What are we doing in Dolphins in April?

Many children started to go on ‘bear hunts’ in March and it caught on. Interest was sparked with animals, including making dens for them, talking about their homes, etc. So this month we will be having a focus on the different habitats of animals.

The activities this month will be based around the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) areas of learning:

Prime areas:
PSED: Working collaboratively on recreating different habitats. PD: Using different tools to make model habitats. C&L. Talking and discussing where animals live, learning new words to go with what they have learned.
Specific areas:

L: Understanding that by reading print, we can research and learn new information on what we are interested in. M: Counting, sorting, labelling animals and linking to their habitats. UW: Learning about the different types of homes and animals make homes too. EA&D: Learning how to use a variety of different equipment to make model homes.

 Some of the activities we will be doing this month to support this will be:

·         Birds nests. Matt will be working with the children on building their own birds nests, while talking about different bird nests, how they are made, etc.

·         Making habitats. Jenny will be working with the Forest School groups to set up ‘habitats’ for the children to play in and role play the animals.

·         Dolphins and whale habitats. Manjit will be setting up environments for our toy dolphins and whales to live in and be played with, including the additional sea creatures to live there too.

·         Sorting animals to their habitats. Laura will be creating model habitats and getting the children to sort out who lives where.

·         Library trip for research. Marie-Claire will be organising an excursion to the local library to get out some books on animals and their habitats.

·         Local walk. Marie-Claire will be organising a walk in the local community to look for different animals and their habitats.

·         Making books. Shilpi will be working with the children on making books that talk about habitats and how they can change with the seasons.

What you could do to support your children at home:

·       Ask your child what their favourite animal is and what they know about it. Do some research together to confirm their knowledge and learn a little more. Library, internet, locals walks are all good for this.

·       Think about all the animals in your local community, Talk about why they think the animals might live there.

·       Introduce and use vocabulary such as; habitat, home, safety, protection, food sources, prey, environment, space, hiding, searching, cave, den, burrow, etc.

·       Think about the language of animal groups. E.g. pod, flock, pack, shoal.