Activity 1
Cat care
Role play a veterinary surgery.
Planned learning intentions
To show care and concern for others
To take turns and share
To find out about some features of living things
Adult to child ratio: 1:6
Resources
Role-play equipment for a veterinary surgery such as telephone, tables, chairs, toy cats, paper, pencil.
Step by step
* Organise a trip to a cat sanctuary or veterinary surgery. If this proves to be impractical arrange for a vet or veterinary nurse to visit the classroom.
* Ask the vet/nurse to explain how the surgery operates, outline the various routines, describe the jobs that need to be carried out and explain why animals, cats in particular, would need to visit the surgery.
* Get the vet/nurse to show the children some of the instruments they use and how they work.
* Finally, ask them to tell the children about how to care for a cat.
* Encourage the children to ask questions.
* After the visit set up a veterinary surgery role-play area, reflecting the routines and work observed in a real surgery.
Stepping stones
* Shows care and concern for others and living things.
* Works as part of a group or class, taking turns.
* Shows curiosity.
* Describes simple features.
* Finds out about and identifies some features of living things.
(Curriculum guidance for the foundation stage, pages 36, 38 and 86)
Extension activity
* Make up scenarios for the role-play area. A cat has arrived with a 'poorly' paw and no appointment has been made. It's Oscar's yearly visit for his inoculation. The telephone rings and the caller says that somebody is needed at the canal because a cat is stuck in the lock gate - and so on. Make sure that an adult steps into role to develop the children's vocabulary and perhaps ideas.
Activity 2
Little and large
Focus on big cats.
Planned learning intentions
To sort in a variety of ways
To measure and compare
To find out about some features of living things
Adult to child ratio: 1:4
Resources
Collection of plastic big cats, for example, lions and tigers, or pictures of big cats such as leopards and pumas.
Step by step
* Show the children the collection of big cats. Talk about domestic and big cats belonging to the same family. Talk about the similarities and differences. Ask the children to observe colours and patterns.
* Now ask the children to sort the big cats. What criteria did they use? Can the cats be sorted in any other way?
Stepping stones
* Recognises a group with one, two or three objects.
* Counts out up to six objects from a larger group.
* Separates a group of three or four objects in different ways.
* Finds out about and identifies some features of living things.
(Curriculum guidance for the foundation stage, pages 74, 76 and 86) Extension activity
* Have a range of reference material available so the children can find out where tigers, pumas, and so on, live. Ask the children to choose one big cat and to find out where it lives and paint it in its habitat.
Activity 3
Musical cats
Children will love the wonderfully funny Rossini's Cat Duet, a classical piece which evokes the sound of fighting cats through the female voice.
Planned learning intention
To explore sounds
Adult to child ratio: 1:6
Resources
Recording of Rossini's Cat Duet range of musical instruments
Step by step
* Listen to Rossini's Cat Duet and ask the children if they enjoyed the piece. Was it funny? How many people were singing? Get the children to work in pairs. Can they make a simple song using cat sounds?
* Ask the children to name all the sounds a cat makes, followed by things cats do, for example: licks up milk, scratches, chases mice. Now make a list of these to remind the children.
* Use these sounds and actions to compose an ostinato (a short melody or phrase that is constantly repeated in the same pitch). For example, one group of children might repeat 'meow', another 'chasing mice', another 'scratch' and the final group, 'licks up milk'. Act as the conductor and tell the children to keep repeating their phrase when you point to them. As soon as you point to another group they stop. A composition might sound like this:
Chasing mice, chasing mice, chasing mice
Scratch, scratch
Chasing mice
Licks up milk, licks up milk
Meow, meow
Scratch, scratch.
* After some practice ask the children to choose an instrument which will reflect their phrase, for example, run a scraper along a Latin American guiro (or other percussion instrument) for licking up milk and stick hand bells for chasing mice.
* Now try composing a piece with voice and instruments.
Stepping stones
* Makes up simple songs.
* Explores and learns how sounds can be changed.
* Explores the different sounds of musical instruments.
* Uses their imagination in music.
(Curriculum guidance for the foundation stage, pages 122 and 124) Extension activity
* Ask the children to think of different ways of recording the score so it will be remembered and can be played again. Encourage the children to be inventive. They might use pictures or symbols.
Activity 4
Pet subject
Do a survey of pets.
Planned learning intentions
To use developing mathematical ideas to solve practical problems
To use language such as 'more' and 'fewer'
Adult to child ratio: 1:6
Resources
Matchboxes or similar (all the boxes need to be the same size), large sheets of paper
Step by step
* Ask the children how they could find out who has a cat as a pet. What other pets do the children possess?
* Collect the information and represent it visually as a line or block graph.
* Small boxes are a good way of representing one pet. The children could stick a picture of their pet on the outside.
* Once the information is gathered and displayed ask the children if they can work out how many children have cats, dogs, fish, etc. Which is the most popular pet? (Be aware of those who do not have pets and perhaps would like them. Think of how to involve them, too.)
Stepping stones
* Begins to represent numbers by using marks or pictures.
* Finds the total number of items.
* Uses own methods to solve a problem.
(Curriculum guidance for the foundation stage, pages 74 and 76) Extension activities
* Read The Great Pet Sale by Mick Inkpen (Hodder Children's Books, Pounds 5.99).
* Ask the children to bring in toy pets and organise a sale.
* Make posters advertising the sale and the cost of some of the pets.
Andrea Durrant is an early years and primary education consultant
