'Our Friendship Tree'

Members: Ashley Mason, Charlotte Ainsworth and Megan Nelli

Reasons for Selection:

•As a group we have decided to combine two of the provisions that were of interest to us all

•These are creative play and literacy

•We have chosen creative play due to the lack of opportunities we found for the children whilst we have been in placements. We felt that due to the potential mess and cleaning up time, some practitioners may be in favour of an activity involving minimal preparation and resources, making it easier to clear away to proceed the next activity.

•From choosing creative provision, we then researched activities within this topic leading us to our final decision of using paint within our project.

•Literacy was a common interest within the group, therefore we have decided to use both provisions within our project.

•From our own challenges as children, we preferred to be hands on with creative play using paint or cutting and sticking rather than choosing academic work such as literacy and mathematics. For this reason, we chose to have both provisions in our activity to encourage children to enjoy all areas of provision.

Activity:

1.Circle time at the beginning to ensure everyone is included and that all children understand the aims and outcomes of the activity. Throughout circle time prior to the activity, it can be discussed about the season we are currently in and give the children an opportunity to share their thoughts on what happens in autumn and what they associate with autumn. Through this, some answers may link to the tree. However if they don’t, autumnal colours can be introduced. Once these points have been discussed, a brief overview of the activity will be given. 

2.With the creative area already set with the resources, the children will then be allowed to go and  complete their hand prints for the tree. Simple image instructions will be available on the table for children to look at should they need any additional help. This therefore means that the activity could be completed without adult input.

3.Once the hand prints have been completed, the children will allow them to dry. Throughout any time whilst the hand prints are drying, the children will have the chance to practice writing their names with the use of a dot to dot template.

4.When they have dried, the children will write their names on their hand print leaf. This could be with the use of the dot to dot template or however for those that can attempt it without due to the previous practice can do so without.

5.The children will then cut out their hand print leaves and stick them on to the branches of “Our Friendship Tree”.

Reflection:

Planning and creation 

As a whole, we believe that the planning and creation of our activity has been successful. Tasks were delegated to those in our group and completed within the time frames and targets that we set to allow us to move on to the next step of the product. We struggled with the creativity of the tree, however we overcome this barrier by researching other examples of excellence.

Improvements and changes on planning and creation

If we were to carry out this task again we would carry out our activity in various settings rather than just one with different age groups in order to find our target audience for our activity. This would allow us to tailor our activity to the needs of different children.

Carrying out the activity

We were able to set out the activity before hand. It could have been more beneficial if we had a table to work at however we improvised well by using the floor covering it with paper. When carrying out the activity we didn’t have too much of a time slot. The leaves were wet therefore the students were unable to write directly onto the leaves. However these were stuck on, on separate pieces of white paper whilst the paint was still wet. We think that the participants enjoyed our activity.

Improvements and changes on carrying out the activity

If we were to carry out the activity again, it would improve it if we had more time to do so. This would allow leaves to dry so the child can therefore write on their leaf that they have created. Additionally, this would enable more time for the handwriting of the names to be practiced as well as completing the extension activity. Furthermore, we would ensure there was table space for the larger tree to sit on with the children around it to therefore show what the leaves will be being used for.