1 When I'm feeling blue
ADULT-LED
Use a story to promote discussion about the links between colour and moods.
Planned learning intention
To have a developing awareness of their own needs, views and feelings and be sensitive to the needs, views and feelings of others
Resources
At least one copy of My Many Coloured Days by Dr Seuss (Red Fox, 6.99) - a journey through the many different moods that can be experienced in life
Activity content
* Read the story to the children. Allow plenty of time to discuss the pictures that link animals, colours and moods.
* Talk about how different colours make us feel and of how we use colour to describe our feelings. Some children may be aware of certain associations between colours and feelings: red with anger, green with envy, 'feeling blue' and being in a 'black mood'.
* Invite comments from the children on the different pages of the book and why the author has included animals.
* Personalise the discussion by sharing your own opinions and feelings.
Things to say
* Have you ever felt happy/sad/etc?
* Which of the feelings/colours most appeals to you?
* Why do you think that the author has used certain animals to show the way that colours can be used to describe feelings? Do animals have moods too, just like people, or do they always feel the same?
* What makes you happy/sad/etc?
Stepping stones
* Children with little experience will begin to express their feelings with some adult support, and will have a widening vocabulary to express these feelings.
* Children with some experience will express their feelings in ways appropriate to the discussion and understand that others in the group have feelings of their own.
* Children with more experience may add to the discussion by initiating questions of their own, directed both to the adult and to other children.
Extension ideas
* Look at some posters of abstract art, including the Nursery Topics poster of Patrick Heron's 'Eight Including Ultramarine'. Paintings by Rothko are also ideal (see Resources, p16). Discuss how the colours make the children feel.
* Offer the children the opportunity to work with shades of one colour, or to experiment with creating a painting to represent different moods.
2 Finer feelings
ADULT-LED
Create a patchwork of fabrics to stimulate storytelling.
Planned learning intentions
To use language to imagine and recreate roles and experiences
To use talk to organise, sequence and clarify thinking, ideas, feelings and events
Resources
Small pieces of fabric (you could write parents a letter, inviting them to contribute some material) Activity content
* Encourage the children to explore the fabrics, colours and textures.
Allow plenty of time for discussion. Children may also enjoy sorting the fabrics by various self-chosen attributes.
* Children who have brought in a piece of fabric from home could be encouraged to tell the story of where it has come from - perhaps it's an offcut of curtain fabric. These children should be given plenty of time to 'tell the story', so that others can hear it.
* When the children have had an opportunity to play with and explore the fabric, let them choose their favourite piece and scribe their comments about it.
* Display all the children's favourite pieces alongside their comments, word-processed if possible, to create a patchwork of fabrics and the children's responses.
Things to say
* Which fabrics do you like the best?
* What do they remind you of?
* What do you think they were used for?
* Can you imagine where they might have come from?
* How do they feel?
Stepping stones
* Children with little experience will talk about the fabrics with limited vocabulary, and will usually base their talk in the 'here and now'.
* Children with some experience will use talk, actions and objects to recall and relive past experiences.
* Children with more experience will begin to make patterns in their experience, through linking cause and effect, sequencing, ordering and grouping.
Extension ideas
* If possible, invite someone in to talk to the children about designing and sewing patchwork quilts.
* Photograph the children with their chosen piece of fabric. Put the printed photographs in an album alongside the children's comments. Keep the album in the book corner.
3 Dress to impress
CHILD-INITIATED
Create costumes from sheets of fabric.
Resources
Large sheets of fabric in a variety of colours. Mix plain fabrics and patterned ones. Wherever possible use fabrics that represent a variety of cultures. Try to include some regal looking fabrics, and those that would inspire fantasy characters, such as purples, reds, golds and silvers.
Children may also need pegs and lengths of ribbon to use to fasten the fabric Play suggestions
* Handling and talking about the fabrics.
* Using the fabrics to create a variety of costumes, such as dresses, superhero capes, wedding dresses and saris.
* Developing role-play scenarios.
* Telling stories.
* Making accessories, bags, hats, etc.
Things to say and do
* Offer appropriate suggestions to enhance the children's play. 'Do you need a bunch of flowers for the wedding', 'Shall I get the camera?' 'Who would like to be the photographer?' 'Chinese New Year looks like it's going to be very exciting. How could we make a dragon?'
* Ensure that the children have easy access to the resources that they need to feed their play, such as paper and card for wedding invitations.
* Find images of traditional ceremonies and festivals - such as weddings and New Year Celebrations - from a wide variety of cultures. Put them in a photo album and keep this near the fabric collection so that the children can look through it for ideas and inspiration.
* Scribe the children's stories and read them back so that they can act them out.
* Talk to the children about how wearing the different colours makes them feel.
Possible learning outcomes
Uses imagination in role play
Comments on the features of the different fabrics
Uses mathematical vocabulary to solve problems
Responds in a variety of ways to what they see and feel
Uses talk to organise and sequence ideas and feelings
Negotiates roles
Identifies patterns
Using talk and actions to relive past experiences
