Learning Activities – Outside the Box Ideas

TITLE: Pet Lamb – fostering agreements, day-to-care care, benefits for children’s play and learning, and regulatory requirements

Some lambs are sadly orphaned at birth or there may be another reason why a farmer may decide the lamb would be better off to be hand-reared (such as in the case of multiple births and the mum having only one teat).   

Your service could offer to help to hand-rear the lamb.

A lamb gives children a new responsibility.

A lamb is a new playmate and a friend that will love them unconditionally.

A lamb is gentle. It delights in playing but also at times needs to stop and drink or sit down and rest.

This is a pet that is dependent on care for survival and that will teach children to nurture. 

Introducing a pet lamb to your early childhood service is an excellent way to naturally support children to spend more time outdoors running, jumping and skipping and enjoying the spring weather. 

Below we cover aspects of
– How to get a lamb
– Agreements with the farmer and with your children for fostering the lamb
– Preparing for the lamb and what you need

Face painting – Kōrero mai

Throughout history and across many different societies, facepainting has been used for various purposes including camouflage, fashion, religious ceremonies and rituals or to tell stories about a person’s rank, to name a few.

Learning outcomes and benefits of face painting for tamariki in an ECE environment inclu

This article covers many topics and gives advice and tips on:

– What carpentry tools (age appropriate) and wood to get and from where.

– How to set it up.

– Rules to set for children’s safety.

– What can be made – what to make.

– Extending children’s learning.

– Female teachers can do it too.

Happy reading!
Share your experiences with us.

Here we’ve got an all-time favourite recipe of early childhood teachers for cooked playdough.  

We also include recipes for:

– uncooked playdough

– special playdough suitable for shaping into Christmas tree ornaments and gifts to be painted later when hardened.

Playdough is great fun but when the novelty wears off children can become bored and their creativity declines.  So we give you some ideas to keep the playdough fun alive, and invite you to contribute your favourite recipes and ideas too.

First, you may wish to consider cultural concerns on the use of food ingredients and how you may mitigate these concerns.

Teaching Rugby to Children in Early Childhood Education. This fosters a sense of belonging, pride, and achievement.

Rugby is part of NZ’s culture and central to our cultural identity.  (See another article on following and celebrating the Rugby World Cup with children

It is a great sport to introduce to children from about 2 years of a

The children were showing interest in aliens, rockets and space. Teacher, James had a water bottle rocket launcher at home, which he brought in. Sadly, this rocket only survived a few launches before the rubber seal broke and could not be replaced.

A week or two later James Lochead-McMillan was reading about an air rocket made from a wine cork a

I am James Lochead-MacMillan and I’m going to share with you our review and evaluation of the woodwork table and children’s use, and what we did to bring about improvement

Review and evaluation of woodwork

The hammers had seen better days, the saws were rusty, the screwdrivers were AWOL, the vices and the drills were all broken. The work benc

Making signs enriches play and learning.

All around us are signs – what ones can you see?

Signs can be used to tell us what to do like “stop” and “give way” on the road.

They can be used to let us know about dangers (e.g. “wet floor”) and to make announcements (e.g. “cooking at 2pm today”).

Signs can also be used to labe

Every child will learn things in their own time but learning how to ride a bike and using pedals before 5 years of age is a reasonable aspiration for parents and early childhood teachers to have for children.  

It is a significant event in life that most of us can remember so it is worth making it a rewarding experience for a child.

The

The best early childhood chants to introduce to your children. Why chanting is great for children’s language development and for building a sense of fun and community togetherness.

Chants

For child sitting in a swingClap hands chant for infantsFruit Haka in MāoriBoom Chica BoomMary wore her red shoes (involving every child by including t

Sun Protection Activities On Being Safe in the Sun (songs, art and craft, science, drama etc).

Lots of easy to implement ideas for teaching and learning about sun protection and being safe in the sun are provided in this article.  You’ll need to go to another article on our site if you are seeking info on best practices in ECE for pr

Heuristic Play.

In the modern world where many toys are made of shiny coloured plastic and have buttons to press with flashing lights and noises, it is often easy to forget that simple things can interest and stimulate young children. 

In fact these simple things can often be better for them as they have a wider range of textures an

Zoo Trip With Children.  

Everybody loves a cuddly furry animal, so the zoo is a great destination for a day trip for adults and children.

Here are some ideas to make the most of a zoo safari.

The zoo offers children the chance to see exotic animals they may never otherwise encounter. Before or after the visit, talk about the type of

Making Pet Rocks.

This is a fun activity for ages 2 – 102 – so its highly suitable to involve parents and grandparents in doing too alongside their children.

This can be done inside or at an outside table. , to produce something that reflects the personal style of the creator.

Brilliant for building imagination and creativity, leadin

Extending play in the sandpit and ways of turning the sandpit into an amazing social hub for learning.

Below are practical tips and guidance for teachers and parents on 

variations to basic sandpit play equipment and changes you can introduce daily or weekly to maintain and invigorate children’s interest and participation,ways to get ch

Taking Children to an Art Gallery.

Don’t assume that art galleries are too high-brow for young children. They may not be able to tell you the name of the artist but they will still appreciate the work. Early childhood education should include exposing children to contemporary art practice in different forms.

Here are suggestions to help

Taking children for a trip to the beach can offer opportunities for all kinds of learning – from discovering creatures to practising building skills. Just check first that you have prepared safety plan for the excursion, including sun protection, and have more than sufficient adults to the number of children.

Try these ideas when you take a t

Making Volcanoes with Children.

Children find volcanoes intriguing. 

Here are some key facts and simple information to share with children about volcanoes and geysers, along with a ‘recipe’ for making your very own fun miniature demonstration volcano. Introducing knowledge and understanding of volcanoes is a common part of teaching and