It’s springtime – gardening activities are a great teaching resource

Gardening – Activities for 3 to 5 year olds

For example, ask the children to fill several plant pots with potting compost and plant seeds or cuttings. Water them and place transparent, colourless plastic bottles which you have cut in half over some of the pots to form mini greenhouses. Explain to the children why you are going to cover some of the pots and leave others uncovered. Otherwise treat all the pots the same: give them the same quantities of water and keep them in the same place, so that they get the same amount of light and heat. Every day observe what has happened to the plants and to the plastic bottles. As an extension activity the children could measure the temperature in the plastic bottles and in the room.

Afterwards talk with the children about which plants have grown the fastest and why that might be. Talk about how plants need warmth to grow and that they grow more rapidly in a warm atmosphere. The plastic bottles have a film of condensation on the inside which helps to keep the plants moist.

Further details about this activity can be found here.

This is just one activity out of many in Gardening: Activities for 3 – 5 year olds, published by Brilliant Publications.

For more information or to order Gardening: Activities for 3 – 5 year old for just £6.50, visit https://www.brilliantpublications.co.uk/book/gardening-102

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Springtime can be a source of great ideas for the Early Years

Springtime is fun – the days are warmer and the children feel happier. One idea is to set up a large spring picture on a wall or using powerpoint on a whiteboard, with a tree, pond and field. You can add frogspawn, tadpoles, frogs, blossom, spring flowers, etc as the season changes and as the children learn about them. Attach them with a tacky substance so that you can move them about and change the number of each of them on a weekly or daily basis.

Ask the children to count the number of butterflies, daffodils, tadpoles, lambs, ducks and caterpillars.

Each day or week change the numbers in the picture and ask them to count again.

Download the free worksheet from this blog and when the children are confident, ask them to complete it.

If you like this activity there are more in our book called Springtime Activities for the Early Years.

Click here to find out more about this book

You can order Springtime Activities for the Early Years in any of these ways:

• On our website: www.brilliantpublications.co.uk
• By phone on 01449 766629
• By fax on 01449 767122
• By email to orders@tradecounter.co.uk

“Can you see the wind?” Free worksheet series from Brilliant Publications.

On a windy day go outside with the children and watch streamers blowing. Ask the children whether they can see and feel the effects of the wind on their faces and clothes. Watch the trees and plants move in the wind.

It’s World Poetry Day!

To celebrate World Poetry Day (#WorldPoetryDay), here is a poem by Brenda Williams from Fun with Action Rhymes and Poems.

Fun with Action Rhymes and Poems

Magic carpet

Sit on the carpet
And close your eyes
For this carpet is magic
And soon we will rise

We’ll float far away
Where no-one has been
To see rivers of honey
And fields of ice-cream

Sugar-topped mountains
Blackcurrant seas
Banana-milk lakes
And chocolate trees

Whipped cream clouds
And lemonade rain
Then we open our eyes
And are back home again.

What French words should you teach first?

Whichever words you choose, you will find this new collection of 1000 French words a great starting point.

My First 1000 French Words

My First 1000 French Words is a fantastic introduction to essential French vocabulary from animal words to types of food and members of the family.

Action-packed illustrations introduce your eager young language learners to essential words in French – plus a few fun ones. From having breakfast together to visiting the zoo or a fantastic art gallery to learn about colours and shapes, these characters will bring new words to life on the page and reinforce those words that you already know.

Each spread features a central scene teeming with details to discuss and discover. French vocabulary surrounds the main picture. Each French word appears along with an illustration to help reinforce learning, a helpful  pronunciation guide and the English translation.

Preschools turn children on to learning

A study by Professor Kathy Sylva at the University of Oxford shows that children that who go to preschool are twice as likely to do AS levels.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-35070985

Not only do they have a better grasp of language and numbers. They are also more effective learners, says Prof Sylva.

Celebrate National Poetry Day with your younger pupils

National Poetry Day is tomorrow, Thursday 8th October. The theme this year is ‘light’.