Nursery Home Learning- Week Beginning 27.04.20
Little Winners & Little Stars
Hello Little Winners and Little Stars. Welcome to another week of home learning. I hope you are all staying well and safe. This week we have concentrated on three different learning areas of the EYFS curriculum and have created optional activities for you to try at home. Have fun!
Thank you, Isabelle, Esmae, Rex and Darcy for once again keeping us updated on what you have been doing at home. Remember if you have a drawing or a photograph of what you have been up to, feel free to send it via the Home Learning Showcase.
Understanding the World
Do you have photo albums, photographs around the home or photographs on your phone? Show your child a photograph and ask them to explain what they see? Who is in the picture? Is it them? If so, do they remember where they are? What are they doing? How did they feel at that time?
It’s important for your child to have an understanding of sequencing. Can they help make a cup of juice? A cup of tea? Butter a piece of toast? Or even a sandwich? It might be painful to watch your child destroy your butter but they will have fun doing it AND you’ll be surprised just how much your little one can do. They really have been watching every move you make.
There are great practical activities you can do with your children, e.g. learning about the characteristics of liquids and solids by involving children in melting chocolate, cheese or cooking eggs, freezing liquids; making your own lolly ices. Even making ice cubes can be fun. Allow your child to fill up a container and let them place it in the freezer. Talk about what they think will happen after it’s been in the freezer for a while. When it’s done, let them explore the frozen product. Place it in a bowl or plate and let them watch it melt. Again asking open questions. How does it feel? What happening to it? How is it changing?
Sensory baskets are not just for under 2’s. You can adjust them to suit the age of your child. Provide a range of materials and objects to play with that work in different ways for different purposes, for example, egg whisk, torch, other household implements, pulleys, construction kits and tape recorder. All the items your little ones aren’t normally allowed to play with. You’ll be surprised how much entertainment ‘normal’ items will provide!
Electronic devices are ok for your child to play with. It’s important they master how they work. Most children are really good at handling a phone and selecting videos and games. But can your child switch the phone on and off? Do they know where the volume button is? If you can allow it, ask your child to practise these actions with a variety of devices; mobile phone, ipad, desktop computer, TV, radio even the bell on the front door. This will definitely be fun for them, not so sure for the other people in the house! If you don’t want your little ones to handle your valuable electronics just stick to children’s electronic toys. Double-check they can work these toys themselves, sometimes adults and older siblings might always do it for them!
Expressive Arts and Design:
Use everyday items to make a sound line. Select a variety of objects, that will make different sounds, such as wood, pans and plastic bottles filled with different things.
Around the age of two, toddlers begin to grasp the names of some colours and begin to excitedly point out which names they know. Here is a simple activity to support your child’s interest about colour: Item Sorting – Sort colourful household items into their matching groups.
Use potatoes or any other appropriate item to paint a picture. Using something different than a paintbrush can make a common activity more interesting.
Provide story boxes filled with interesting items to spark children’s storytelling ideas: Collect a random selection of items such as soft toys, farm/zoo animals, little people/lego figures, sticks/grass/hay/wood cookies, visual aids, cards, calendar pictures, coasters, textured material. Place them in a box or basket and use these items as prompts to make up a random story. You start the story and encourage your children to carry on. You’ll be surprised by what they can make up.
Support children’s responses to different textures, e.g. touching brick, cotton wool, soap, bristles on a brush with their fingers, or feeling it with their cheeks to get a sense of different properties. Encourage your child to use the appropriate vocabulary to describe them e.g. ’smooth’ ‘shiny’ ‘rough’ ‘prickly’ ‘flat’ ‘patterned’ ‘jagged’, ‘bumpy’ ‘soft’ and ‘hard’.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development:
Personal, social and emotional development in EYFS supports children to learn to get on with others and make friends, understand and talk about feelings, learn about 'right' and 'wrong', develop independence and ultimately feel good about themselves.
Ensure there are opportunities for your child to play alongside others. A simple game of catch with a familiar adult will be really exciting. Dedicate 20 minutes of your undivided attention and praise your child as much as possible.
Play pairs with household items and support your child in practising turn-taking. e.g. two identical musical instruments, two remote controls, two toothbrushes. Clap to let your child know how clever they are when they select a matching pair.
To build self-confidence and self-awareness it is important that your child welcomes and values praise for what they have done and that they enjoy the responsibility of carrying out small tasks. Ask your child to complete a simple chore, put dirty clothes in the washing machine, take their dirty dishes to the sink, deliver a packet of crisps to their sibling/ parent. Praising your child for doing such tasks will really give them a sense of gratification.
It’s important for children to be able to play alongside others and actively interact. Encourage your child to complete an activity together with a sibling or an adult. Activities such as construction are suitable as they have to work as a team and take each other’s suggestions on board to be successful. This doesn’t necessarily mean talking a great deal, body language speaks volumes. Appropriate activities could be building a marble run, building a tower, making a train track etc.
A simple activity for your child to recognise how lucky they are is simply asking questions such as; What is your favourite toy? What is your favourite food? Where is your favourite place to go? What is your favourite room at home? Who loves you very much?! Make sure you discuss with your child about why they are fortunate.
Useful Websites:
This wonderful website ; Positive parenting, has some lovely suggestions to help you through your time in isolation.
Authorfy Access to masterclasses on texts from a range of authors, including videos from the authors and activities linked to novels.
Classroom Secrets Downloadable resource packs which cover a range of subjects, including reading and writing.
Purple Mash Free during the school closure period. Each week, a selection of daily activities is produced on different subjects, including comprehension and grammar.
Storytime with Nick Films of well-loved stories read by Nick Cannon, a trained actor, teacher and trainer.
The Children’s Poetry Archive An archive of spoken poetry recordings. Children can listen to poems read out loud.