First Published in 2006. Guaranteed fun for children and practitioners alike, the Ready, Steady, Play! series provides lively and STIMULATING activities for children. Each book focuses on one specific aspect of play, offering clear and detailed guidance on how to plan and enjoy wonderful play experiences with minimum fuss and maximum success. Ready, Steady, Play! helps practitioners to: Develop activities easily, using suggested guidelines; Ensure that health and safety issues are taken into account; Plan play that links to the early years curriculum. For early years practitioners and students on early years courses and parents looking for ideas and inspiration. Play Using Natural Materials shows that natural materials can equal ready-made toys as an exciting stimulus for play in order to promote the learning and development of children within early years settings. Use this book to: Get out and do; Support a child's investigation of the natural world; Encourage first-hand exploration of natural objects.
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Yes, you can access Play using Natural Materials by Alison Howe in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Bildung & Bildung Allgemein. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
• A wide variety of clay objects, initially stored in a box out of view of the children. Try to include a mixture of forms both decorative and functional, fired and unfired, glazed and unglazed, differently glazed; fine porcelain, thick earthenware and so on. The children could add to the collection items they have made or brought from home
• Some unfired clay wrapped up to keep it moist and malleable
• Photographs of clay as seen in the environment (e.g. roof tiles, flowerpots)
Aims/concepts
• To begin to understand what materials objects are made from
• To sort and classify objects using independently chosen criteria
• To show an aesthetic appreciation for objects
Process
• Sit the children in a circle and explain that you have some things in your box that you would like to look at together.
• Remove objects from the box one by one. Allow the children to examine the objects, and encourage them to think about what the items are and what they might be made from: after some discussion explain that they all began as clay. Pass around a small ball of unfired clay for them to examine.
• Together, think of ways the objects might be sorted. You could sort by colour, shiny or matt, handle or no handle, fancy or plain and so on.
• Decide together how you will group the objects on the table.
• Allow the children to add to the display with objects brought from home.
Vocabulary/discussion
• Describe the objects: tall, short, round, square, heavier, lighter
• Discuss the similarities and differences in texture and pattern on your objects
• Encourage the children to say which of the objects they like best and why
• Encourage the children to talk through their reasons for sorting and classifying the objects in a particular way
Group size
Whole group
Links to Foundation Stage Curriculum
Ask questions, often in the form of ‘where’ or ‘what’ (CLL)
Interact with others, negotiating plans and activities and taking turns in conversation
Examine objects and living things to find out more about them (KUW)
Show an awareness of change
Look closely at similarities, differences in patterns and change
Show curiosity and observation by talking about shapes – how they are the same or why some are different (MD)
