Guest candidoodi Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 Hi all I hope you had a good Christmas. I'm just sitting down to some planning and was wandering what ideas people has on starting with a box.... I'm trying to get the children involved, making it child initiated. I thought we could start when they arrive or at circle time with a box in the middle -it could be wrapped or it could have things in it. then I was going to ask who had left it? What could be inside? What could we use it for? then hopefully from the childrens ideas we would have some mini topics to go with. I do have a back up plan of ideas which I have attached. The children are 2-4 so I'm expecting some curiosity I hope!!! Has any one done anything like this and has it worked etc? Your ideas/thoughts would be most helpful! C Boxes.doc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 Inspired! Sounds like a great idea - not one I have tried, but one I may be stealing.... err sharing. One to add to the books list - My Cat likes to hide in boxes. Hope it goes well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 (edited) Have you done the biscuit box idea?? should be lots of empty biscuit tins with sectioned inserts about after Christmas. I have an old science book with a page on 'boxes' I'll try scan it for you. We did a whole school project many years ago based on a indian artists box work. Each child had a box and decorated the inside and added 'special' items-photo of grandma, plastic spider, bus ticket for somewhere they had been etc. They were displayed fitted together pinned to a wall and looked fabulous. -My Cat likes to hide in boxes. Hope it goes well When we did boxes we made boxes from a map then the children added a fur tail from a choice to hang out for the cat to be hiding Edited December 30, 2009 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 2, 2010 Share Posted January 2, 2010 We did 'boxes' and they loved it. We were having lots of deliveries so opened parcels together guessing what it might be. Used a song called 'here's a box and here's a lid I wonder whatever inside it is hid' from 'Playsongs' CD. Lots of building with cardboard boxes, we had a collection of tiny boxes or 'fiddleboxes' that had little surprises hidden inside , also a set of small stacking gift boxes from Ikea, some round, some square, jewellery boxes etc. to investigate. lots of junk modelling with boxes. Each morning we sang 'here's a box' and opened my box (shoebox/hat box) and sometimes found things to do with phonics, sometimes a clockwork mouse and some cheese,sometimes a toy baby doll and a milk bottle, once had 3 different sized shoe boxes with baby shoes, dancing shoes and giant's shoes in them...led to lots of work on size and we set up a roleplay shoeshop with lots of shoe boxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest candidoodi Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 Yes do help yourself to my haphazard brainstorm! - I've used this site enough in the last few months so nice to be giving something back. Thank you for your further ideas - keep them coming as they say!! C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 Have you done the biscuit box idea?? should be lots of empty biscuit tins with sectioned inserts about after Christmas. I have an old science book with a page on 'boxes' I'll try scan it for you. We did a whole school project many years ago based on a indian artists box work. Each child had a box and decorated the inside and added 'special' items-photo of grandma, plastic spider, bus ticket for somewhere they had been etc. They were displayed fitted together pinned to a wall and looked fabulous. When we did boxes we made boxes from a map then the children added a fur tail from a choice to hang out for the cat to be hiding Hello - can anyone enlighten me on the 'Indian artists box work'? I am planning a topic on 'bags and boxes' next term - any other ideas welcomed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 we have placed an object, last time was a hedgehog on a circle of paper and asked what do the children know about a hedgehog, we get lots of responses we write these down on strips of paper and from that we know what the children know their interests are and what they dont know or have incorrect information about said item we use this to plan it is called mind mapping works well with all our children we also use it to see where the children might like to go with an area, eg we placed a leaf on the circle (we were covering autumn) but interests were around the hedgehog so hedgehogs is what we did, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inge Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 Hello - can anyone enlighten me on the 'Indian artists box work'?I am planning a topic on 'bags and boxes' next term - any other ideas welcomed! Not sure about the Indian Box art referred to but this site may help a little with what box art is... joseph cornell box Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liberty Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 (edited) I'm loving all these ideas/suggestions about boxes, especially as it's so child centred. Suer - I'm very interested in your 'mind mapping' way of planning from an initial focus and then letting it go it where the children's input/interest takes it. Can you please let me know some more, what age of children are you doing this with? What is the scale of the concept, with regards to size of paper etc? - How is it 'kept' recorded for children's learning journeys, to share with parents, and as evidence for Ofsted? Sorry if I'm hijacking this thread Libby Edited December 18, 2011 by liberty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 (edited) Strange coming back to thread a year later. I hunted the internet for the Indian print we based the work on with no joy. It would help if I could remember the artist name! I'm very interested in your 'mind mapping' way of planning from an initial focus and then letting it go it where the children's input/interest takes it. This is a photo at the end of a mind mapping exerise about an elephant we found sitting on the adults chair.Near the end of Elmer based topic work to assess what the children had learned. There are scans of some VERY old science based planning on 'boxes' and the last an idea I came across that I may use myself asking the children to bring the a box with print on from home and see who recognises it. It would be good for print awareness Edited December 18, 2011 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 I saw mind mapping on a training with mind stretchers . we proceeded with this on a much smaller scale, usually have a small group of children and mine are aged between 2 1/2 to 4 1/2 so some will sit for only short time others longer some children contribute a lot and others not so much but you can see they are thinking about what they are seeing and hopefully as the terms progress these children will find their voice. I have also seen this done in a reception class and the whole class has been involved mine are younger so hence the small groups, usually asession will last 10mins sometimes longer it is excellent for noting where their intesrests lie and where the gaps are in their knowledge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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