Start a project on postcards by creating a display of attractive postcards in your entrance area and include a request for staff and parents to contribute to the collection by bringing in their unwanted cards and buying unusual examples during outings and holidays.
AREAS OF LEARNING
(1) Personal, social and emotional development
(2) Communication, language and literacy
(3) Mathematical development
(4) Knowledge & understanding of the world
(5) Physical development
(6) Creative development
ADULT-LED ACTIVITY
Express delivery
Organise a trip to the post office to develop children's understanding of postcards as a form of communication.
Key learning intentions
(1) To have an awareness of boundaries set and behavioural expectations within the setting
(2) To use writing as a means of recording and communicating
(4) Observe, find out about and identify features in the place they live
Adult:child ratio 1:2
Resources
- Money
- mark-making tools
Preparation
Invite parents to accompany the children on the trip and brief them about its purpose and safety issues.
Activity content
- Discuss items that the children's families receive through the post, such as greetings cards, letters, bills and postcards, and who sends them.
- Talk about whether the children have sent a letter or card. Talk to them about special people in their lives to whom they have sent cards.
- Ask the children to choose someone that they all know who they could send a postcard to - perhaps a recent visitor to your setting.
- On the day of the outing, discuss behavioural expectations and safety issues beforehand with the children, staff and volunteer parents involved. Buy stamps and encourage the children to choose a card that is appropriate for their chosen 'special person' - for example, a local scene for a keen walker or an animal picture for a pet lover.
- Back at the setting, help the children prepare the postcard by scribing the message and address, and invite them to write their names on it. Perhaps the children could write a thank-you message if the person was a recent visitor to the setting.
- Add the stamp and take it to the nearest post box with the children so that they can post it.
- Ask the recipient to let the children know when the postcard arrives.
EXTENDED LEARNING
Key vocabulary
Postcard, letter, birthday card, stamp, post office, special, message
Questions to ask
- Have you ever sent someone a card or postcard? Who did you send it to? What did you write on it?
- Can you think of a special person that you'd like to send a card to?
- What would like to say to them?
- Which card are you going to choose?
- What shall we write on the card?
- What happens to the card after we have posted it?
Extension ideas
- Invite the children to make their own postcards to give to family members by taking photographs in the setting, printing them and glueing them to card.
- Help the children to send postcards to their friends in the setting online. For example, visit www.funwithspot.co.uk and click on 'beach', or visit the Really Wild pages at www.bbc.co.uk and click 'web postcards'.
- Provide a selection of postcards, recycled boxes and pieces of card for the children to use, perhaps to create their own 'framed pictures' for the home area.
- Encourage staff and the children's families to send the setting a postcard when they are on a day out or on holiday. Draw the children's attention to the postcards as they arrive and display them on a special board. Who sent it? Where from? What is in the picture? Would they like to go there? Why (not)? What does the message say? Have they been to any of the local places featured on the cards? Encourage the children to ask questions and talk about the postcards and to ask the senders about their experiences when they return to nursery.
ADULT-LED ACTIVITY
Look and sort
Expand the project by exploring and sorting your postcard collection.
Key learning intentions
(3) To use developing mathematical ideas and methods to solve practical problems
(5) To engage in activities requiring hand-eye co-ordination
(6) To make comparisons
Adult:child ratio 1:4
Resources
3A collection of around 20 postcards depicting four different types of image 3four small hoops 3white card
Preparation
Create card labels to identify the different categories of postcard in your collection - for example, 'Buildings', 'People', 'Animals', 'Holiday places'.
Activity content
- Put the postcards face down on the floor and arrange the four hoops around them. Invite the children to sit beside them.
- Explain that you would like the children to help you to sort out your postcard collection so that you can stick them into albums.
- Read out the four labels corresponding to the types of postcard image depicted to the children and put one in each hoop. Explain that these labels will help them to know which hoop to put the postcards in.
- Ask the children to take turns to choose a postcard, turn it over, show it to the others and describe the depicted image.
- Ask questions to determine which category is most appropriate for the postcard and invite the child to put it into the designated hoop.
- Continue until all of the postcards have been put into hoops. Discuss the sorting process and ask children if they are satisfied with their selections. Allow for modifications in the light of discussion - for example, deciding whether a seaside postcard depicting a busy beach should be put into the 'people' or 'holiday places' hoop. Encourage children to give reasons for their decisions.
- Count the postcards in each group and decide which hoop has the most, the least or the same number.
EXTENDED LEARNING
Key vocabulary
Postcard, people, holiday places, animals, buildings, sort, group, most, least, same.
Questions to ask
- Which hoop are you going to put your postcard in? Can you tell us why?
- Are there more animal postcards or more postcards with buildings?
- Can you think of any other groups we could sort the postcards into?
Extension ideas
- Display the postcards from the 'Buildings' category on a low board in the construction area to inspire children's own creations. Include images of familiar buildings such as houses, blocks of flats and shops, and more unusual buildings, such as towers, windmills and famous landmarks. Supply a variety of construction equipment from wooden blocks to recycled boxes for children to work with.
- Invite the children to help you to make the postcard albums you referred to in the activity, with a different album for each category.
CHILD-INITIATED LEARNING
Sand
Additional resources and adult support
- Laminate some brightly coloured postcards with distinctive images and cut them in half, across the centre but at different angles so that they resemble simple first jigsaws. Bury the cut edges of the postcards in sand so that half of the postcard image is clearly visible.
- Join the children to discuss what they can see.
- Vary the number of postcards and the number of pieces that you cut them into according to the children's abilities and ages.
Play possibilities
- Matching up two pieces of a postcard to create a complete image
- Arranging the pieces of card in patterns, such as rows or groups
- Burying the cards completely and trying to locate them again
- Using the cards as simple tools to move the sand
- Discussing the content of cut and complete images
Possible learning outcomes
(1) Has a strong exploratory impulse
(2) Uses talk to connect ideas, explain what is happening and anticipate what might happen next
(3) Matches some shapes by recognising similarities and orientation
(5) Uses one-handed tools and equipment
Creative workshop
Additional resources and adult support
- Include a wide range of postcards, and some strong cardboard sheets to use as bases for creative work, alongside your usual collage materials.
- Hang up pictures of mosaic tiles, and a montage created from pieces cut from magazines, to inspire ideas.
- Join the children in the area to talk about the images on the postcards to motivate imaginative ideas related to the characters and scenes depicted.
- Draw attention to the displayed pictures. Explain how mosaics are made, but avoid putting any pressure on the children to produce an end product.
Play possibilities
- Cutting postcards into pieces to create a mosaic
- Using pieces of postcards to form a montage
- Creating collage pictures using whole or cut-up postcards and other available materials
- Creating pictures that tell a story by choosing appropriate postcards to glue on to card bases
Possible learning outcomes
(1) Persists for extended periods of time at an activity of their choosing
(2) Talks activities through, reflecting on and modifying what they are doing
(5) Engages in activities requiring hand-eye co-ordination
(6) Uses ideas involving fitting and overlapping
Role-play
Additional resources and adult support
- After the visit to a post office, set up a role-play version selling postcards and stamps. Include mark-making equipment on a separate table so that children can write out their cards, and a postbox nearby to post them.
- Leave the children to play freely in the area, visiting in role to buy a postcard and send it to someone.
- As play develops, provide additional resources requested by the children
so that they can put their ideas into practice.
Play possibilities
- Working together in their post office, re-enacting their previous visit and making up imaginary scenarios
- Following the process of buying a postcard, writing it and sending it through play
- Exploring the resources available and using them to develop imaginary ideas of their own
Possible learning outcomes
(1) Shows increasing independence in selecting and carrying out activities
(2) Attempts writing for different purposes
(3) Uses mathematical language in play
(4) Shows an interest in the world in which they live
(6) Introduces a story line or narrative into play
ICT and mark-making
Additional resources and adult support
- Set up a computer paint program, such as Colour Magic, and familiarise children with screen tools to use. Leave the children to experiment with the program and return occasionally to answer questions and support them with techniques, including printing.
- Set up mark-making tools and materials on a separate table nearby.
- Provide additional resources, such as white card rectangles and blank postcards, and cover the backs of recycled postcards with white paper so that children can write messages on the cards of their choice and give them to their friends.
- Replenish supplies regularly and include additional resources suggested by the children.
Play possibilities
- Creating designs on screen using a familiar computer program, printing them and making them into postcards
- Writing messages
- Using resources to extend their ideas
Possible learning outcomes
(1) Operates independently in the environment and shows confidence in linking up with others for support and guidance
(2) Begins to form recognisable letters
(4) Completes a simple program on the computer and/or performs simple functions on ICT apparatus
(6) Chooses particular colours to use for a purpose.