TEY_10_1_2020

ELEANOR HOSKINS IS A SENIOR LECTURER AT MANCHESTER METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY. outer space EleanorHoskins suggests cosmi additions to your continuous provision... What they’ll learn: PSED This activity encourages the children to work as a small group and share space as they explore shadow puppets alongside each other. PD The open-ended exploration of puppets and their shadows will inspire children to move around the space in different ways to create different sized and positioned shadows. C&L As the children work together to explore the puppets, they will use vocabulary related to the puppet and sometimes each other’s puppets. Li The space books and magazines will encourage the children to independently look and gather information that in turn will inspire their puppet role play. Whilst decorating their puppet, they may add marks or words also inspired by information in books. Ma As the children explore shadows created by the puppets there will be opportunities to spontaneously count or estimate the number of shadows. The shadow creation will also encourage children explore shape and position. UtW This activity inspires the children to look closely at the similarities and differences of shadows. Through exploration they will also recognise how shadow size and clarity can change. EAD This activity encourages the children to engage in role play with their puppets as they explore ideas inspired by books and magazines. ACTIVITY 1 Rockets and Aliens This activity inspires children to explore shadows via shadow puppets. The main aim is for children to explore and express with the puppets; however, you can easily adjust this activity if a focus on creating a puppet is preferred. What you need: • Shadow puppet templates related to space, e.g. rockets, aliens, Star Wars characters • Straws or lolly sticks • A selection of books related to space, e.g. non- fiction books about planets and astronauts, space stories, Star Wars magazines or books • Pencils and crayons • Torches • Small tent (if an enclosed area cannot be created) – a small UV protection tent is ideal Learning journeys into What next? Story pictures Encourage the children to record their play or ‘story’ through illustration. This could be one illustration or a series of ideas like a simple illustrative storyboard. Children will need adult guidance and direction with this activity as they recall the ideas explored through play and begin to note these through illustration. Reflections: • Consider how the activity lays firm foundations about shadows and their creation. The children will not explore formal teaching and learning about shadows until KS2 but early explorations can lay very firm foundations. What to do: Cut out the templates and secure a straw or lolly stick so the puppets are ready to be decorated and then used. Organise the enclosed area (or assemble the tent) to ensure a dark space. Position a table nearby with pencils, crayons, a basket of space books, magazines and shadow puppet templates for the children to work at initially. To initiate interest gather some children inside the enclosed space or tent to model play with a WAGOLL (completed shadow puppet). Draw the children’s attention to the shape and size of shadows as the torch is moved. Ask the children to think about the puppet and about adding any words or sounds while making the shadows. Explore suggestions and ideas with the group. 32 Teachearlyyears.com