Personal, Social and Emotional

As the different materials were introduced to the children they shared their own experiences of them. The children came to realise that some of them owned the same type of objects but made with different materials. Recycling was discussed and several children talked about the efforts they made as a family to recycle as much of their waste as possible. We talked about how we use recycled materials at school especially in the “junk modelling”

Communication, Language and Literacy
During discussions the children were encouraged to widen their vocabulary by describing the material they were exploring, warm wood, crinkly paper.
Many factual books were looked at that explained the use of various materials and how some of them are made. Story books that were read to the children included stories that featured material- The House that Jack Built, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Three Little Pigs.

Maths
The children seemed to enjoy sorting the various materials into sets and explaining their findings. Various objects were used for counting, weighing and measuring.

Knowledge and Understanding of the World
The children enjoyed exploring all types of materials. Some were able to float but some sank, some stuck to a magnet but some did not, some could be moulded but some were rigid, some held water but some disintegrated, some were good to build with but some fell down. The children used magnifying glasses to look at the details of the materials. They noticed the grain in wood and the different textures on many plastic items. ICT was used in the form of a mini metal detector to find objects hidden in the sand tray.

Physical Development
During gym sessions the children looked at the materials some of the equipment is made from and why. The children’s fine motor control has improved as they have learnt to use tools such as scissors, hole punches, needles etc. while making models and pictures.

Creative
With the wide variety of materials available to them the children have made some exciting creations. In this group the children have particularly looked at fabric, weaving and sewing. Plastic bags cut into strips have been used to create a large group weaving. Smaller weaving has been done on circular cardboard frames using coloured wool. The children wove paper on a card base. Hessian- type fabrics have been used for first sewing with wool; closely woven fabrics have had different materials glued to them. Binca has been used for cross-stitch.
During music the children have learnt the words of the song London Bridge is Falling Down and other songs that feature materials. The favourite song being Stone Soup. The musical instruments were looked at to see what they were made from and the way the material affects the sound.