What you’ll need

The ladybirds that had no spots download, a pen.

Method

Read the poem at the top to your child. Then ask them what we could do to make the ladybirds happy. Allow them to draw as many spots as they wish on each ladybird and see if they can count them.

What did we learn?

Communication and Language: Listening and attention – listens to stories with increasing attention and recall.

Mathematics: Numbers – recites some number names in sequence.

Physical development: Moving and handling – Imitates drawing simple shapes such as circles and lines.

What you’ll need

Toilet roll, a4 sheet of paper, scissors

Method

One of the people that help us is a hairdresser. Chat to your child about why a hairdresser is someone who helps us, and how some animals need their hair cut too, like dogs and sheep. 

Cut lengthways down the a4 paper and wrap round the top of the toilet roll. Draw a face on the toilet roll, this could be a human face or an animal face! 

Start with a trim, encouraging your child to cut just a little off the bottom at first. If they are adept at using scissors, see if they can hold the hair between the fingers as a hairdresser would. 

What did we learn?

Physical Development: using simple tools to effect changes to materials.

Handling tools safely and with increasing control.

Shows understanding of the need for safety when tackling new challenges.

Considers and manages some risks.

What you’ll need

• Activity Sheet
• Scissors 

Method

Cut the all pictures out and talk about the different occupations and the vehicles that they use to do their jobs.

When looking at the vehicles ask your child why they think that person needs that type of vehicle? Talk about the differences between the vehicle types (e.g. big tyres, caterpillar tracks, wings etc)

Collect up all of the people that help us and lay them facing up in front of your child. Put the vehicle picture cards facing down and shuffle them up. Ask your child to pick up one vehicle card at a time and let them match it to the people cards. Preschool children love matching games because they are at the appropriate age for this skill and repetition is how they learn best.

You can join in with your child by giving them 6 people cards and keeping 6 cards for yourself. Then take turns to pick up a vehicle card and see if they have the matching person. If they do, they can pair them up but if they don’t they must put the vehicle back face down for another turn. The winner is the person who matches up all of their people to the vehicles first.

This activity can be extended by making it a memory game. Shuffle up all of the vehicle and picture cards and lay them face down on the table. Take turns to pick up 2 cards at a time, turning them over and seeing if they are the correct match (e.g. farmer and tractor). If they are a match, that player gets to keep them, but if they do not match the player must put them back on the table facing down. Try to put them back in the same place, as it supports your child in building up a memory of where different cards are on the table. Once all of the pairs have been collected, the winner is the person who has collected the most cards.    

Playing memory games can improve other brain functions, such as attention, concentration, and focus. Memory games give space to critical thinking and that helps children nurture their attention to detail. 

Memory games can improve visual recognition. With many memory games based on spotting differences, or linking two related images, children improve their visual discrimination. This will lead to an acceleration in distinguishing images from one and another. 

What did we learn

Understanding the world: Shows interest in different occupations and way of life