Develop children's mathematical skills and their awareness of the wider world by introducing a project based on the popular counting rhyme book, My Granny Went to Market - A Round-the-World Counting Rhyme by Stella Blackstone (Barefoot Books, 5.99).
In the story, Granny travels around the world on a magic carpet, shopping for a steadily increasing number of souvenirs in each of the ten exotic locations that she visits.
The suggested activities provide a good balance of stimulating learning opportunities across all six areas of the curriculum.
Approach
The Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage (page 11) emphasises the importance of providing children with a balance of adult-led and child-initiated learning opportunities. This project, therefore:
* identifies adult-led activities, to introduce or develop children's understanding of the topic through stimulating, meaningful experiences which offer challenge
* suggests ways to enhance areas of core provision, to consolidate children's learning about the theme. It is the practitioners' role to make daily observations of children's learning which inform individual child profiles and future planning. Children should be encouraged to use the resources to support their own learning. This means that the possible learning outcomes will be wide-ranging and varied
* advocates that settings should be organised and resourced using a 'workshop' approach so that children can access resources autonomously and independently.
Preparation
* Make laminated cards depicting the objects that Granny bought on her travels. Use the pictures on the last page of the book for reference.
Include the appropriate numeral on each card.
* Add some yellow tassels to a colourful rug or blanket to create a 'flying carpet'.
* Ask the children to join you on your 'flying carpet' to hear the story about Granny's round-the-world shopping trip.
* Stress the rhymes and rhythm of the text as you read the story.
* When re-reading the story, encourage the children to join in, saying how many of each item that Granny bought.
Adult-led activity
Granny's market
Set up an indoor market stall selling interesting and exotic souvenirs based on the items brought back by Granny from her travels.
Key learning intentions To form good relationships with adults and peers To say and use number names in order in familiar contexts
Adult-child ratio 1:4
Resources
* My Granny Went to Market * low rectangular table * four garden canes * striped fabric * strong tape * items from around the world to sell (bought from charity shops or donated by parents) * plastic coins * till * mark-making materials * stall holder's apron * shopping bags and baskets
Activity content
* Re-read the story and talk about the things that Granny bought. Ask the children about their experiences of visiting a market.
* Suggest setting up a market stall selling things from around the world.
Tape the four garden canes securely to the corners of the table and fasten the striped fabric over the top to form a canopy.
* Invite the children to arrange the items on their stall and talk to them about the countries of origin of the objects. Decide upon prices together, keeping each item to 5p or under, and help the children to make price labels from squares of card.
* Leave the children to play freely with the resources and return as a customer to buy something. Encourage them to count out coins and give change.
* Replenish the stall with new items daily.
Extended learning
Key vocabulary
Market stall, country, world, price, cost, money, till, stall holder, buy, sell. In addition, introduce the names of the items for sale and their countries of origin.
Questions to ask
* Do you remember what Granny bought on her travels?
* Have you ever bought something from a market stall?
* What can you tell me about the things your are selling on your stall?
* How much is this wooden ornament from India?
* I'd like to buy this doll, which costs 2p, and this hat, which costs 3p.
How much is that altogether?
Extension ideas
* Set up a fruit stall selling real or imitation exotic and familiar fruits from around the world.
* Use your dressing-up clothes in a role-play clothes shop selling items from a range of countries.
* Provide stackable objects, such as Russian dolls, boxes and plastic beakers for the children to explore.
Child-initiated learning
Sand play
Additional resources and adult support
* Bury a selection of interesting items in sand, ranging from one to five - for example, one pebble, two beads, three buttons, four small-world animals and five coins.
* Remind the children of the story and talk about how the things that Granny bought steadily increased as her journey continued.
* Leave the children to uncover the objects and return later to ask them about their discoveries.
* If they have not already done so, encourage them to count the objects.
What do they notice?
* Increase the range of objects to ten for more able children.
Play possibilities
* Discovering hidden objects
* Counting the objects
* Arranging the objects in order
* Making links between counting the objects in the story and in the sand Possible learning outcomes Has a strong exploratory impulse Counts up to five objects by saying one number name for each Manipulates objects by picking up, releasing and arranging them
Outdoors
Additional resources and adult support
* Provide resources that will encourage the children to re-enact the story and make up their own travel adventures, real and fantasy.
* Make available copies of the books and maps, blankets and rugs for them to use as flying carpets, suitcases and dressing-up clothes so that they can pack for their travels, and writing materials and postcards so that they can write to friends and family back home.
* Add resources as the children's play develops. If, for example, they prefer to stick to more conventional methods of transport, provide role-play resources for boarding and flying in an aeroplane.
* Intervene at appropriate moments by taking on a role. Ask challenging questions to help the children develop their storylines.
Play possibilities
* Re-enacting the story
* Creating their own adventure stories about their travels on a magic carpet
* Packing to go on holiday and deciding what to take
* Writing postcards and letters
* Role-playing routines at an airport
Possible learning outcomes
Plays co-operatively as part of a group to act out a narrative Uses available resources to create props that will support role-play Shows increasing independence in selecting and carrying out activities
Attempts writing for different purposes
Adult-led activity
Granny's journey
Create small-world landscapes based on the story.
Key learning intentions To listen with enjoyment and respond to stories, songs and other music, rhymes and poems and make up their own stories, songs and rhymes To observe, find out about and identify features in the place they live and the natural world
Adult:child ratio 1:4
Resources
* My Granny Went to Market * builder's tray * small-world equipment, characters and animals
Activity content
* With the children, look in detail at the illustrations of each of the countries that Granny visits.
* Suggest creating a miniature landscape in the builder's tray, such as Switzerland with hills, trees, ponds, wooden chalets, cows and goats, or Africa with Mount Kilimanjaro and the animals of the plains. Discuss which country the children would like to represent.
* Look closely and talk about the pictures of the chosen country.
* Decide together on materials to create the landscape.
* Once the landscape is completed, look closely at other features such as buildings, people and animals and use small-world equipment and characters to represent them.
* Encourage the children to play freely with their miniature world and join them occasionally to introduce further resources.
Extended learning
Key vocabulary
World, country, Istanbul, mosque, minaret, Thailand, temple, Buddha, Mexico, cactus, volcano, China, Great Wall, pagoda, sampan, Switzerland, Alps, Alpine horn, Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro, springbok, flamingo, Kenya, Russia, sleigh, forest, Australia, Ayer's Rock, Aborigine, boomerang, Japan, Tokyo, parasol, geta (wooden sandals) Peru, llama, mountain, hut Questions to ask
* Can you remember any of the places that Granny visited?
* Why do you like the illustration of Africa/Switzerland/etc?
* If you were flying around the world, which country would you most like to visit? What might you see there?
* What is the landscape like in Thailand/ Switzerland/etc? What can you see? Are there green fields/snowy mountains/ rivers/tall trees?
Extension ideas
* Encourage the children to create other small-world environments based on the countries in the book and make comparisons between them.
* Read the last four words of the story 'And I flew to....' Where would the children like to fly? Invite them to create their own stories about their journeys.
Adult-led activity
Fierce and funny masks
Encourage children to work imaginatively and explore their feelings by focusing on the Mexican masks Granny bought.
Key learning intentions
To handle tools, objects, construction and malleable materials safely and with increasing control
To explore colour, texture, shape, form and space in two and three dimensions
Adult-child ratio 1:4
Resources
* My Granny Went to Market * a selection of commercially produced masks * newspaper * paste * balloons * paint * PVA glue * string
Preparation
Invite a small group of children to cover blown-up balloons with papier mache. When dry, cut the balloons in half and remove the balloons from the inside to form a mask base. Cut out two holes in the correct position for children to see through when wearing the mask.
Activity content
* Read the story, and then look again at the picture of the three 'fierce and funny' masks that Granny bought in Mexico.
* Pass around the selection of commercially produced masks.
* Contrast the words 'fierce' and 'funny'.
* Put the masks in front of your face one by one and ask the children to describe how they feel when they see your changed image.
* Suggest making some masks together using the papier mache mask bases.
* Once the masks have dried, ask the children to paint them in bright colours and varnish them with PVA glue. Attach string to keep them in place.
Extended learning
Key vocabulary
Fierce, funny, mask, papier mache, frightening, scary
Questions to ask
* Which mask do you like in the picture in the book?
* Do any of the masks look fierce? Which ones look funny?
* Will your mask be fierce or funny?
* Can you tell me about how you made your mask?
* Masks can sometimes make people frightened and sometimes make them laugh.
What makes you feel frightened? What makes you laugh?
Extension ideas
* Supply additional resources to support mask-making in the creative area, such as card circles or paper plates. Ensure that there is blue, yellow and pink paint available.
* Provide brightly coloured paint and a choice of paper in different colours and textures for the children to use to create paintings inspired by the book.
Child-initiated learning
Music area
Additional resources and adult support
* Introduce cowbells, drums and a selection of music from some of the countries that feature in the story.
* Demonstrate to the children how to use the music player before leaving them to explore the rest of the resources.
* Return regularly to comment on the music the children are making and to join in for a while.
Play possibilities
* Exploring a range of instruments from around the world
* Listening to music from different cultures
* Operating technical equipment
* Providing their own accompaniment to music they hear
Possible learning outcomes
Knows how to operate simple equipment
Gains an awareness of the cultures and beliefs of others
Shows an interest in the way that musical instruments sound
Areas of learning
Personal, social and emotional development
Communication, language and literacy
Mathematical development
Knowledge & understanding of the world
Physical development
Creative development