CAMPAIGN
As part of our #WeAreEducators campaign, early years providers have been sharing examples of the fantastic work they do to help support children’s learning and development – here are some of best examples shared with us…
Trinket Box Pre-school used a variety of activities and resources to encourage children develop their gross motor skills. This ranged from using playdough, moving with ribbons and throwing balls. Children have also enjoyed drawing with chalk both on chalkboards and on the ground of the setting’s playground, as well as using paintbrushes with water.
Alyth Kindergarten in London enjoyed a mark-making activity which also taught them good sharing practice. As part of the class-wide project, children used a range of stencils and coloured pens to draw on a large piece of paper that the group shared.
Woodland Nursery in Greenwich has been making the most of the outdoors while also developing their mark making skills. Using leaves, conkers and salt, children created an array of shapes and drawings.
Egloskerry Pre-School in Cornwall has taken part in a variety of activities based on the book We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. Children have been recreating parts of the story in locations around the setting. This included Egloskerry’s Forest School, the curiosity area and the craft area. They also explored the differences in denseness between thick mud and thick brown paint by running toy cars through two trays filled with either the mud or the paint.
At Meadow View Childcare, Welwyn, children have enjoyed mud kitchen activities that developed their fine and gross motor skills. It also helped them to learn how to interact with peers and expanded their vocabulary. In addition, the children took part in mud painting and learnt about different types of vegetables in the mud kitchen’s growing area.
Brook Cottage Childcare in Stoke-on-Trent took part in an array of mark making activities. Manager Danielle Lloyd explained that making seed bombs and going to out pick blackberries helped to strengthen muscles in children’s fingers to develop early writing skills.
Children at Bradbourne Park Pre-School in Kent used leaves and paint to develop their mark making skills. Initially they were fascinated by the autumn leaves and their colours, they then became interested in the leaf stalks, with one child making marks on her hand with the stalks. This inspired the setting to introduce a paint palette and children began to mix colours, paint and print and leaves, later experimenting with sticks and feather.