Irresistible Ideas for play based learning

Our State Government Department of Primary Industries provides preschools with a wonderful free of charge program called the “Responsible Pet Ownership Program”.

A dog owner and his/her dog come to the kinder for a one hour session to teach the children how to be safe around dogs.

We have been having this incursion for some years now and always find it extremely worthwhile.

This year we had Angelique and Woody her golden labrador come to visit us.

There are boppy songs, lots of interaction from the children,

bright books and relevant stories and best of all …

a real live dog!

The children are taught when it is appropriate to approach a dog and how to go about it.

Our patient dog visitor is the one they practise on.

We are also provided with a CD and DVD, a book and lots of posters to follow up with.

It is a fabulously worthwhile program and what the children (and parents) are taught really works!

All children love playing intruments and we have a couple of great tracks we boogie and make good music to.

One is “Feeling Free” from the CD  ”Splash”.

The children form a conga line clutching their instruments of choice and follow the leader all through the kinder doing a Carribean style dance.

One aim is for the whole group to get back onto the mat in time for the finish. It just doesn’t feel right if half the group is still trailing around the room!

The other one we love is  “The Biggest Band” from the CD “Bop in the Bath”.

The different instruments have their go …

maracas (egg shakers) …

bells …

claves (rhythm sticks)…

and tambourines.

We play fast and slow, up high and down low all the time trying hard to keep to the beat.

and then we all join in together for the grand finale.

We play lots of classical and other instrumental music in our kindergarten for our music and movement and also when the children are packing their bags to go home.

We play a different track each week and the children try to be packed and down on the mat ready to go before it finishes.

One piece that we play during our music sessions is “The cuckoo in the depths of the woods” from Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saens. It is fabulous for the children’s listening and reflex skills.

While the music plays the children do this activity in pairs.

We have one child standing in front being a tree. The one behind is the cuckoo.

When a cuckoo call sounds in the music the cuckoo ducks out from behind the tree calling out “cuckoo!” The sound doesn’t come regularly so the children have to be really on the ball so that when they hear it they are ready to pop out.

It always causes lots of laughter and plenty of joy!

Virginia from Mini Maestros has taught the children another cuckoo song where the cuckoo sound is echoed.

These are the words:

Little cuckoo in the tree, in the tree, in the tree.

Little cuckoo in the tree, sing a song for me!

Leader sings: Cuckoo and the followers echo: Cuckoo

Cuckoo …………. Cuckoo

Cuckoo …………. Cuckoo

Sing a song for me!

Now we have combined both these activities.

The children made pairs with the tree in front and the cuckoo behind as in ”The cuckoo in the depths of the woods”, but sang Virginia’s song, “Little cuckoo in the tree” with the child behind being the lead cuckoo ducking out from behind the tree once again to sing “cuckoo” and the child in front singing the echo.

Both songs worked really well being acted out and were a heap of fun. It was delightful to see the children giggling their way through the actions while trying really hard to keep up with the “cuckoo”!