12 replies to this topic

[Zim]

Our topic next term is Clothes. :D Any ideas? I'd love some inspiration . We want to cover investigating materials as part of this ( but anything goes!)

[Lorna]

Some ideas off the top of my head- so not original!!

What to wear on hot, cold, wet days etc.
Testing materiasl to make teddy a coat- waterproof, not waterproof.

Clothes old and new- looking at photos- maybe hiring clothes from county wardrobe.

Colouring fabrics- tie- dye, batik
Weaving using different materials.
Draw a picture and transer it to a t- shirt design- is possible on the computer- print on special paper than iron on.

Just a few ideas

L

[Gezabel]

Which clothes to wear for different occasions - they loved it when I made silly suggestions such as pyjamas to go to the beach etc :D
A favourite activity with the children was to dress a cardboard doll in an outfit for an occasion. They chose something they liked doing eg parties/swimming/seaside etc and collaged their dolls accordingly. LOADS of opportunities for language and discussion etc. We even managed to find some lightweight rubber for a little one who wanted his doll to have wellies! :D :D

[Zim]

:D Thanks for your quick replies. I've done tie dying myself bit never with chn-how do you organise it lorna? What is batik? I like the idea of the collage oll Geraldine. Stupid question but what kind of collage materials did you use?

[Carolyn C]

What about multi-cultural clothes - saris and shalwar khemiz (not sure how you spell that) - the loose-fitting trousers/tops worn Asia. Scarves that cover faces, turbans, etc etc. We made cardboard dolls with saris wrapped round and scarves that covered faces.

One year we had a LOT of Pakistani children in our preschool so we planned a week looking at different cultures when the staff all dressed in shalwar khemiz for the week which caused the children much hilarity, but one of the boys came in in his traditional dress too to show us solidarity! His grandad said we all looked very nice though. :D
Carolyn

[Gezabel]

Not a stupid question at all :D
I think it was a case of you name it and we had it.

I tried to think of everthing they could ask for so had variety of glitzy/shiny/sparkly for parties/weddings etc. Had patterned flannelette for pyjamas, cord, felt,cotton in a range of colours and patterns, old tights in various colours, assorted buttons, ribbons, wool, shiny pvc, light and heavy tweedy types, had different papers and all the usual stuff really! but whatever you provide there will always be at least one child who wants something you haven't thought of!! In my case one child said there was nothing to make a towel with and she wanted her doll to carry a towel :D This then developed into children with dolls going to parties wanting them to carry presents :D I have to say my favourite was a little boy who wanted his doll to go fishing - managed to grab a stick and some string for the much needed rod!!!


The finished dolls were then individually mounted and displayed with childrens verbatim speech underneath.

[Zim]

Thanks Geraldine-great idea-they will LOVE making assessories too! You haven't got a photo have you? I was thinking of multi cultural clothes to link in with Chineese new year. Did you all go out and buy your Shalmar Kameez Carolyn? What a lovely idea-good excuse to go shopping too! We have Indian Chn and should do something with Saris. Maybe we could include these in our dressing up selection. Has anyone ever done a clothes shop? What other structured play area would fit in with this topic? My problem is always the same-working out how to divide the topic up. We usually divide each week into a 'mini topic'-eg it might be
wk1 New clothes (what we got for xmas)
wk 2 Old Clothes
wk3 Clothes for all weathers
etc etc but our LEA advisor once said that we were trying to fit too much in at once and now i'm worried that if I call one of the weeks 'multicultural clothes' and that we have a Clothes shop that she will say we're not being specific enough (eg do a Chinese Restaurant if you're teaching about Chineese New Year-then it brings food into it and that's not the topic-ahh!!!)
Am I just too much of a stress head or does anyone else have the same problem???

[Gezabel]

Sorry no photo! It was an activity I did in my previous job and I have been in my current job for just over 5 years! I also remember one child who chose for his doll to be going to play in the snow and it even had a hat with bobble,scarf tied loosely round its neck - and a tiny polystyrene ball as a snowball - the variety was great and OK a 'body template' was the base for all but the end result was a huge variation :D

[Carolyn C]

We managed to borrow our Shalmar Kameez (so that's how you spell it!) from various friends/contacts/mums. One of our staff had been to Pakistan and had her own.

We tend to extend our topics well beyond the original topic, so I would have no hesitation in spending a week thinking about Chinese clothes, linking it with Chinese new Year and doing Chinese food, looking at maps and seeing where China is etc etc. If you have a toy library they may have Chinese clothes (ours does).

We did a clothes and shoe shop last month - really successful. Added labels with prices on to the clothes. Staff brought in hangers with ages on (like you get when you buy children's clothes). We used our coat rack to hang them on. There was lots of maths in it - putting the biggest clothes on the oldest ages, recognising numbers, adding. We made a "sloping thing to put your foot on when your feet are being measured" out of a cardboard box cut diagonally, and had tape measures to see how big everyone's feet were.

Carolyn

[Carolyn C]

Just wondered if you had thought of doing uniforms. Lots of potential there - police/fire/ambulance/doctor. Also postman/shopworker/boiler suits and overalls (Bob the builder springs to mind - hard hats etc). School/cubs/brownies (we got a big brother of one of our children to show them his cubs uniform and talk to the children about cubs).

The more I think about it clothes is a great topic. I look forward to hearing how it all goes in practice!
Carolyn

[Beau]

Packing clothes into a suitcase, pegging clothes on a line, my favourite clothes, a fashion parade?? :D

[Zim]

Thanks again for your replies-some fab ideas!
Carolyn-don't know if that IS how you spell Shalmar Kameez-just guessed it! Sure somebody will be able to twll us though :D