This curriculum plan is to be based on children aged between nought to two years eleven months, the room I have decided to plan for is 'Bouncy Bens', eighteen to thirty-six months so all the children will be in this age range.

Week three – animals in the wild

• Bear hunt-acting out a story
• Sock snake-child will be making a snake puppet from an old sock
• Matching animals-looking at the initial letters of animals and matching names to animal pictures
• Pretending to be different animals-experimenting with different ways of moving, child will be pretending to be animals for the other child to guess
• Animal masks-using imagination in the designing and making of animal masks
• Animal alphabet-making a collective frieze for the wall, child will be able to recognise and name initial letters of the animals
• Animal movements-exploring different types of music, child will be able to move freely using their imagination
• Animal biscuits-child will be making and decorating animal biscuits
• Big and small-child will be sorting animals into sets by size, recognising which ones are big and which are small

Week four – animal homes

• Box house-constructing a house for an animal to live in using a variety of large resources
• Snails-making snails using play dough
• Kipper-reading and taking part in the story Kipper
• Being safe-a physical activity where child moves around the room and hide when danger threatens
• Where I live-learning about animal homes
• Beehives-experimenting with shapes as child learn about honeycomb patterns
• Spiders webs-weaving and threading spiders webs after observing them outside
• Tortoise-making a tortoise from card
• Nest-following a recipe to make chocolate nests

Week five – animals babies

• Growing up-child will be investigating the things that animals have to learn as they grow up
• Visit from a baby- child will be able to meet a baby on a visit to the group
• From baby to adult-pretending to grow up from a baby into an adult
• Are you my mother? -Joining in with refrains as a story is being read out loud.
• Animal families-a sorting activity for child to group animals into families of young and old

• Egg heads- Looking at the difference between raw and cooked eggs before making an head using cress

• Babies in pouches-a counting activity with babies in pouches
• Life cycles-child will be learning about life cycles and the way that animals change over time
• Animal pairs experimenting with animal sounds and movements, child will have to find their partners
• How we grow-measuring sizes of hands, feet, height etc
• I’ve lost my mum- a matching card game where the child helps the baby animal to find their mother

Week six – pets

• Vets surgery-setting up and playing at vets with toy animals
• Pets visit-a visit to the group by an adult with their pet
• Goldfish for a pet-looking after a pet in the group
• Playing ball-child will be throwing and catching balls
• Pet paintings-child will have the opportunity to talk about and paint a pet, either one that they own or someone that they know owns
• Cat picture-making a picture of a cat using paper shapes
• Collecting bones-a physical activity where child will be finding hidden bones following instructions on a map
• Goldfish in a bowl-making pictures of fish to hang on the wall
• A finger mouse puppet-making a finger mouse from card

Farm visit- this consists of an organised trip with a whole class and adults to visit different types of animals, the children will need correct clothes, suited to the time of years and lunch. Permission will be asked for taking the child out to the farm, and extra help may be needed to be enlisted from the parents as well. CT will be learning to enjoy being with other people that she knows and also communicate a little with people she has not met although it would be understandable if they didn’t. Enjoying finding out new things about the environment and other people around them. She will be learning to be able to make her own decisions about what she does and doesn’t like e.g. I like chicks. The adult with her will encourage the above and try to get her to try new things as well as looking after her welfare making sure that she is present, not tired and has had enough drink and food.

Egg heads- this consists of showing the children an egg, explaining to them about the shell, its delicate, thin etc, cracking the egg to show the children a raw (not been cooked) egg, then showing a hard boiled egg, the children are encouraged to compare the two saying what is different (wet/dry) and what is the same (colours), giving each child and egg shell (say to be careful), sticking shapes to make facial features, place cotton wool in bottom with water and have them sprinkle some cress seeds which will grow for ‘hair’. Some children may have egg allergies so parental permission will have to be gained initially. The activity will be carried out in a small group at a time with an adult, the resources needed are: a sufficient amount of eggs, shapes or pens, cress seeds, water cotton wool and glue. The adult’s role will be to encourage the children to participate in the activities and supervise the children e.g. so they do not eat raw egg and that they wash their hands after. She will be having the chance to play imaginatively with materials using a variety of senses. Gaining confidence in doing small tasks, which takes carefulness. Contributions to the group and others and learning that she have a role and individual characteristics within the setting. Albert Bandura’s Social Learning theory states that children learn best by copying others actions I will be showing the children what to do with the eggshells before they start so they will have an idea of what it is supposed to look like and what to do.

Pretending to be different animals- the children can mimic movements and sounds of animals, other children can try to guess what animal it is from either action or could be the one doing them. There are no additional resources that will be needed. She will be learning to be confident in what she knows she can do and beginning to try new things to build confidence. Starting to enjoy being with well-known people in her class and the adults and having encouraging relationships. Listening and responding appropriately, making playful and serious responses. Learning about the environment and other people and having the chance to play creatively. The adults involvement will to make sure that the children do not get over exited and run and hurt themselves, to give the children ideas of what animal they could be, to give them clues of how they can act the animal and helping the children to guess what other children are doing.

I’ve lost my mum! – The children have a pack of the specially made cards; the ‘mother’ animal cards are laid out on the table or floor, the adult holds up a card from the ‘baby’ animals and say that its lost its mum, using different voices to keep the child interested, using names such as calf, kitten, hen, duckling, etc so the child gets used to the language and know what they are. The game could also involve what noise the animal makes and where they live. This game could also be adapted to be played with two children in the same way making the children think about where the matching card is rather than immediately knowing that it will be in front of them. The child will be learning to take pleasure in being with others, valuing the contributions they provide and to have a role and uniqueness in the setting. The role of the adult with this game is to supervise the game and generally run it, to inform the children of how to play and what the rules are, to play with them, to encourage language use and to expand the game as to what they see fit for the child/ren.

Activity evaluation

Egg heads- this activity was carried out well by the children, they concentrated well especially when decorating the eggshells, they were also very careful not to break them (a few breakages occurred which predict would happen), however I do not think that the children fully understood the explanation at the start of the activity. They listened and watched well when I was using the pictures of the hen and chick and could answer questions, but they looked a bit confused when I was explaining what had happened to the egg, the difference between raw and boiled. For explaining to the children the group size could have been larger than four children, if possible the whole class could have the information all at once and then do the egg heads separately although would need to be reminded of things if they cant remember. The group size for the actual activity was a little big; it would have been better to do the activity with each child separately so that, questions could be asked and it would be easier to talk to them and encourage vocabulary. Although as I have stated, Albert Bandura’s Social Learning theory shows that children learn by copying others and as there would be no other children doing it at the same time as them they would have nothing to imitate although there would be examples. The environment in which I carried out this activity was suitable, I had four children around a table with me so it was easy for them to see and touch the items.

“There are many ways of learning. Children learn by watching, by listening and especially by doing. All children go through a number of stages but there are differences between children within each stage. There are also differences in the length of time it takes for children to move from stage to stage. Children do best in an environment which is interesting and where they feel loved and safe.” ().

As there was an explanation as well as a practical this will help the children to remember, when asked ten minutes later the children could remember parts of what had been done, when asked questions like ‘which is the hen/chick?’ (When holding up the pictures) and ‘which egg is cooked?’ (Generally questions that could be answered by pointing or simple answers as some of the children are only one year six months old and are not yet very verbal. I would say that this activity is more suitable for children aged between two and three as the older children in the class grasped the aspects of the activity easier, the younger children could carry out the activity as well but done so with a lower level of understanding. The older children should all be in the stage Walkers, Talkers and Pretenders (24-36 months), where children are becoming more confident and are moving, talking and pretending more. The younger children will normally be at the stage Movers, shakers and players (18-24 months) show increasing independence and obvious pleasure in moving, communicating and learning through play. This shows that the younger children learn better through playing and the older children learn better through being active and talking about what they are doing.

Before starting the activity I was prepared with everything that I needed for the activity apart from I did not think to get cleaning materials for the children’s hands as they were touching the eggs. When I was making the egg heads with the children it got a bit disorganised as I was trying to assist four children at the same time. Interactions with the older children was good they could answer questions I asked with more than one word and also ask questions themselves, the younger children’s minds seemed to wander a bit more and seemed as if they would rather be playing or just didn’t want to answer me. I think that the resources that I used made the explanation part of the activity more interesting for the children, the children spoke out to answer my questions more when a visual aid was used, and seemed to all enjoy feeling and looking at the eggs in different states. The time that I had planned for the group activity was suitable although it would have been better to either have one child at a time or a bit more time with the group when making the egg heads. The area in which I carried it out was also suitable as there was enough room for all the children to see the resources and to be creative with their eggheads. In the situation that I was in it was quite easy to make sure that all the children had a turn with the resources, however as I started the activity in the afternoon I nearly did not fit all the children in to take part, I managed this eventually but otherwise would have had to carry on the next day to make sure that all children obtained a fair turn.

The picture cards that I had for showing the children made it easier for them to understand what I was talking about, as they may have known what the name of something was only by actually seeing it. It also helped them to understand that chicks grow up and lay eggs themselves. Every thing that I used was appropriate to the children; although the eggshells broke very easily it teaches the children how to handle things carefully and helps to improve their fine motor control. With this activity there was a very large consideration to take, that some of the children may be allergic to eggs, information such as this is stored at the setting, as allergies need to be known but permission still had to be asked from the children’s parents.

I’ve lost my mum! – This activity was also carried out well by the children but at different levels, as it was a one to one activity there were not many distractions for her. I think that CT concentrated well and seemed interested in what she was doing, she grasped the aspects of the game easily and seemed to understand what to do straight away sometimes I had to explain twice the names of the baby animals as they are different to the mothers. I think that being a one to one activity was suitable as I was able to speak more freely to CT and encourage her more. I carried out this activity sitting in the main playroom on the floor on the carpeted area; this was ok and comfortable as she spent some of the time on the floor facing me and some of the time sitting on my lap facing the cards. However as there were other children in the room there was a draught caused by the other children moving around the room playing, so it may have been more suitable to sit at a table.

The commonsense tendency is for people to define play as the opposite of work, but this is misleading. Blanchard and Cheska (1985) assert that the opposite of work is leisure and that people's work has the potential to be considered as play as well. Work becomes play when one's job is so satisfying and rewarding that getting paid to do it is of secondary importance. (Blanchard and Cheska 1985)

Next time carrying out this activity I will set up on a table rather than on the floor, I would also get more pictures of animals so the game can go into more depth, I would also try to talk about each animal in more depth, how they live etc.

This activity was easy to carry out, as there is not as much preparation to carry out before hand. The only thing needed for this activity is the cards, I did however have to think before hand what would happen if the child completed the task quickly, so I thought of a few questions which I could asked to spread the time out. I think that interacting with the child at the time was beneficial for the outcome of the activity it got the children to think more about what they are doing and be more involved in it. The questions that I asked were answered correctly most of the time the main question I asked was ‘what sound does it make?’ also if I had time to spare I spoke about where the animal lives. The timing was suitable for the activity there was enough time to carry out the activity at a comfortable speed for the child so that they had enough time to think before they answered and ask any questions, there was also enough time to explain a little more about each animal, such as where they live. The place where I carried out this activity was not particularly suitable, it was comfortable but the other children walking past caused a breeze and the cards kept moving around and blowing away so in future I would carry out the activity on a table or in a separate area away from most of the children.

The resource that I made for this activity was the main part of the game, it seemed very helpful to their learning, as it was a visual aid, and it helped them to remember as they could try to remember the name by linking it to a picture. It also helped to show them that baby animals do not always look exactly like the parents e.g. a chick can be yellow or black or with spots while the parent may be brown, or that a duckling can be yellow or black and a duck may be white or brown etc. I think that the cards were appropriate although it may have looked better if all the cards were the same size also the corners of the cards were sometimes sharp as they were laminated and could easily scratch which I would overcome to play again by rounding off all the corners. The pictures on the cards were easily recognisable as the animal that they were supposed to be it may however of been more beneficial if they were photos or printed pictures as they would see what the animals really look like rather than a cartoon resemblance. I laminated the cards in order to keep clean with a plastic surface they were easier to wipe clean and there fore could stop the spread of germs between children handling them. I think that I should have made different types of games as the main animals in this game were farm animals or English pets and they do not show animals that originate mainly from other countries. I would use this resource again but may think of extending what to do and the actual resource before hand as I think it to be an effective learning resource. I would say that this activity is suitable for children aged between eighteen months and three years as the children in the class grasped the aspects of the activity well, the younger children could carry out the activity but done so with a lower level of understanding and took a little longer to carry it out The older children should all be in the stage Walkers, Talkers and Pretenders (24-36 months), where children are becoming more confident and are moving, talking and pretending more. The younger children will normally be at the stage Movers, shakers and players (18-24 months) show increasing independence and obvious pleasure in moving, communicating and learning through play. This shows that the younger children learn better through playing and the older children learn better through being active and talking about what they are doing.

Reflection

I have learnt that there is a fine line between when a child moves between stages, the stages do have age ranges, but are only guidelines, I have learnt that although the stages are usually the correct order of development all children are different and develop at their own rates. I have discovered that children aged between two and three years learn best through being active and doing an activity that they are learning about and that children aged between one and two years learn better while they are playing, so there needs to be equipment set out which will encourage them to learn and that is relevant to the stages they are at. Jean Piaget (1896-1980) states that children learn thorough play that they think in a different way to adults Piaget is the main theorist that has developed the understanding of how children learn and the curriculum has taken. Piaget has his own stages of development the children over the age of two are at the pre-operational stage, were children seem to be taken in by how things appear therefore it is important that pictures and stories are correctly projected to them. I have learnt that although activities may be appropriate for some children in an age range it wont be for others and that although an age range such as eighteen months to three years, one and a half years (in this case) may seem quite small, there is a lot of different examples of stages some children at a lower stage just beginning and children at a higher stage about to move up a group. I now have an understanding of the Birth to Three Matters Framework and how to use it to find out if activities are suitable for the children. Along with this I now know a big factor is to record and report the child’s progress so that everyone (practitioners, carers, parents) knows what stage they are at making it easier to plan appropriate activities and experiences for the child. From carrying out these activities I have found that communication is a key with children. They will still learn without, but with encouragement, vocabulary and questions from a practitioner/adult they will learn to interact better with adults and children as well as being more involved and having a better understanding of the activity in hand. I now understand how much time for planning goes into each activity and how everything needs to be organised and thought through before it even has a time set to carry it out. Doing this curriculum plan has also improved my organisational skills as I can see how mach better things work out when they have pre-planned before hand. I also understand all the different areas that have to be planned out and why e.g. anti-discriminatory/anti-biased practice, health and safety etc. overall this curriculum plan has taught me a lot about children aged nought to three years old and the framework suitable for them and also taught me things about planning that I can use in the future for similar work and working with children aged nought to three years.

Recommendations

For future times carrying out the eggheads activity I would try to get the children to draw with felt tips instead of sticking shapes as this is a little more difficult and takes a higher level of fine motor control. I would also  (if using small groups) allow the children to help with the explaining e.g. let a child crack the raw egg, cut the boiled egg in half etc. I could also extend this activity by talking about other animals that lay eggs e.g. snakes any of the other activities in week one would accentuate this activity especially ‘ life cycles’

This activity links to the Birth to Three Matters framework as it helps the children to have a realization of her own individuality, which includes a growing awareness of self, have own personal characteristics and have knowledge about what she can do. It encourages them to enjoy being with others and have positive relationships with them, and is able to make needs known and be a confident and competent language user. Able to use language to label, describe and share. Enjoying finding out about the environment and other people. Having the opportunity to play imaginatively with materials using all her senses having the chance to explore and discover a range of creative mediums. Be able to make her own choices and decisions and discover her own likes and dislikes. As the children will be acquiring a range of physical skills and gaining control of the body and knowing when and how to ask for help. When asked after the activity was finished I discovered that the children could remember the names of things that were used such as egg, the pictures (chicken, hen, chick) they had also learnt were the egg comes from and what grows in the egg.

For carrying out the ‘I’ve Lost My Mum!’ game I would set up on a table rather than the floor either that or be in a room alone or with less people, this would make it easier to carry out and would make it easier to communicate with the child and ask questions. To extend this activity for when the children have developed more I would make more cards with animals that are a bit more unusual to know what the babies are called e.g. tiger and cub, frog and tadpole etc. or instead of having all picture cards have names instead but for the names that are simple e.g. cat, dog. Instead of the pictures use plastic toys of each animal and baby.

 There are also a few different games that could be played with the cards:

• Flash! -Children flash cards at a partner, who must name the baby/mother and make the sound.
• Mix and match-have children form two teams of five each. Write the names of mother and baby animals on pieces of paper and distribute them randomly. When you give the signal, mothers and babies must find each other, raise their hands together and make the correct sounds
• Living tic-tack-toe- make a tick-tack-toe pattern on the floor with masking tape. Have children form teams of X’s and O’s. As you call the name of the mother animal for a team the player who is up must correctly name the offspring. If the player answers correctly, he or she takes a place in the boxes. The first team to make a line of three gets to make all the noises at once. Games continue until all children have had at least one turn.
• Back to the barn- establish where the barn is e.g. the front of the room and randomly hand out the cards of the mother and baby animals. When you say ‘the barn door is open’ all the baby animals can escape the barn and scatter to various spots in the room. The adults must stay in the barn. To get everyone back to the barn safely the baby animals must say their mothers name correctly as you call them. The baby animal must then find its mother in the barn. The two then raise their hands together and make the right sound.

This activity links to the Birth to Three Matters framework as she will be able to have an opportunity to realize her own individuality and an understanding that she is valued and important, she will also enjoy being with others and have positive relationships with them, and will be able to make her needs known. She will be practicing being a confident and competent language user, using language to label, describe and share, she will have the opportunity to find out about the environment and other people and the opportunity to play imaginatively with materials using all her senses. As well as exploring and discovering a range of creative mediums. This will help her to be able to make her own choices and decisions and discover her own likes and dislikes and be acquiring a range of physical skills and gaining control of the body. The children also learnt the names of the baby animals and could link them with the mothers quite well towards the end of the activity, and about what sort of habitat they live in.

BF. Skinner - 1904-1990 is based upon the idea that learning is a function of change in behavior. Changes in behavior are the result of an individual child’s response to events that occur in the environment. A response produces a consequence such as defining a word, hitting a ball, or solving a math problem. When a particular Stimulus-Response (S-R) pattern is reinforced (rewarded), the individual is conditioned to respond (tip.psychology.org). I believe that when the children get something in the game correct and is praised, that activity will be reinforced and the child will be willed to try to get it correct again. (Skinner, B.F. (1968)).

To reinforce what the children have learnt from this activity. Any of the other activities I have listed for week five would help to get the children to remember these things particularly ‘life cycles’ and ‘animal families’

Carrying out these activities and the extensions that I have listed will help me to understand my own skills of planning. If they worked well it would show me that I have planned sufficiently for the children. Also working with the children in this age range more and more will help me to understand them and the planning suitable for them. I will also develop the interaction skills with children of this age so I can talk to them appropriately.

References

Sure start 2003 Birth to Three Matters, A Framework to support Children in their evident years. Development of Education and Skill, London

Skinner, B.F. (1968). The Technology of Teaching. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts

Blanchard, JS. And Cheska, A. (1985) The Anthropology of Sport: An Introduction. Bergin and Garvey Publishers Inc. Massachusetts.

Bibliography

Choi, J., & Hannafin, M. J. (1995). Situated cognition and learning environments: Roles, structures, and implications for design. Educational Technology Research and Development.

Dede, C. (1995). The evolution of constructivist learning environments: Immersion in distributed, virtual worlds. Educational Technology.

Tassoni, P. Beith, K. Eldridge, H. Gough, A. Diploma Childcare and Education (2002) Heinemann Childcare.