“Shape, Space and Measures” is a great practical theme suitable for those times of year when children can spend longer periods of time outdoors.
Not all groups of children meet every day and not all settings are the same, so planning has to be individual for each practitioner. With this in mind, the planning sheets on these disks are always editable and should be seen as flexible templates to save you time. Any part of these plans can be used independently; they can be stretched over a longer period of time or adapted to include any special interests. You will almost certainly change some of the activities as your children bring in their own enthusiasms and ideas. If your children take dinosaurs with them wherever they go, that’s fine, simply add the stegosaurus to the plan!
The most important thing to ensure, is that you offer varied and interesting activities which the children can embrace (or reject) and develop in their own ways and at their own speed.
Week one concentrates on positional language and time. Four lovely stories form the stimulus for exploring under and over and inside etc. “We are going on a Bear Hunt” is followed by an expedition to hunt for the bear armed with an explorers’ bag and a vivid imagination! After children have enjoyed “Duck’s Keys Where Can They Be?” they set out to search and count as many lost keys as they can find. “Three Billy Goats Gruff” stimulates bridge building, and “Ruby Flew Too” involves children flying high and low all around the setting!
Time is a feature of the first week, as the children make a time line of photographs telling the story of their day. And measuring time is a challenge to find out who can cycle around the circuit before the sand timer runs out.
In week two we explore quantity by making buns; capacity by adding interesting bottles and funnels to the water tray; size by inviting a family of teddies to live in the setting; weight by guessing the contents of a variety of boxes; height by creating a “How high can you stretch?” wall; and length by creating an environment for worms! All of these concepts can then be practised in the role play baby clinic.
Week three concentrates on shape. Plans include investigating bubbles, marbles and balls and having a great time making patterns and shapes with old fashioned washing up liquid bottles and water! A whole range of cubes and cuboids are needed to set up a wonderful building site which can be developed over several weeks.
As with all the disks, one plan per week concentrates on “Letters and Sounds” and the letters on this disk are T, O and R.
