Frozen, the film, has been a regular feature of discussion in our classroom just recently & so we’ve had a bit of a ‘frosty’ feel to the classroom this week. It seemed a little odd now that we’ve finally seen some sun, but the children loved it & embraced it fully.
Update (15th Jan, 2015): I notice a few of you are currently visiting this post. If it is Frozen or Winter activities you are interested in, there are more here 🙂
Here are some of the things we have experienced this week…
Maths Area
We are continuing to work on number recognition & counting skills & I feel that the children are more inclined to work on this when they have an interest in the resources we use. Of course they will always do more when an adult is directing them, but I love discovering some of the things they have chosen to do independently…
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Finger Gym
Foil plates (8 for £1 in the Pound shop) & ‘frosty’ loose parts – my homemade sparkly nuggets (see how I made them here), mosaic pieces, strings of beads, jewels & plastic ice-like ‘crystals’…
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Discovery Table
Not an activity that links with ‘Frozen’ at all, but some of the children were playing with stones last week; making patterns, exploring the texture etc, so it is an activity purely linked with their interest in mind. The book, ‘If Rocks Could Sing’ describes itself as a ‘discovered alphabet’ & has stones in lots of different shapes that represent things beginning with all the letters. We had lots of discussion around it & some of the children now want to look for interesting shaped stones when they go to the beach in the upcoming break.
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Construction
A found another dressing table mirror in a charity shop this week & placed it on a small table with a flat mirror. The basket of rainbow blocks ‘lives’ next to this table & I was thrilled to discover the children building with them & then pulling the rope light over it to see what the colours looked like. We turned the lights off to see what each creation looked like in a darker room…
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Frozen Jewels
The children love ‘excavating’ things frozen in ice. The ‘jewels’ (Christmas tree garlands) looked beautiful…
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Frozen World
Oh my word, were the children excited by this! On arriving, one little girl proudly showed me her dress. It had a picture of Elsa from Frozen on it, “Look at this!”. I pointed to the small world & said, “Look at this…” & she literally screamed! I was worried it might be a little girl-orientated, but both the boys & girls enjoyed playing in this area. They loved being dressed as princesses & princes at the same time. We don’t have many ‘prince’ costumes, but the boys were satisfied with fabric cloaks 😉
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Sparkles on the Light Box
Glitter in a tray for mark making & snowflakes in jars for pattern making. Anything with glitter is popular with my class & the light underneath the tray really makes their marks stand out, so they loved this & it really encouraged them to mark make…
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Sparkly Dough
Sparkly play dough & a range of loose parts to explore… I love seeing what they create with the extra resources. It makes the play dough so much more than just kneading & rolling…
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Frozen Backdrop
I have some really thick tin foil (given to me by a friend who used to work in a packing factory). It’s much thicker than that you buy in the supermarket & is brilliant for school use as it’s so strong. I thought it might make a good base for some transient art. A few children were interested in it but they were far more taken with the other areas of provision…
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Fairies in a Sand Tray
The girls loved the fairies last week & so I moved them to another area. However, they were so taken by everything else that only one child chose to access this…
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We are now on a two week break from school & it’s report writing for me, so you may or not may not hear from me for a while. We’ll see…
Thanks for reading!
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– Rachel (“,)
That’s it. I am officially IN LOVE with your site. Seriously. Could your classroom BE any more awesome?? Cheers!
Oh, wow, thank you so much Stephanie. I love your site, so that really means a lot! (“,)
I have just stumbled across your blog and I love it…so much inspiration here! I clicked on your pinterest boards and pinned a ton of ideas too! Can’t wait to have a go at some of these fab ideas next week. Thanks so much…:)
Oh thank you, Joanne, you’ve made my day! So glad you’ve been inspired. Happy pinning! 😉
Such an inspiring blog! Your children are very lucky to have such a dedicated and enthusiastic teacher. Sorry to keep asking where your resources are from, but I wondered where you had got your round beads seen in the hexagon in the maths part of this post? Many thanks! 😉
Thanks Emma! Don’t mind you asking at all! I’ve had lots of my resources for years so I can’t always remember exactly where I got them. I think I got those particular beads from an online store, but it could have been eBay. Sorry I can’t be more specific! You might just have to do a search. x
You site is beautiful. Do you remember where you got your snowflake beads? I have done a search but can only find them in America!
Thanks Rebecca! I’ll see if I can find them. Will email you, using the email address you provided, if I can (“,)
Thank you! Lots of fantastic ideas – can’t wait to put them into action!
Have fun, Valerie! (“,)
Just this week I’m repairing a Frozen dress getting a bit shabby after months of constant play. I was asked to please have it back soon. We made a Frozen castle months ago that still stands on a special shelf: http://123kindergarten.com/2014/06/25/elsa-paper-roll-castle/
A million thank yous for all your wonderful ideas once again. Having planned a “Frozen takeover” for the New Year and thought I had a clear 5 days to plan and gather resources, my mother was taken into hospital so I had minimal time for anything. Your inspirational ideas on this page and over at Nice & Icy have been a life saver!! I already had most of the bits and pieces as Frozen has been an ongoing interest, so I have used all your wonderful set ups and I can safely say we have had a magical week of children immersed in their play. Thank you from the bottom of my heart (unfrozen!!) x ps Fingers crossed my mother is on the mend too. x
So glad your mum is on the mend, Melanie. Pleased you’ve found some useful ideas too! Take care xx
Thank you. xx