Enabling Environments: Let's explore ... Wrapping

Many young children love to wrap up objects and even themselves, and become fascinated with the idea of 'inside'. Containing and enveloping, as they are known, are common schemas, and by recognising and extending these patterns of behaviour, practitioners and parents can meet the needs of individual children.

When children are playing schematically, they become absorbed and concentrate for long periods. By observing children as they use the provision, listening to the connections they are making and chatting with parents and carers, we can support this interest and plan simple day-to-day additions to take them on in their learning.

TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP: WRAPPING PRESENTS

Adult role

Because there will always be children at different stages of enveloping in a setting, it makes sense to include plenty of resources that will support this interest as part of continuous provision.

Thought given to the way materials are presented to children is central to a learning environment. Tissue paper can be hung up in different sizes for easy access - an arrangement that offers the opportunity for children to estimate the size they need to wrap their chosen object, and simply tear a piece off.

Different types of wrapping can be made available, including bubble wrap, cellophane, brown paper, newspaper, fabric, recycled gift wrap and paper bags. Special additions such as gold, silver, shiny, sparkly and autumn colours can be added to reflect different times of the year, or festivals.

Make sure that there is a good selection of natural and found objects that children know can be wrapped - otherwise, pencils, Sellotape and scissors will disappear! Alongside Sellotape and masking tape, offer string, wool, coloured twine, raffia, rubber bands and ribbon.

In a well-resourced area, adults can observe a child's developing skills and suggest appropriate challenges to move them on. Support the children sensitively, offering help when needed without taking over. Be available as a listener and conversationalist, putting into words what a child is doing, or wondering aloud about what is happening - for example, 'I wonder if the shiny red paper is big enough to wrap this box.'

Simple extensions

Plan simple extensions that will promote areas of the curriculum:

- Have the popular Rod Campbell picture books My Presents and Dear Santa on display in the area to share with interested children (see Book Box). Set up an interactive table nearby and display the books, along with a selection of parcels with a caption, 'Can you guess what is inside?' Children can add their own 'presents' to the selection.

- At Christmas time, hang up Santa's sack in the area, and suggest that the children put their presents inside. When full, it can be used in role play.

- On a separate table, offer a challenge. Present smaller objects in baskets, a selection of wrappings, ribbon and so on in small sizes, and a caption, 'Can you wrap a tiny present?'

Case study

One child's interest may motivate others to explore the area.

Amber had been exploring an enveloping schema over a long period at home and in the nursery, and was becoming quite sophisticated in her wrapping. She arrived one morning following a birthday party where she had played 'Pass the Parcel' for the first time. She went straight to the Technology Workshop area and spent a good hour wrapping her present. She then gathered a group of friends together to play the game. An adult helped with the stop and start music, and was able to instigate a discussion around the parcel as each layer was unwrapped: shiny red cellophane, thin blue tissue paper, a striped paper bag, a piece of soft, furry fabric, a satsuma net, and the different fastenings, included masking tape, two thick rubber bands, string, paper clips and pink ribbon.

Everyone tried to guess what might be inside as it became smaller and smaller. Turns were taken, and children waited patiently as wrappers were removed. Several children hurried off to wrap their own presents. This activity and the game became a popular choice for many children over the next few weeks.

Learning opportunities

Exploring ideas of size, shape and space

Problem solving

Investigating different materials

Displaying high levels of involvement in activities

Using tools and handling objects with increasing skill

Talking about what they are doing and sharing ideas

HOME AREA - WRAPPING UP

Adult role

Envelopers love to cover up. Early years practitioners can capitalise on this by adding scarves, hats and gloves to the dressing-up clothes.

- Present matching sets mixed up in a basket for children to sort.

- Hang up a selection of warm coats and cloaks. Add furry boots and muffs to push hands into.

- Discuss the changing seasons and why we wear different clothing at different times of the year. Compare the different lengths of scarves, talk about patterns on hats and what fits who or what is too small/too big.

- Help children to practise doing up zips, buttons and Velcro fastenings. What might children be wearing in different countries? (See Book Box.) At Christmas time, add red cloaks, hats and snowy white beards to the dressing-up clothes along with shiny and sparkly lengths of sari material and special festive drapes. These additions will offer many opportunities for children to cover up in their role play.

Bedtime

Many settings now organise the home area into different rooms, if space allows. A bedroom area is always well used, especially when it includes a child-sized bed. As with other areas, provision can reflect the changing seasons. Add a warm blanket or quilt, a water bottle and cover to wrap it in, slippers, warm pyjamas and a dressing gown. Include a selection of bedtime books and rhymes, and teddy bears, and the scene is set for snuggling up and sharing a cosy bedtime story.

Babies

Children are fascinated by the idea of a baby wrapped in mummy's tummy. The sight of a child with a doll stuffed up a jumper is a familiar one, and there are plenty of discussions about babies when someone is expecting a new brother or sister.

- There's a House Inside My Mummy is a lovely book to have around in the Home Area for sharing at times like these (see Book Box). It raises some of the questions and concerns that children may have as they struggle to understand what is happening inside mummy's tummy.

- Children love wrapping up dolls and soft toys and putting them to bed. Provide dolls and soft toys in different sizes and a selection of covers, again in different sizes. Matching sets of bedding will involve children in sorting and matching. By playing alongside, adults can offer opportunities to explore feelings of loving and caring and to share personal baby memories.

Possible extensions

Collections provide excellent opportunities to sort, compare and classify.

- Put together a collection of gloves for an interactive display. Include mittens, oven gloves, ordinary gloves in different patterns, rubber gloves, gardening gloves and so on. Separate them into two baskets, left and right. A washing line and pegs will add another dimension. Children will enjoy trying the gloves on as they find the pairs, before pegging them on the line.

- Inviting a daddy or mummy in to bath their baby is a popular activity in settings, and one that can be repeated throughout the year. Wrapping the small, wet body in a warm, fluffy towel is a comforting experience that young children can relate to.

- Set up a baby bathing area. Two or three washing-up bowls can be provided on a builder's tray, plus a selection of baby sponges and soap. Have fluffy towels available to wrap the wet babies in, empty talc powder and cream jars and doll nappies. It is a good idea to have a selection of dolls especially for this area. Display photographic images of babies from different cultures and backgrounds.

Learning opportunities

Making links with earlier experiences

Showing care and concern for others

Using language to recreate experiences

Talking about home and their community

Using the language of size and fit

Sorting, classifying, sequencing and ordering

Developing motor skills

Responding in a variety of ways to what they see, hear, feel and think

FOOD TECHNOLOGY/SNACK AREA

Adult role

Introduce recipes and vegetables that involve wrapping and unwrapping. As always when working with food, emphasise the importance of washing hands. Offer a bowl of Brussel sprouts. Compare the different sizes. What do they look and feel like? Have any of the children tasted sprouts before?

Show interested children how to peel off the leaves and notice how the sprouts get smaller and the leaves paler in colour. Wash some of the leaves and taste them. Cook the sprouts and then compare the smell, colour and taste.

Cabbages can be explored in the same way. Offer perhaps a red cabbage, Savoy, Chinese cabbage and tight pale green cabbage. Compare weights, colour and taste as the vegetables are carefully unwrapped. Leaves could then be washed and chopped for a coleslaw or filled with a rice mixture, wrapped up and baked in the oven with a little vegetable stock.

Other possibilities for food wrapping include making samosas, tortilla wraps, pitta pockets and sandwiches. Open up pea pods to find how many peas are wrapped cosily inside. These food activities will draw in envelopers and containers, allowing adults to introduce appropriate learning for individuals and groups of children.

Learning opportunities

Working as part of a group

Questioning why things happen and joining in shared discussions

Exploring size, shape and weight

Showing curiosity and looking closely at similarities, differences, pattern and change

Handling objects and tools with increasing skill

Exploring the tastes and textures of different food

MALLEABLE MATERIALS

Adult role

Let parents know that you are collecting chocolate boxes in different shapes and sizes, and sweet wrappers. Add a selection to the continuous provision in the area. Envelopers will enjoy rolling clay or dough into shapes, wrapping each one individually and fitting them into the appropriate spaces. Play alongside the children, putting into words what you/they are doing, making suggestions, introducing new vocabulary and asking open-ended questions, such as 'I wonder how many chocolates we can fit in the small square box.' Draw attention to the pictorial guide, count the spaces and match the chocolates to the shapes.

Learning opportunities

Developing fine motor skills

Sorting and classifying

Sequencing and ordering

Exploring various ideas of size, shape and fit

Counting

Taking turns in conversation

OUTSIDE: NATURAL WRAPS

Adult role

Use Andy Goldsworthy's photographic images featured in his books Stone and Wood (Viking) to explore outside wrapping possibilities.

- Supply children with bags and take small groups on collection walks. Gather leaves, stones, twigs, bark, etc. Spend some time on returning to the setting sorting and discussing the collections.

- Provide large stones, logs and branches, a pile of leaves, buckets of water and decorators' brushes. Let the children cover the objects in the wet leaves.

- Set up a leaf wrapping table. Present the natural collections in baskets and a selection of leaves to wrap them in. Add lengths of raffia, jute and rubber bands. Talk about the different shapes and colours. Use a non-fiction book to identify which trees the leaves have come from.

- Provide a basket full of conkers and let the children open them to find the shiny conkers wrapped up inside. Add a selection of paper bags for filling.

- Pile leaves, twigs, moss and stones on a builders' tray. Provide small-world British wild animals along with a book about animals in winter. Discuss how some animals get ready for hibernation. (Ridiculous is a story about the seasons and hibernation - see Book Box.)

Learning opportunities

Working as part of a group, co-operating and collaborating

Developing motor skills

Showing an interest in the world in which they live

Using books to find out more

Exploring size, shape and fit and using appropriate language

Explore and experience using senses

BOOK AREA

Adult role

A child's favourite book will often display the schematic interest they are absorbed with. Adults can use these books, and familiar rhymes, to plan learning experiences that will draw children in. Provide books, rhymes and songs that have enveloping and containing content so they can be readily at hand.

A good example is Dream Snow by Eric Carle (Hamish Hamilton), in which the simple idea of hiding things is skilfully woven into a seasonal story about a farmer and his five animals. He has a dream in which snow begins to fall and cover up each of the animals. A guessing game follows, where each snow-covered shape is revealed.

Children will enjoy interacting with a story table based on the story. Provide five animals, a farmer and a basket of different textures of white material and the book. Share the story with individuals and groups of interested children. Play a guessing game, taking turns to cover up the animals. Let the children retell the story using the props.

Learning opportunities

Working together as part of a group

Developing a love of books

Retelling and creating own stories using props

Using the language of size and position and exploring numbers

SMALL-WORLD AREA

Adult role

Provide opportunities for children to explore wrapping in miniature by adding small boxes and a basket of small pieces of different textured and patterned fabrics.

Introduce Ten in the Bed by Penny Dale (Walker Books), and help the children to become familiar with it. They may enjoy making a bed with wooden blocks, or using the boxes and fabric to recreate the rhyming story.

It can also be acted out on a large scale, with the children as the ten in a bed. Provide pillows, covers and a carpeted space. Vary the number of children so that the bed has to gradually increase in size.

Learning opportunities

Working as part of a group

Talking about what they are doing and sharing ideas

Using imagination and representing ideas

Developing motor skills

Exploring number and ideas of size, shape and fit RESOURCE BOX

A resource box to support an interest in wrapping could include:

- collection of chocolate boxes

- sweet and chocolate wrappers

- selection of paper bags - large, small, patterned, plain

- matching sets of hats, gloves and scarves

- collection of gloves

- special drapes - lengths of silky sari material, furry throws, sequinned shawl

- recycled wrapping paper, ribbon, gift tags, raffia

- range of poems/songs/stories that relate to wrapping

- materials for simple games, for example, Kim's game

- notes and observations of children's comments and ideas

- list of ideas that have worked well

- photographs in an album of children wrapping in different areas of the setting for discussion when revisiting

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 to 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. These 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 Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

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

- recognise that children need a suitable length of time to explore areas 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

BOOK BOX

My Presents by Rod Campbell (Macmillan Children's Books) Lift the flaps to open the presents and find out what is in the basket at the end.

Dear Santa by Rod Campbell (Macmillan Children's Books) A letter to Santa starts off a merry chain of gift-wrapping, but nothing is quite right and each time, he thinks better of his choice. Lift the flaps to unwrap each present and discover what Santa chooses as the perfect present in the end.

Ten in the Bed by Penny Dale (Walker Books) It's a bit of a squeeze! Roll over, roll over! But the little one gets cold all alone, and soon all ten are snuggled up and fast asleep.

There's a House Inside My Mummy by Giles Andreae and Vanessa Cabban (Orchard Books) The story of a boy waiting for his little brother or sister to arrive, told with humour and a simple rhyming text.

Get Dressed by Gwenyth Swain (Zero to Ten) How people dress around the world.

Global Babies by the Global Fund for Children (Charlesbridge Publishing) Photos of babies around the world in native costume.

One Winter's Day by M Christina Butler and Tina MacNaughton (Little Tiger Press) When Little Hedgehog's nest is blown away in a storm he wraps up warmly and sets off for Badger's house. On his way Hedgehog meets lots of cold, shivering animals. One by one, he gives them his cosy mittens, hat and scarf. But will he make it through to safety?

The Best Blanket by Sarah Nash and Pamela Venus (Tamarind Books) Mum wants to wash Donna's smelly comfort blanket; Dad wants to throw it away. But Donna's blanket is her scarf on cold days, her sail on windy days, her tent on camping days...

Ridiculous by Michael Coleman and Gwyneth Williamson (Little Tiger Press) Shelley the tortoise leaves her comfortable home to discover what winter feels like.