
Encourage children to copy and paint a flower use primary colours and encourage colour mixing
Talk about baby animals and animals, sing old MacDonald had a farm
Make a collage sheep and ask the children how does the sheep keep warm etc
Handprint Flowers - Dip child's hand in paint and stamp near the top of a piece of construction paper. This is the bud or flower part of the flower. Now stamp the child's feet to make the leaves. Draw in a stem. Don't forget to date it!
Duck Feet Painting - A spring art activity that I have used often with toddlers that they really enjoy is "Duck Feet Painting". We fill a tray with some yellow paint and use spatulas to make the webbed footprints on the paper. Playing or singing spring/duck songs during the activity reinforces the "duck" theme. Ex. Six Little Ducks, 5 Little Ducks, etc
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
Encourage the children to be bulbs and seeds that were planted in the winter and are now ready to grown into flowers because the weather is getting warmer
Ask them to sit on the floor and curl into a ball and gradually put one arm out to form a shoot and stretch up to form flowers and hands could be trees
Pretend to be a tree swaying in the gentle wind
Use tools with play dough and make some flowers , leaves
Role play , movement to Jack and the beanstalk or the enormous turnip
Look at rabbits and ask the children to point to them and explain what they see
Extend to talk about Easter
Point to rabbits eyes, nose, ask children to pretend they are a rabbit and encourage them to bounce around the room
FLOWERS GROWING SONG
Tune: "The Mulberry Bush"
Have your children lay on the floor and curl up into balls.
Have them pretend they are tiny seeds buried in the ground.
This is the way we sprout our roots,
Sprout our roots, sprout our roots.
This is the way we sprout our roots,
When spring time is here.
This is the way we pop through the dirt,
Pop through the dirt, pop through the dirt.
This is the way we pop through the dirt
When spring time is here
Additional verses:
This is the way we stretch and grow.
This is the way we shoot up so tall.
This is the way we open our buds.
This is the way we bend in the breeze.
This is the way we smile at the sun.
Some websites
http://www.first-school.ws/theme/cpseasons_spring.htm
http://www.dltk-holidays.com/spring/mspringposter.htm
http://www.dltk-holidays.com/spring/index.htm
http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/spring_coloring_pictures.htm
http://switchzoo.com/teach_learn.htm
http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/frogcrafts/l/blfrogpp.htm
Angel xx