Enabling environments: Let's explore ... ships and boats

Children often become interested in boats and ships at this time of year as they travel on ferries, enjoy being pulled along in inflatable dinghies, play with toy boats in a rock pool or simply observe ships on the horizon during a seaside visit.

Encourage parents to collect photographs and souvenirs with a nautical flavour during such holidays and excursions so that their children can show them to their friends and discuss their memories.

You can enhance the children's interest at nursery by providing appropriate indoor and outdoor play-based opportunities on a small and large scale.

Be ready to follow a child's particular interest, and encourage others within the group to become involved. For example, if a child has seen a lifeboat launch, try visiting the RNLI children's website (www.rnli.org.uk/shorething). This website has lots of activities, some of which need adult input, but all are fun and very informative.

There are lots of websites with pictures of boats and other craft for sale or charter, such as www.elmarine.co.uk. One particularly good site is www.apolloduck.com, where you can find an amazing assortment of craft for sale, including hovercraft, canoes and kayaks, long boats, superyachts, catamarans, motor boats and even some tall ships.

A good starting point for discussing boats is visiting the Rosie and Jim website (www.rosieandjim.tv). Children can explore the inside of the characters' narrowboat and talk about what life might be like on a narrowboat.

CONSTRUCTION PLAY

Encourage children to design and build small-world boats and ships in your construction area using:

- small recycled containers such as shoe boxes, plastic cartons cut in half, foil pie dishes, washed food trays

- scrap materials such as wood offcuts, paper, plastic tubs and pots, card, corks, lollipop sticks, sponge

- small 'cargo' items such as stones and buttons

- joining materials such as PVA glue, tape, paper clips and string

- a display table for finished models.

LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
Extending vocabulary
Solving problems, measuring, estimating
Building and constructing
Developing motor skills

ADULT ROLE

Motivate children's initial interest by reading books that involve boats, and by effective questioning to help them to decide the direction of their play. Consider adding:

- a display in the area, including copies of Sailor Bear and The Little Boat (see Book Box), small-world characters and pictures which can be used for:

Stimulating discussion about boat building

MAKING UP STORIES

- posters and pictures of boats and ships displayed behind the area (Search 'images' on well-known search engines), which can be used for:

Observing similarities and differences

Encouraging imaginative ideas

- once models are dry, a tray containing a small amount of water, which can be used for:

Investigating floating and sinking

Developing manual skills

WATER PLAY

Have fun exploring ships and boats using:

- plastic boats and ships
- waterproof boats that the children may have made and want to sail
- small-world people and animals
- small items of cargo
- fiction and non-fiction books about boats

LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
Sharing and taking turns
Making up stories
Counting and making comparisons
Investigating floating and sinking

ADULT ROLE

Encourage the children to discuss their observations as they play, encouraging them to make links between the sizes of the boats and cargoes that they might be trying to transport.

Consider adding:

- buckets and guttering, which can be used for:

Estimating distance and choosing appropriate materials

Discovering the properties of water as boats flow along gutter canals

- straws and fans, which can be used for:

Discovering how things work and why things happen

Moving with control and co-ordination

- plastic fish with hooks attached, fishing rods and nets, which can be used for:

Counting and making comparisons

DISCOVERING THE WORLD

Moving with increasing confidence and skill

- model lifeboat or ferryboat, for example, Viking ferry boat and toy cars which can be used for:

Discovering the world

Making up stories

- boating catalogues and brochures, paper, writing tools, clipboards, which can be used for:

Writing for a purpose

Developing mark-making skills

- Creating two-dimensional plans

- pebbles, twigs and small objects, which can be used for:

Discovering how things work

Developing small movement skills

OUTDOOR AREA

Create a shipyard outdoors. Provide:

- crates, cardboard boxes, tubes, A-frames, planks, cubes, ladders, broom handle 'masts' standing in cones or parasol stands

- fabrics of varying lengths and textures

- life jackets, yellow waterproof trousers and hats

- accessories such as a thick card anchor on a chain, plastic bottles on string (floats), inflatable swimming rings (life-belts), telescopes

- pop-up tents (cabins).

LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
Using mathematical methods to solve problems
Using equipment and materials
Using their imagination in design, imaginative and role play

ADULT ROLE

Engage children in discussion about boats to motivate large-scale boat building. Encourage them to talk about the type of boat they would like to make and the materials they will choose. Observe and listen in order to support children's direction of play.

Consider adding:

- maps of the world, some storage containers with lids and a selection of small items, such as wood offcuts, sponge balls or bean bags (cargo), which can be used for:

Sorting items

Discovering the world

Engaging in imaginative role play

- bags and items suitable for a holiday, which can be used for:

Making up stories and dramatising them

Organising ideas into a sequence

Discovering the world

BOOK AREA

Transform your book area into a boat and invite children aboard.

- Mark out sides of the boats with boxes and stand a mast at one end (see Outdoor Area Resources) with a flag flying. Fill the centre with comfortable cushions and bean bags, and have some wooden steps for children to enter the boat. Hang up posters and pictures, and create portholes, to enhance the walls.

- Display a selection of the books recommended in the Book Box.

- Have a suitable hat for the storyteller to wear and encourage children to talk to you about their own experiences.

- Play background 'watery' music and sound effects (see Resource Box).

ADULT ROLE

Observe and listen to children in the boat and join them frequently to enjoy stories and explore non-fiction books together. Put some of the books in the relevant play areas to stimulate further ideas.

Consider adding:

- a small table of related items to explore, such as model boats, a lighthouse, plastic fish in a net, a telescope and a fisherman's hat, which can be used for:

Using language to express ideas and recall experiences

Discovering more about the world

RESOURCE BOX

It is easy to build up a resource collection on the theme of boats and ships and it is important to involve staff, parents and children in supplementing this collection by encouraging them to donate or loan items of their own. Create an attractive poster making families aware of this so that they can be on the lookout for appropriate items.

To support children's interest have at the ready:

- small-world boats and ships, along with characters and animals to sail in them. Hope Education (www.hope-education.co.uk) has an excellent series of 'block people' as well as miniature furniture and plastic boats

- outdoor construction equipment

- large pieces of fabric, including blue

- recycled materials for building models

- a collection of songs and rhymes such as 'Row, row, row your boat' (www.nurseryrhymes4u.com has the lyrics and music to a wide range of rhymes)

- fiction and non-fiction books (see Book Box)

- pictures, posters, catalogues and brochures - visit a travel agency for information about cruises and ferry crossings, or search websites for specific kind of boats. Some websites, such as www.hireacanalboat.co.uk, send brochures on request

- 'watery' music and sound effects CDs that include nautical sounds such as ships' hooters and fog horns, waves, winds, storms (www.audionetworkplc has appropriate sound effects to download or listen to online).

EXPLORING CHILDREN'S INTERESTS

Tuning in

Making time to talk to parents and carers is an important way of finding out about children's current interests and about what matters to them. Such information helps practitioners provide a curriculum that is both relevant and meaningful.

Having an existing interest in a particular theme means that children approach it with enthusiasm and expertise, giving them confidence and increased motivation to engage in the activities provided. Children can use this expertise best in carefully planned, open-ended learning opportunities without prescribed uniform outcomes.

Enhancing provision

Any significant interest that a child or children may have should be explored by enhancing a setting's continuous provision - that is, by adding theme-based resources to the areas of provision that are available daily to children and should comprise:

- role play
- small-world play
- construction play
- sand and water
- malleable materials
- creative workshop area
- graphics area
- book area.

By taking this approach, children can choose to engage with the theme, or pursue their own interests and learning independently. Adults need to recognise that children require a suitable length of time to explore any interests in depth and to develop their own ideas.

ADULT ROLE

If children's interests are to be used to create the best possible learning opportunities, the adult role is crucial.

Adults need to be able to:

- enhance continuous provision to reflect the interests of children.

- use enhancements to plan meaningful learning opportunities across all areas of the EYFS.

- know when to intervene in children's play - and when to stand back.

- recognise that children will need a suitable length of time to explore any area of provision to develop their own ideas.

- model skills, language and behaviours.

- recognise how observation, assessment and reflection on children's play can enhance adults' understanding of what young children know and realise how these should inform their future planning.

AREAS OF LEARNING
Personal, social and emotional development
Communication, language and literacy
Problem-solving, reasoning and numeracy
Knowledge and understanding of the world
Physical development
Creative development.