For my first activity I chose to do leaf printing with 3 to 4 year old children. I did this activity in the autumn because at this time the children were learning about autumn so the teacher thought it would be a good idea to do some leaf printing.

Play And Learning - Learning Outcome 2 Claire Wright

For my first activity I chose to do leaf printing with 3 to 4 year old children. I did this activity in the autumn because at this time the children were learning about autumn so the teacher thought it would be a good idea to do some leaf printing. The teacher had already collected some leaves so we used those for the printing. I set up the painting area by covering the table with the painting sheet and mixing the powder paints. The paints were autumn colours such as red, brown and orange. Most children were capable of listening to what they had to do without making too much mess.

I did this activity in the morning with about three children at a time. We did the leaf printing in the painting area and used paints, brushes, leaves, paper and aprons. I showed the children what to do. I got a leaf, painted and firmly pressed it down, while telling the children what I was doing. Then I gave each child a leaf and a piece of paper and asked what colour they wanted. Each of them then painted the leaf and copied what I had done earlier with a little help. I wanted the children to learn more about leaves and what you can do with them. I also wanted them to identify the different colours and learn about printing.

I learnt how to mix powder paints and to just experiment with the activity. The planning was fine and I knew what I was doing at all times. My materials worked well together but the paint could have been a bit thicker. I didn’t think this activity was too hard as they managed to create some good pictures to put up in a display. I think this activity went pretty well. However if I could change anything I would of made the paint thicker and give the children some bigger paper.

For my third activity I did an ...

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For my third activity I did an activity on the theme of bears. I asked my teacher the previous week if it would be alright to do an activity on the theme of bears. The teacher said this would be fine and helped me organise it. I already had a teddy and picked ‘This Is the Bear and the Scary Night’ by Sarah Hayes from the selection of books the nursery had to read to the children. The activity links to the Foundation Stage curriculum because it is developing their personal, social and emotional learning. It also helps with learning to develop their communication, language, literacy and creativity skills. All the children managed to listen to the story and communicate about what they were scared of.

I tried this activity with both the morning and afternoon group. I sat on the carpet where the teacher usually reads to them and used a teddy bear and ‘This Is the Bear and the Scary Night’ book by Sarah Hayes. I did this activity with three children at the most so the children could talk about the storyline. I showed them my teddy and said to them he had been left behind in a park and did they want to hear the story. I read them the story and got the children to talk about times they had felt lost or frightened. Most said that they were afraid of monsters at night. I wanted the children to talk about moments when they had felt afraid or lost. I also wanted them to think about what they should do if they become separated from the adults they are with while they are out.

I learnt that having a physical object such as a teddy makes the story more exciting. My planning could have been a bit more organised but otherwise the activity went well. The activity was easy but the children enjoyed it while learning about new subjects. I think the activity was good as the children really enjoyed it. I would of did a follow up activity if I could change anything. An example of a follow up activity could be to ask the children to paint pictures about times they have felt sad.

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