Irresistible Ideas for play based learning

Following our Wild Action incursion, we enlarged some photos of the animals we saw.

We then laminated them and put a velcro dot on the back so we could use them on a felt board.

By adding Australian bush props, the children could make up their own scenarios.

The children then made their own animals …

… popped the dots on the back and used mini felt boards which we had obtained from Reverse Art.

We also used these animals for a “Who am I?” game.

One at a time the children would choose an animal and pop it on the felt board out of sight of the others. They then described the creatures features, such as, “I am cold blooded, I have scoot scales on my tail, I have 66 teeth etc … Who am I?”

The children were so great at this game. They clearly took in a lot of information during our Wild Action visit!

When our Pre-kinder children arrived …

… they replaced the Aussie animals with a bucketload of felt characters and farm animals …

… and had a great time creating their own stories and play scenarios.

Our visit to ‘Tinternwood Farm’ at Tintern Girls Grammar School has lead to a lot of discussion recently about…

cows and milk …

… chickens and eggs …

… sheep and wool…

… and of course farm machines!

So naturally the children’s interests have revolved around the farm and the animals we encounted.

We’ve read the books Little pink pig, by Pat Hutchins, Old Macdonald had a farm, illustrated by Pam Adams and The chicken book, by Garth Williams.

We’ve sung Old Macdonald had a farm, Five little duck’s, Baa baa black sheep, and I went to visit a farm one day.

We’ve danced to the Scarecrow song and The farmer in the dell as well as stamp, paint, draw, paste, play and puzzle our way through a variety of great farm activities.

Our bush box is currently home to our large farm animals, with plenty of natural materials like tanbark, grasses, logs, rocks, branches and wooden blocks provided for the children to use as props.

The children love the bush box as it is a very social area and they can climb right inside it and become totally involved in their play. If you don’t have a bush box like ours a child’s clam shell style pool would be ideal for this kind of play.

It’s great to be able to bring the outside in, on a hot or rainy day.