Where We Live

Personal Social and Emotional

Small world toys, (dolls houses, happyland, Duplo) to aid in recreating child’s own home life and acting out own experiences. Playing alongside others sharing own experiences.

Communication and Language

Share books and photographs showing houses and encourage children to discuss their own houses (what rooms they have? Is it a flat, house or bungalow? Do they have a garden?) and the people who live with them. Model language to help extend children’s vocabulary.

Physical Development

Use construction toys and materials to build houses with, encouraging fine and gross motor skills. Outside use the tuff trays/track to draw/build a town on (bus stop, shops, houses, a park etc.) and put cars on them for the children to navigate through the town. This encourages hand eye coordination, spatial awareness.

Literacy

Use cut out houses and shapes to encourage the children to either replicate their own homes or for them to make a house they would like to live in. They can use a variety of materials for this, glue, scissors, paint, pens and pencils. This will help with fine motor skills and pen control.

Mathematics

Shapes on houses, counting the windows and doors. Using bricks to build the houses and counting them. Grouping bricks together in order of size, height, colour. Also, discussing the number on their own houses for example number 5.

Understanding the World

Encourage the children to talk about their families and where they live. Who lives in their house with them? Do they live in one or two houses? What is around their houses? For example, a park, shops or a road. Help build confidence for the children to talk in front of others by talking about our own houses (adults), this will help children see similarities they may have with the other children in the setting. Use the iPads to show the children different pictures of different houses.

Expressive Art and Design

Provide a wide range of materials for children to build their own homes. Use big boxes, small boxes and resources to let the children choose how they would like to express themselves.

Focused Vocabulary

Houses, flat, bungalow, stairs, door, house number, street name, windows, garden, town, village, city.