As lockdown (2020) and shielding were easing and we were able to start seeing family again I thought that a focus on our family was a good theme. We kept in touch with grandparents, siblings, cousins etc. as much as possible through video chatting and messaging, however, Robbie was always enthusiastic to talk about his family and asked questions about them so we decided to have a deeper look. This is easily adapted for nurseries and the infant years in the primary school topics. It could also be applicable to older years as a family study e.g. looking at genealogy/family trees and ancestors. Below I have added my planning mind map and detailed the activities we completed.
Playdough Family modelling – resources: playdough in various colours, mat or wipeable surface to work on.
We made our playdough family by choosing a base colour then choosing a colour that was most like our eyes and hair, then choosing colours for our clothes. Robbie enjoyed picking the colours and telling mummy what to put where. He was very good at rolling the ball shapes for our heads and bodies.
mummy did most of the intricate modelling, but Robbie helped squash bits and roll them out for the clothes too.
Toilet roll tube Family – resources: toilet roll tubes, pens, stickers, picture of family members backed onto cardboard – from an amazon envelope, glue. You could also make faced from paper/cardboard, google eyes, wool etc.
We made our toilet roll family by printing pictures of the three of us, cutting them out and sticking them onto some cardboard. Then we drew on our bodies, coloured them in and decorated them using stickers. Finally, we stuck our heads on.
These are great fun and have worked really effectively. Robbie loves including them in his imaginative play.
Our Family House picture – resources: paper, pens/pencils/crayons, stickers, pictures of family members (you could equally draw family members), glue. You could also add materials such as cloth for curtains, cardboard for the door etc.
To make our picture we printed out pictures of the people in our family, then drew a house that looked like ours on a piece of paper. Robbie used his crayons to colour in the house, decorated the surrounding areas and stuck the pictures of our family members onto the paper next to the house. Throughout this activity, we talked about what our house looked like and who lived there, our names and what we liked about our house and each other.
Family Pairs – resources: pictures of family members, cardboard (from old amazon boxes), glue.
We used these to play pairs and talk about the people in our family. I decided to keep the pictures to immediate family and grandparents to make the game manageable for Robbie to play as we have a large extended family. As he grows it is definitely something we can add to.
Robbie really enjoyed playing the pairs game and liked to look at all the different pictures. Through this, we also built upon the idea of things being the same and different.
Family Tree Handprint Picture – resources: paper, pens, paint for hand prints.
We made this family tree picture by drawing a tree trunk on the paper, then using Robbie’s hands to print leaves around the top. We talked about the people in our family and counted the rough number of branches/fingers we would need. After the handprints had dried we put Robbie’s name in the middle and talked about all the important people in his family, putting them on branches that he chose for them.
Thumbs & Crumbs 