Providing resources that offer children challenging opportunities to build secret places will support schematic ideas about containing and enveloping and help children develop learning across the curriculum.
Child-initiated learning
Large construction areas
Continuous provision
Large cardboard boxes ,large box, play tunnel, tents ,box of drapes ,good selection of found materials in different shapes and sizes, such as boxes, crates, planks, carpet rolls, tyres and cones ,clothes airers ,large golf umbrellas ,resources for fastening and connecting such as pegs, large bulldog clips, string, rope and tape ,carpet tiles, mats, rugs ,mark-making materials 3role-play additions such as telephones, tea sets and camping equipment
Additional resources
Non-fiction books about houses for people and animals ,stories linked to making houses, secret places and exploring ideas of 'inside' (see box below) ,laminated images of homes and shelters for people, animals, birds and insects
Possible learning experiences
* Exploring ideas of size, shape and fit.
* Using language such as inside, outside, too big/small, not enough room, through, on top, underneath.
* Problem solving as they build enclosures and shelters.
* Sharing ideas and co-operating.
* Engaging in imaginative play and story making.
* Talking about their ideas and developing the mathematical language to describe their actions.
* Looking at books about homes and shelters around the world.
The practitioner role
* Make available a wide range of resources that will support an interest in containment and enveloping.
* Think carefully about the learning possibilities when putting together resources. For example, a basket of drapes could include fabrics of different shapes, colours, patterns and textures.
* Provide carpet pieces in different sizes, colours and patterns and invite the children to fit the shapes together to cover the floor of their den.
* Play with and alongside the children.
* Observe and listen to the children, putting their actions into words to help them develop their thinking.
* Ensure children have plenty of uninterrupted time to develop their skills and ideas.
* Offer views and ideas by thinking aloud and encouraging children to initiate questions.
* Share your childhood experiences of building dens.
* Introduce mathematical language such as long, short, above, below, in front, behind, up, down, edge, corner, wide and narrow.
* Use observations to plan what to do next for individual and groups of children.
* Find ways of documenting children's learning so that experiences can be re-visited, extended and changed in the light of experience (see 'All about documentation' Nursery World, 5 February 2004).
Adult-led activity
In hiding
Build a bird hide.
Key learning intentions
To observe and listen quietly
To comment on what they see and ask questions
To learn about the features and needs of birds
To think of birds as precious creatures
Adult:child ratio 1 up to 4
Resources
Four long and four short bamboo canes ,string ,large dark drape ,pegs or bulldog clips ,binoculars ,non-fiction bird books ,notebook and pencil ,clipboard ,camera ,bird feeders and food
Activity content
* Explain that a hide enables you to watch birds unseen and without frightening them.
* Help the children make the hide in a quiet corner, preferably near trees or bushes. Put the four long canes into the ground. Tie the shorter canes in a square around the top and cover the frame with the drape. Use the pegs to join the sides and leave spaces to look through.
* Let the children decide where to put the food, then wait quietly and see what happens.
* Use the notepad and clipboards to record what the children see and hear.
Key vocabulary Still, quiet, secret, names of different birds, beak, wings, fly, nest, peck, feathers, predator, droppings, eggs, hatch, preen, hop, hover, fly, glide, flap, cheep, squawk Extension ideas
* Add a shallow container of water for a bird bath.
* Thread peanuts in shells on twine.
* Provide different foods and see which birds prefer what.
* Fasten a nesting box at a safe height from predators.
* Help birds build their nests by piling up, for example, moss and scraps of wool. Watch the birds choose the things they need.
* Add a tape of bird songs to the listening area.
* Create an indoor display with labelled photographs of the hide and birds, non-fiction books, the children's comments and questions, a home-made nest and toy birds (see box).
Secret places
Use a story to support children's interest in dens.
Key learning intentions
To listen with enjoyment and respond to stories
To use imagination in role play
Adult:child ratio 1:4
Resources
Sally's Secret by Shirley Hughes (see box) 3resources for building (see above) ,tea set ,pretend or real food and drink ,natural materials, such as pebbles, logs, shells and cones for making paths and gardens
Activity content
* Introduce the story at small group times, and then have it available to share with individual and groups of children.
* Encourage the children to talk about making dens at home and share your own memories.
* Use small group time to inform children about what is available for them to use in their play. For example, 'We have lots of things in our construction areas inside and out for you to use to make houses like Sally.'
* After sharing the story ask, 'Would you like to use some of these building materials to make a secret house?'
* Suggest that they might like to continue the play the next day. Record their work using a digital camera to help them recall what they were doing.
* Encourage the children to revisit and develop their play by reminding them, 'Do you remember what you were doing yesterday in the construction area?'
* Use small group times to help children share their play with others and talk about how you could develop the play the next day.
Outdoor extension ideas
* Make a book den in a tent part of continuous provision. Add cushions and baskets of categorised books, some of which can be linked to outside interests and changed when appropriate.
* Grow a living den using willow, and make use of natural areas such as bushes, trees and grass for children to create natural dens (see box).
* Make a dark den, provide torches and share stories about the dark (see box).
* Make animal dens and role play, for example, a rabbit in its burrow or a hedgehog curled up in a nest of leaves.
* Put photographs, children's comments and adults' memories in a book 'All about dens'.
* Share stories about dens to encourage imaginative role play (see book list).
RESOURCES
* Sally's Secret by Shirley Hughes (Red Fox Picture Books, 4.99)
* The Spooky Old Tree by Stan and Jan Berenstain (Picture Lions, Pounds 4.99)
* Can't You Sleep Little Bear? by Martin Waddell (Walker Books, Pounds 4.99)
* The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (Picture Puffins, 5.99)
* A Dark, Dark Tale by Ruth Brown (Red Fox Picture Books, 4.99)
* Animal Houses by Nicola Tuxworth (Lorenz Books, 3.95)
* The Birdfeeder Handbook by Robert Burton (RSPB Dorling Kindersley, Pounds 5.99)
* RSPB sells a wide range of soft toy birds that make the appropriate sound when squeezed, tel: 01767 680551 or visit www.rspb.org.uk
* For information on willow dens, see 'Willow power', Nursery World, 18 November 1999