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I saw a mouse

Little creatures inspire some big ideas for literacy work, role play and creative activities in an early years project by Jean Evans Stimulate children's imaginations and curiosity about the natural world with a project on mice. Introduce the children to the topic through pictures and a selection of stories, rhymes and non-fiction texts.
Little creatures inspire some big ideas for literacy work, role play and creative activities in an early years project by Jean Evans

Stimulate children's imaginations and curiosity about the natural world with a project on mice. Introduce the children to the topic through pictures and a selection of stories, rhymes and non-fiction texts.

Child-initiated learning

Book corner

Additional resources

Posters and pictures of mice; traditional and new stories about mice; non-fiction books about mice; rhymes about mice displayed on laminated cards; soft toy mice; mouse puppets; cassette recorder; recordings of staff reading favourite mice stories and rhymes (see Resources box)

Possible learning experiences

* Listening to favourite rhymes, songs and stories about mice and joining in with favourite words and phrases.

* Extending vocabulary related to mice.

* Knowing that information can be relayed through print.

* Extending knowledge by discovering information in non-fiction texts.

* Developing imaginative ideas through stories.

The practitioner role

* Talk to the children about mice and encourage them to talk about their knowledge and experiences of this animal.

* Set up the book area to reflect a 'mouse theme' using the resources indicated.

* Visit the area frequently to read stories on demand and to demonstrate how to use the cassette recorder.

* Pretend to read to the soft toy mice, or model play with the puppets so that the children might do the same.

Adult-led activities

Hickory, dickory, dock

Share a creative activity based on a familiar rhyme.

Key learning intentions

To use imagination in art and design, imaginative and role play

To enjoy joining in with number rhymes and songs

Adult:child ratio 1:4

Resources

Grey or brown gloves, grey or brown card, pink card, scissors, sticky tape, sequins, plastic straws, string, black felt-tip pen, triangle and beater

Activity content

* Sing the rhyme 'Hickory, dickory, dock' together and suggest making some mice puppets.

* Give each child a small square of card and demonstrate how to roll the card around a finger to form a cone shape. Tape the edges of the card together where they meet. Support the children if necessary.

* Explain that this is the head of the mouse. Invite the children to create its features from the resources suggested. Try out their suggestions and use them if possible before making suggestions of your own - for example, forming eyes from two red sequins, ears from pink card, and whiskers by pushing straws through holes in the pointed end of the cone.

* Tape a piece of string to the bottom of a glove to form a tail. Show the children how to create the puppet by putting on the glove and slotting the cone 'mouse head' over the index finger.

* Cut some white card into circles and draw a clock face on each side, with the time at one o'clock.

* Show the children how to hold up their arm (elbow bent) with the clock face in their hands to create a grandfather clock. Suggest that they make their mice puppets run up the 'clocks' and then down again while they sing 'Hickory, dickory, dock'.

* Invite a child to make the sound of the clock chiming by beating a triangle.

Extended learning

Key vocabulary

Mouse, puppet, clock, up, down, struck, cone, pointed

Questions to ask

* Can you tell me how you managed to make a pointed nose for your mouse puppet?

* You made a cone shape from card. Can you think of anything else that is cone shaped?

* How many legs does a mouse have? Does your puppet have four legs? Can you count them?

Extension ideas

* Make brown mouse puppets using the same technique and then sing 'Mousie Brown' (in This Little Puffin, compiled by Elizabeth Matterson, Puffin Books, 6.99) using a long painted cardboard tube as the 'tall white candlestick'.

* Design grandfather clocks from recycled boxes and attach cardboard mice on string so that children can pull them up and down the clocks.

Act of kindness

Share one of Aesop's fables, 'The lion and the mouse'.

Key learning intentions

To listen with enjoyment and respond to stories

To show care and concern for others

Adult:child ratio 1:8

Resources

Story of 'The lion and the mouse' (see box).

Activity content

* Explain to the children that you are going to tell them a very, very old story known as a 'fable'.

* Tell the story and then talk about the content before telling it again, pausing to ask the children what happens next.

* Discuss how the mouse showed care and concern for the lion, and relate this to how the children can support one another during their everyday activities.

Extended learning

Key vocabulary

Fable, squeaked, roared, scampered, trap, free

Questions to ask

* How do you think the mouse felt when the lion caught her between his sharp claws?

* How do you think the lion felt when he was caught in the trap?

* What did the mouse do to help the lion?

* Do you have a special friend? In what ways do you help your friend? In what ways does your friend help you?

Extension ideas

* Suggest re-enacting the story in pairs, with one child taking the part of the lion and the other the mouse.

* Create lion masks using paper plates with curled paper strips to form the mane.

The sleepy dormouse

Extend the children's knowledge and understanding of living things by exploring the features of the common dormouse.

Key learning intentions

To find out about and identify some features of living things

To handle tools, objects and construction materials safely and with increasing control

Adult:child ratio 1:4

Resources

Books, pictures and posters about dormice, yellow-necked mice, wood mice and house mice (conduct a website search for 'mouse' and 'dormouse' to download further information and pictures - see, for example, www.uksafari.com/housemouse.htm), fur fabric, PVA glue, recycled boxes, brown paint, leaves, shredded paper, fabric scraps, newspaper, straw, tissue, foil, wood shavings, nuts such as acorns, chestnuts and hazelnuts (check if any children have nut allergies)

Activity content

* Look at the books, pictures and website information about mice and talk about their common features. Look for differences - for example, a dormouse has a big bushy tail whereas field mice have long thin tails.

* Investigate where mice live.

* Introduce the word 'hibernate' and explain what it means. Pass around some chestnuts, acorns and hazelnuts and explain how dormice eat and store lots of these to last them through the long winter when they are hibernating.

* Supply fur fabric scraps for the children to glue around balls of screwed up newspaper to create hibernating dormice.

* Provide a selection of materials to make nests. Talk about which materials might be most suitable, emphasising how dormice need to be warm and securely hidden from other wild creatures. Small boxes, painted brown and covered in leaves to represent bushes, can be used to house the nest materials.

* Once the nests are completed, invite the children to put their dormice in them to hibernate and add some nuts for the mice to eat when they wake up.

Extended learning

Key vocabulary

Dormouse; field mouse; house mouse; whiskers; hibernate; soft; hard; warm; cosy; nest; hedge; bushy tail; chestnut; acorn; hazelnut

Questions to ask

* Are all the mice the same colour?

* Where do dormice sleep in winter?

* What might they use to make their nests?

* Which of these materials do you think will make the cosiest nest for your dormouse?

* What did you use to make your nest? Why did you choose those materials?

* What does a dormouse like to eat?

Extension ideas

* Create a display area to represent a hedgerow by linking together some branches and arranging the nests and dormice among them.

* Provide enough space for the children to act out being dormice - gathering food, building nests and curling up for their long winter sleep.

Child-initiated learning

Creative area

Additional resources

Nest-making resources listed above, toy mice (pet shops sell model mice as cat toys), pictures of mice and dormice in nests

Possible learning experiences

* Using imagination to paint and draw mice and to design nests.

* Responding to what they see, smell and touch as they examine new resources.

* Exploring colour, texture, shape and form while constructing three-dimensional structures.

* Selecting the tools and techniques that they need to create their representations of mice.

The practitioner role

* Visit the area frequently and ask the children to talk about what they are doing.

* Extend their ideas by introducing new materials and by demonstrating techniques such as joining and fixing.

* Give lots of praise to show how you value the children's actions, and display finished work attractively.

Role play

Additional resources

Pop-up tent, brown and green fabric, cushions, short lengths of fleecy fabric, brown tabards, nuts created from salt dough

Possible learning experiences

* Pretending that one object represents another.

* Using available resources to create props to support role play.

* Introducing a story line into their play.

* Playing alongside others engaged in the same theme.

* Judging body space in relation to spaces available when fitting into confined spaces.

The practitioner role

* Work alongside the children to create a nest for a dormouse from the suggested resources. Encourage them to take part in decision making.

* Play in role with the children to model use of the resources, such as storing food for winter and curling up to sleep.

* Once play is established, leave the children to develop their imaginative ideas.

Resources

Books

* Town mouse, country mouse by Jan Brett (Puffin Books, 4.99)

* The town mouse and the country mouse by Helen Craig (Walker Books, Pounds 9.99)

* How long? by Elizabeth Dale (Orchard Books, 6.99) Mouse storybook characters

* The Maisy Mouse books by Lucy Cousins (Walker Books)

* The Dudley Dormouse books by Judy Taylor (Putnam Publishing)

* Various mouse characters in books by Beatrix Potter (Frederick Warne)