Develop children's understanding of life on a farm through using small-world resources and other kinds of role play.
Approach
Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage (page 11) emphasises the importance of providing children with a balance of adult-led and child-initiated learning. This project therefore:
* identifies adult-led activities to introduce or develop children's understanding of the topic through stimulating, meaningful experiences which offer challenge.
* suggests ways to enhance areas of core provision to consolidate children's learning about the theme. It is the practitioner's role to observe children's learning daily to inform individual children's Profiles and future planning. Children should be encouraged to use available resources to support their own learning, so the possible learning outcomes will be wide-ranging and varied for each child.
* advocates that settings should be organised and resourced using a 'workshop' approach so that children can access resources autonomously and independently.
Adult-led activities
Green, green grass
Create a farm with real grass fields in your setting.
Key learning intentions
Examine living things to find out more about them
Talk about what is seen and what is happening
Know how to operate simple equipment
Adult:child ratio 1: up to 4
Resources
A builder's tray (TUFF spot) or trays ,compost ,grass seed ,trowels ,small rakes ,plastic aprons ,watering can ,water ,a bowl of warm soapy water or a sink ,paper hand towels ,magnifying glasses ,digital camera ,small-world farm resources (animals, fencing and buildings)
Activity content
* Ask children to put on aprons and investigate the resources laid out.
* Invite them to put their hands in the grass seed and compost to feel it.
* Explain that they are going to grow some grass in the setting. The grass will look like a big field and they will be able to put farm animals on it to graze.
* Let the children fill the builder's tray with compost using the trowels.
* Pour some of the grass seed into jugs and let them pour it over the compost.
* Use the rakes to rake over the surface and mix the seed and compost well.
If you only have one rake let each child in the group take a turn.
* Water the grass and compost mixture.
* Find somewhere in the setting where the tray can be left (inside) for children to observe the progress of the growth of the grass. Remember to water every day.
* Make a daily diary of the progress using a digital camera. Write down some of the children's comments.
* The grass should start to appear after a week and after two weeks should be ready to play on. Provide magnifying glasses for the children to use to investigate the grass as it grows.
* Before you put the animals and buildings in the grass tray, encourage the children to feel the texture of the grass and gather as much descriptive language as you can for your diary.
* Let the children design their own farms on the grass, and take photographs.
Extending learning
Key vocabulary
Seed, plant, compost, grow, grass, trowel, rake, mix, water, watering can, field, graze
Questions to ask
* What can you see on the table?
* Why do you think all those things are there?
* How long do you think it will take the grass to grow?
* What do you think we need to do to make sure the grass grows?
* Can you tell me the name of an animal that likes to graze on the grass?
Extension activities
* Put just one kind of animal in the grass field each day and focus on the sound it makes, what it eats, what its young are called, the sound it makes and so on. Engage the children in discussions about it and direct them to information books to find their answers.
* Make available a range of small-world animals and fences. Model appropriate language and ask questions to support and extend children's play and learning, such as 'Which animals live on your farm?' or 'How many cows are grazing in the field?' or 'Is it milking time yet?'
* Talk about what crops a farmer might grow in his fields. Talk about the use of vehicles on the farm - tractors, ploughs and combine harvesters.
* Bake bread together. Explain that bread is made from wheat and how it is ground down to make flour.
* Use Farmyard Tales from Far and Wide by Wendy Cooling and Rosslyn Moran (Barefoot Books, 9.99) to think about farms around the world.
Child-initiated learning
Exploration and investigation area Additional resources and adult support
* Provide a tray (field) of wet soil or compost and a selection of farm vehicles such as tractors and ploughs.
* Provide access to water for hand washing.
* Model the use of appropriate language such as plough, ploughing and tyre tracks.
* Provide information books about farm vehicles (see box).
* Support children's descriptive language about how easy or difficult it is for the vehicles to move in the wet soil. What patterns do they make?
Play possibilities
* Exploring the properties of wet soil.
* Investigating the movement of wheeled vehicles.
* Being motivated to learn by gathering important information from books.
* Playing co-operatively as part of a small group.
* Using talk in imaginative play.
Possible learning outcomes
Manage their own personal hygiene
Use a widening range of words to express or elaborate ideas
Know information can be relayed in the form of print
Operate equipment by means of pushing and pulling
Role play area
Additional resources and adult support
* Provide vegetable boxes or other shallow boxes from a supermarket and a variety of plastic fruit and vegetables to sell in a role-play farm shop.
* Put in a till and money, shopping baskets and bags with purses and a set of weighing scales.
* Discuss with the children what else might be sold at a farm shop - flowers, jams, bread?
* Make a sign stating the opening hours.
* Add dressing-up clothes, pens and paper to make shopping lists on.
Play possibilities
* Expanding language experience through enacting out and playing familiar roles - shopkeeper and customer.
* Using money in a no-risk situation.
* Dressing up.
* Writing - mark making and letters.
Possible learning outcomes
Attempts writing for different purposes, using features of different forms such as lists
Shows an interest in numbers and counting
Uses language such as 'greater', 'smaller', 'heavier' or 'lighter' to compare quantities
Engages in imaginative and role play based on own first-hand experiences Maths area
Additional resources and adult support
* Provide resources such as the farm animals, fruit and vegetables from the farm shop, and money.
* Ask the children why they have sorted the fruit or vegetables in a certain way.
* Use the weighing scales to compare quantities of fruit and vegetables.
* Model the use of comparative language when weighing.
* Write short shopping lists with the children and ask them to estimate how much the items might cost.
* Use 1p pieces to count to 10 and up.
Play possibilities
* Selecting an activity or resource independently.
* Playing with familiar resources to engage interest and support learning.
* Weighing games with peers.
* Investigating currency and using money in a practical way.
* Sorting items according to different criteria.
Possible learning outcomes
Says and uses number names in order in familiar contexts
Counts reliably up to ten everyday objects
Uses language such as 'more' or 'less' to compare two numbers
Uses developing mathematical ideas and methods to solve practical problems
Creative workshop
Additional resources and adult support
* Provide a copy of Farm Animals in Art (Roxbury Park Books, 3.50) or poster of a farm animal, such as Gainsborough's 'Girl with Pigs'.
* Put out ready-mix paints, powder paints, paintbrushes, paper and pencils.
* Provide assorted small boxes, scissors, glue.
* Support children's problem solving skills as they design and construct.
Play possibilities
* Making observational drawings and paintings of work by real artists.
* Designing and making a farm building for a farm animal.
* Designing and making a farm house.
* Using their buildings practically as part of their small world fantasy play.
Possible learning outcomes
Talks activities through, reflecting on and modifying what they are doing
Uses one-handed tools and equipment
Makes 3-D structures
Chooses particular colours to use for a purpose
Works creatively on a small scale
Adult-led activities
Action songs
Have a movement session using farm action songs.
Key learning intentions
To maintain attention, concentrate and sit quietly when appropriate
To respond to rhythm, music and story by means of gesture and movement
To move freely with pleasure and confidence
To show awareness of space, of themselves and of others
Adult:child ratio 1: up to 8
Resources
A selection of farm songs that children can clap, sing along and move to, such as 'Oats and beans and barley grow', 'Old MacDonald had a farm' and 'The Dingle Dangle Scarecrow'. This Little Puffin edited by Elizabeth Matterson (Penguin Books, 6.99) contains a whole section called 'Farm Songs'.
Preparation
* Familiarise yourself with the songs and rhymes beforehand so that your attention is kept on the children during the activity.
Activity content
* Set clear expectations of behaviour from the start. Talk with the children about listening carefully and moving carefully so everyone knows what they are doing and can enjoy the activity.
* Warm up by clapping to the rhythm of the first song. Gather the children in a circle standing up to do this. Make eye contact with everyone, encouraging them to sing along and join in.
* Model clear actions during the songs for the children to follow.
* Use positive praise to encourage the children to join in.
Extending learning
Key vocabulary
Listen, look, carefully, sing, rhythm, clap, sitting down, standing up Questions to ask
* Who knows this song?
* Can you tell us the words?
* Who can clap with me?
* Can we do some actions together?
* Who can be a dingle-dangle scarecrow?
* What is your favourite farm song?
Extension ideas
* Provide a selection of musical instruments to accompany the singing.
* Use songs as circle games outside.
Areas of learning
Personal, social and emotional development
Communication, language and literacy
Mathematical development
Knowledge & understanding of the world
Physical development
Creative development
