Activity Overview

Please see below our targeted activities for this session and ideas as to how you can implement them at home.

Literacy Focus: Phonics

Desk with clock face made of papers, pens, and labeled index cards for each hour from 1 to 12, with the center holding colored pens and pencils.

Our fourth sound for this program is /p/. If children are confident with their knowledge of this sound, we can introduce them to the fifth sound - /i/.

This activity encourages children to write the letter of the sounds they have been learning so far.

Opportunities for implementation at home

  1. Drawing pictures of things that start with this sound such as - pin, pea, puppet etc.

  2. Creating a space at home (such as a table/shelf) where you can place different items that start with this sound to reference back to.

Child Interest Focus: The Human Body - Bones

A skeleton model with labeled parts stands in a storage bin, with an open book titled 'The Skeleton,' anatomical diagrams, and small skeletal parts on a brown padded surface. There is a wooden guardrail, sheets of paper, and a yellow notepad on the floor nearby.

This activity is for children to have the opportunity to further discuss bones that have been available across the centre the last few weeks.

As children are exploring this area, adults are encouraged to ask;

  • Where do you think the bones have come from?

  • What are they made out of?

  • What part of the body do you think they are from?

Extension: using the xray sheets available to discuss what they think it relates to and references.

Opportunities for implementation at home

Using an image similar to that of the projection (on phone/laptop etc.) this activity can be done at home with pieces of paper to write the words children mention that reflect parts of the body.

STEM Focus: Construction Area

Indoor construction-themed play area with toy construction equipment, bricks, and building materials, separated by a wall labeled 'Construction Zone'.

This activity was initially created by us, but then was added to by children who encouraged us to create a construction zone.

A range of different materials have been provided here and has been left open-ended for children to create what they like.

Paper and pencils have been provided for children to either; 1. draw their idea before they create it, or 2. to represent their thinking once they have built their creation (or both).

Opportunities for implementation at home

  1. Providing a smaller area at home such as an unused corner with loose parts materials (such as recycling items)

  2. Providing common household items to create their design - e.g. playdoh, sticky tape, sticks, paddlepop sticks etc. in a bowl and placed on the table for children to make their own creations

  3. Incorporating literacy into the space - e.g. writing the term children have said. E.g. if your child says “this is my house“ - an adult can write ‘house‘ on a piece of paper which can be placed next to the house.

Art Focus: Sea Animal Representations

A collage of three photos showing a squid biology kit for educational purposes. The first photo shows a black box labeled "The Giant Squid" with a drawing of a pink squid. The second photo displays a projected image of a squid on a ceiling wall. The third photo features a yellow and black hanging device with a plastic squid toy attached, possibly part of the kit.

This activity encourages children to collaboratively work together or independently to use materials provided to create sea animals. This activity encourages not only creativity and fine motor skills but helps to foster skills such as sharing and negotiation in a shared space too.

Opportunities for implementation at home

  1. Using a range of materials available to represent animals of interest.

  2. Researching different animals in the sea and also representing not just what they look like but what they do.

Numeracy Focus: 100

A large speed limit sign displaying the number 100 leaning against a beige wall. Above the sign, a pink paper with a handwritten question reads, "What do you know about 100?" There are four small white notes around the pink paper with additional handwritten questions or comments.

This activity encourages younger children to use language to represent their ideas of the number 100. For some children it represents the ‘biggest‘ number they know or even, a number they hear in their day-to-day lives (e.g. when people say 100%).

Opportunities for implementation at home

Due to this activity being primarily focused around the use of the sign, we would suggest finding a number of representation to your child. For instance, if your house number is 15;

  1. Take a photo of it (such as the number on the letterbox)

  2. Find 15 items that your child can lay out to count

  3. Perhaps discuss other places they may find the same number, e.g. another house with the same number in the next street etc.

Colour Identification: using light

Color wheel on wall above a table with a red light source projecting a red circle onto a crinkled white paper surface.

This activity encourages younger children to identify the names of colours by using light. By clicking the button to change colours, children and/or parents can help children to identify the names of colours.

The colour wheel is provided so children can see that there are different shades of colours too.

Opportunities for implementation at home

  1. Providing a range of different coloured items at home to help children learn the names of different colours.

  2. Placing transparent coloured items infront of a light at home - e.g. cellophane infront of a lightbulb to see what colour the immediate area may change to