Topics
When planning activities plan around outcomes and skills.
Once activities have been planned use Topics to enhance children’s enjoyment and engagement.
The same activity can be repeated, however the topic can be different. Using topics to amend activities.
Topic Ideas
Pirates
Jungle animals
African animals
British animals
Pets
The farm
Mini Beasts
Super heroes
Circus
Trains
Cars
Planes
Sea
Planets
Growing
Weather
Seasons
Ourselves
Occasions (Christmas, Easter, Bonfire night, Chinese NY, Eid, Diwali)
Patterns
All about me
Ideas of use of topics to amend activities
Active Stories
Children can:
- go on an adventure through a jungle (jump over streams, crawl behind the bush to avoid the tigers, twist to see if the elephants are coming)
- be pirates looking for treasure (jump off the ship, crawl towards the treasure so no one sees you, dig for treasure by twisting and throwing the sand behind them)
- drive around like cars (jump over speed bumps, crawl into a parking space, twist to see if any cars are coming behind you before pulling off)
Can you Balance?
Make sure children are spread out and have space to move.
Can you balance on one foot holding onto the wall?
Can you balance on the other foot holding onto the wall?
Can you balance on one foot without holding onto anything?
Can you balance on the other foot without holding onto anything?
Can you balance equally on both sides? Children usually can balance better on one side than the other. Get them to practice the weaker side so they have equal balance.
Can you balance like Animals:
- Can you balance on one leg like a flamingo?
- Can you balance on one foot and opposite hand like a lizard on hot sand?
- Can you balance on your hands and knees like a cat?
- Can you balance on your toes and forearms like a dolphin?
- Can you balance on your bottom (legs and arms in the air) like a tortoise on it’s back?
Enchanted Forest
Set up different activities around the room.
Tell the children that you heard different characters in the forest e.g. dinosaurs, lions, buzz light year etc.
- Green coloured cones are a forest which children have to run through
- Small steps are mini mountains to walk up and down
- Spot markers are stepping stones which they have to jump/leap/hop on in order to get across the river
- Blue cones signify water they have to swim across
- Do different movements on each obstacle (jump in the water, hop on the stepping stones etc.)
- This could turn into Enchanted Train where the train travels through an enchanted land and does as above
- Enchanted Sea where children do different things as above but under the sea.