Guest terrydoo73 Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 We have been looking at the theme of growth during this month. We have planted sweet pea, sunflower and nasturtium and are planning on some onion bulbs next. We have looked at and talked about how things grow needing water, light and heat. Then we talked about how the children have grown from babies to toddlers using pictures. This week we are growing cress on paper towels and producing vegetable flowers on a paper plate - discussing the vegetables and tasting at the same time!! My problem I have now is this .... we are having a 2 day break next week for St Patrick's day and when we come back we have a further 2 weeks in the month of March. We would like to move towards our theme in April which is farm, the different animals etc. How would you suggest we do this? Our children are just turned 3 and there are 8 in total. We have to do things very simply without too much depth if you understand what I mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnyday Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Hi terrydoo Your 'growing' activities sound wonderful.....but.....I'm wondering why you have pre-decided (think I just invented a word there!) themes/topics - why don't you try following, building on, extending children's own interests? We have a 'loose' theme running at the moment but only because it is something that our children are particularly interested in at the moment..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest terrydoo73 Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Our children are aged 3 and we are in a playgroup setting of 2 1/2 hours per day, most of the children have never been in this sort of setting before and we felt need to be led slightly. Having said that we got into a discussion one day about "I'm a big girl now" and we let them lead us with talking about how we grow. We asked the parents to bring in the photos of them as a baby and it took some convincing for them to realise that this was them - one little girl looked up at the pictures and said "you know my mummy was a baby once and now she is a mummy". We had decided to use compost in the outdoor play area to make a difference from the sand tray inside and one little boy piped up with "you grow plants in that" so we talked to him about planting seeds and growing into flowers" so again it has been child led in a way! It is "loose" topics if you understand what I mean and we are generally exploring the whole idea of growth with noticing a farmer in the field beside us ploughing - we are hoping he will sow it some of these days which will give us some discussion again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 (edited) Your obvious connection then is baby animals and how they grow - takes to to farming Edited March 9, 2011 by Cait Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devondaisy Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 We walked to the local allotments this week, which came about after a helpful person came to plant our Morrisons's voucher trees, the children were really interested, and he suggested we come and look at his allotment. We went now, when there is little growing, and aim to go frequently so the children can see the changes as the plants grow. It was lovely as we met lots of people happy to talk to the children about what they were doing. Anyway, whilst there we saw lots of chickens and ducks, which the children were really interested in. Just thought this could be a way of linking to your farm theme if you have allotments within walking distance? Baby animals is a lovely idea too. There are lots of lambs in the fields at the moment to start you off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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