Approaches to Childhood learning – Class activity Record Sheet

After every class Activity write into the record sheet. Add photos throughout the record. 15 records

min required for portfolio. Add lots of images to illustrate your understanding.

Name____M M_____________________________________

Date: 12th

November

Week

number:

10 Attended: Yes

Name and image of the Activity

Swirling Snail

Materials used:

• White paper plates

• Yellow construction paper

• Washable finger paint

• Pipe cleaners

• Googly eyes

• Glue

• Pencil

Time plan:

This activity took one hour to complete including clean up time.

Room and/or equipment requirements:

Scissors, desk and paint brush.

General Aim of activity – What will the final outcome be? ie. ‘To make an aeroplane with cardboard’ box. To create a snail using material.

Specific Learning outcomes of the activity – What will be learned by doing the activity? Ie. ‘To use fine motor skills using the scissors’

• How to trace shapes with a pencil

• Learn about mixing colours

• Use fine motor skills using scissors to cut around the snails body

• Learn what materials to use for parts of the body. Example pipe cleaners for ears

Steps for making or doing activity:

Use images with short captions

Step 1: :Paint paper plat

Step 2: Draw around snails body

Step 3: Design paper plate with glitter

My Swirling snail

How will the child/ren benefit from the activity?

• They learn to be creative when making the snail

• They get familiar with mixing colours as we used red and yellow to paint the snail.

• They become dependent as they work on their own

• They learn about tracing shapes

Age group/s: (development level)

This activity would be suitable for preschool children from the age of three as you are using

paint which you would not want the child to put in his/her mouth and a scissors could be

dangerous.

How would you make the activity more inclusive? Principles of universal design I could have the shapes cut out and all the material ready. I

could have pictures of each step to make it easier for deaf

children.

How would you adapt the activity to suit outside/inside?

You could get the children to go for a walk and collect some snails, then bring out a large table

and make the snail and use the real snail as an example of how a snail should look.

Simplify this activity:

Use material from outside to decorate the snail .For example you could use leaves instead of

paint to decorate the body and carrot sticks instead of pipe cleaners for the ears.

Variations for the activity: How could you vary the activity? ‘Marbling using foam or egg

whites instead’

• Use cardboard instead of paper plate

• Make a snail out of a banana and use other food products for eyes and ears

• Use chocolate spread instead of paint

• Use tissue paper instead of paint to decorate the snail and any other material available

The Learning outcomes linked to Aistear

Exploring and

thinking

Identity and Belonging Well-being Communicating

Aim 1;1,4 Aim 1:1,3 Aim 1:1,4,6 Aim 1:1,2,5,6

Aim2:1,6 Aim 2:1,4 Aim 2:3,1 Aim 2:1,3,4

Aim 3:4 Aim 3:2,3 Aim 3:1,5,2 Aim 3:1,

Aim 4:1,3 Aim 4:1,2,4 Aim 4:1,2,5 Aim 4:1,2,4

Other curriculums: Montessori, HiScope..

Safety concerns? If any

A child could cut herself using scissors. Also children need to be careful when using paint and

glue not to put their fingers in their mouth.

Could the activity link to an external activity/group/ outing? ‘Visit to a farm/forest to see/do….’

You could bring the children on a nature walk where you show them snails and collect

materials that are suitable to decorate the snails body.

Extensions for the activity: Could science, geography, history, culture, literacy, maths etc, be incorporated into to the activity? How? What changes would you make? They learned about numeracy by counting the googly eyes and pipe cleaners and how many

to put on a snail. They learned literacy by naming the colours of the pipe cleaners and paints

and they learned about nature by taking part in the nature walk.

Interactions with children: talk about…. Talk with your child about what they are doing. This will help them understand the physical and mental processes they are going through as well as giving them the vocabulary to describe it. "Look at how the paint splatters like that"

• Look at how the two colours are mixing together

• Can anyone tell me what colour is this

• Does anyone know how the googly eyes are sticking and I have not used glue

• Does anyone know what we will use the pipe cleaners for

Problem solving element? Make your child aware of the problem solving involved and ask them questions as needed to help them work out problems themselves, eg. "Why isn't the paint coming out now?", "Is the straw reaching the paint when the bottle is tipped like that?", "How could you fix that?"

• Where will we put the smile on the snail

• I’m mixing the two colours together. What will happen next

• Does anyone know where we put the paper plate

• Why is it not sticking. Can we fix this

Evaluation of activity: What did think of the activity?

I think this activity would be extremely enjoyable and interesting for children as they learn

about mixing colours, how to use different materials and foods to be creative and learn about

nature.

Additional information: (images, books, articles, video links, websites etc.)

(Pinterest)

Summary of your personal learning in points (at least 4) from doing the activity;

.The different ways you can make a swirling snail and all the different materials and

food you can use.

.I learned the benefits of this activity for the children like sensory play and messy play

when finger painting which helps their eye co - ordination

.Watching the children using the materials to make the swirling snail has made my

observational skills better

.I learned how to help the children problem solve during the activity.