Mud Pies and Marmalade: 6 areas of learning

Here's what we're up to in February!

Valentines 14^th

Shrove Tuesday 21^st

Fairtrade Fortnight 27^th Feb- 11^th March

Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy
Help chn to cut out 5 small red paper hearts, then label them 1 to 5. Invite child to hide the 5 hearts around the setting and to give clues to me so that I can find them. Swap roles. When the 5 have been found, help the children to sort them into numerical order.

Hide a larger heart for babies to discover.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Use a photograph of someone special or group family photo. Help child to glue it onto a piece of heart shaped card. Invite them to decorate the space around the photo- glitter, beads etc. Help the child to sign their name on the back and the child can give it as a special gift for Valentines day.

Love this hearts and feelings book from Chapel Hill Snippets. Free to download!

For babies- looking at photographs of special people and talking about them.

Communication, Language and Literacy

Fairtrade Fortnight- 27^th Feb- using large roll of paper and poster paints on trays, paint our feet to make paint footprints on the paper! Talk about how we can all take small steps to change things. Go to the supermarket to look for the fair-trade sign on products. Make a list of which ones we see. Buy some too!

Knowledge and Understanding of the World
Sweet and savoury- make some pancakes for the children- talk about Shrove Tuesday (pancake Day) this is the last day before a period of time that Christians call Lent when people often give up certain foods for 40 days. Pancakes contain fat, butter and eggs which are forbidden during Lent. Ask chn to choose which filling they would like to try in their pancakes and discuss what we mean by sweet and savoury.

Lemon Curd and cream, Raspberries and cream, Cheese and ham, Apple and Bacon with Maple syrup.

Fairtrade Fortnight- on 27^th Feb give out ‘What is Fairtrade’ cards. Ask children where our food comes from. Establish that it comes from across the world- e.g bananas, coffee, tea, chocolate. Talk about the content- what it means. Each child will have a little pack to take home- postcards and some Fairtrade Chocolate!

Creative development

Decorating trinket boxes as gifts for Valentines. Making heart shaped cookies to fit inside them.

So, I've been sorting out my planning formats for Childminding in line with the EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage). I have a long term plan with month by month ideas for themes and festivals throughout the year; a medium term plan for each month of the year which expands upon the themes taking account of each of the 6 areas of learning and outlining possible adult led activities; short term, weekly planning based on observations from the previous week linked to additions to continuous provision and focussed activities and a PLOD for each child (Possible Line of Direction/Development) which outlines the current interests and schemas of the children with possible development activities and changes to the continuous provision in line with the 6 areas of learning.

Our January activities are:

1. Playing with different coloured noodles and chopsticks, using jugs and containers to sort the noodles into their colours. The noodles could also be counted. (Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy)

2. Chinese restaurant role play- using our newly acquired (from China Town) resources. (Personal, Social and Emotional Development).

3. National Storytelling Week (28th Jan) - using our Story Beads to make up and tell our own stories. (Communication, Language and Literacy).

4. Making Chinese Dragons and fans and doing a dragon dance! (Creative and Physical Development).

5. Locating China on the map and cooking some Chinese food (Knowledge and Understanding of the World).

6. Birdwatching in the garden and park (RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch 28th and 29th) and making bird feeders (Knowledge and Understanding of the World).

I picked this cute little Chinese dress up from a local car boot sale for a couple of quid.

New storage (IKEA of course) is great for displaying our lovely resources.

Pinterest has officially invaded my life! I saw one like this on there and got my dad to make it for me! I still need to paint the words 'Dress Up' on it.