getting children active, creative, problem solving and ...€¦ · great activities to do with...
TRANSCRIPT
Getting children active,
creative, problem
solving AND having a
lot of ‘wholesome’ fun –
with you!
Great activities to do with children:
• are a lot of fun!
• get them absorbed – sometimes for hours and hours!
• are well-suited to their age / maturity
• are really open-ended – there are loads of possibilities and can be accessed by all whilst providing great challenge
• provide lots of scope for problem solving
• spark lots of conversation
• put children at the heart of the activity
• involve being active – and not just stuck on an ipad / X-box etc!
Make a Boat for a ‘Pet Rock’!
Make a model boat for a ‘pet rock’ and float it
downstream. If you are wondering what a ‘pet rock’
is, you can pick one up from the ground outside and
there you are, you’ll have it, your very own ‘pet rock’
(you can even give it a name if you really want to !). You will need
to consider the design of your model boat and the materials you will
use (you may have a construction kit, such as KNEX, you could use) –
it will need to have buoyancy; be waterproof and be able to carry
your ‘pet rock’ without sinking. You could compete against your
family: which boat can travel the furthest? The fastest? Carry the
most rocks before sinking?
Pick fruit and create a pudding
Puddings made with fresh fruit can be really delicious! Is there
anywhere you can think of where you might be able to find some
fruit to pick? If so, all you’ll need next is a recipe, which
perhaps the internet might help you with.
You might even know an expert cook who
can share their skills with you.
You will need to collect the other
ingredients that you need for your recipe
and weigh them out carefully before working with an adult to
cook your pudding. This will really help with your maths skills
too!
Act it Out
Wow your friends and family with your stage presence as you act out a scene from your favourite film or programme. You could download a play-script from the internet OR write your own!
Helping children
with their inner
strength!
Who in the
world do you
admire?
We ALL want our children to be:
resilient
confident
independent
responsible
HAPPY!
Is this what we’re helping them with?
OR do we focus on the academic?
Positive Mindsets Personal Development The Community
To what extent do you agree or disagree with these statements:
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree
1. Intelligence is something people are born with that can’t be changed.
2. You can always substantially change how intelligent you are.
3. No matter what kind of person you are, you can always change substantially.
4. You can always change basic things about the kind of person you are.
5. Musical / Sporting talent can be learned by anyone.
6. Only a few people will be truly good at sports – you have to be “born with it.”
7. Maths is much easier to learn if you are male or maybe come from a culture who values
maths.
8. The harder you work at something, the better you will be at it.
11. Trying new things is stressful for me and I avoid it.
12. I like trying new things; even if I don’t succeed at first I will learn something.
13. I often get angry when I get negative feedback about my performance.
14. I appreciate when people, parents, coaches, teachers give me feedback about my
performance.
15. All human beings are capable of learning.
16. Human beings are basically good, but their previous experiences can lead to them
making terrible decisions or doing the ‘wrong’ thing.
17. Truly clever people do not need to try hard.
18. Hard work is more important than ability.
Some famous figures who were, at first, discounted
through lack of ‘natural talent’
Michel Jordan
Albert Einstein
Paul Scholes
Mo Farah
JK Rowling What often happens to the ‘natural talent’?
A study was done in America, following
those who were the top high school
graduates filtering down to the best
University graduates. What became of
them?
Nothing out of the ordinary!
Fixed and Growth Mindsets:
Which of these ‘mindsets’ do your children have?
FIXED GROWTH
Believes ability is innate – ‘naturals’ are the best!
Believes learning will conquer initial lack of ability
Effort must mean lack of ability Effort leads to ability
Failure defines personality Failure provokes learning
Past successes are repeated Past successes are built upon
Afraid to take risks Takes risks, knowing they may fail
Threatened by others’ success Inspired by others’ success
What perpetuates the ‘Fixed Mindset’ or encourages a
‘Growth Mindset’?
•A view on intelligence and talent;•Labels;•Hidden messages and certain praise.
WHAT IS THE MESSAGE?
Well done, you did that really quickly.
I can’t believe how clever you are, you did that without really trying!
You are the Lionel Messi of this team!
I love reading your work. You think of such brilliant words and are such a good writer.
You’ve really tried hard to choose your words carefully in this writing.
You did that really quickly – whoops it was a little too easy.
That’s just what she’s like
She’s terrified of dogs
I was never any good at maths
either
It’s fine to be average
He’s not very academic
Growing Mindsets:
Children should be encouraged through incidental language to:
Be inspired by others achievements, NOT threatened;
Believe that great learning can come from not succeeding first /
second / third time;
Believe they CAN achieve, it’s just a question of working at it!
Take feedback as a chance to learn!
Ability is NOT fixed – it is cultivated! “I wasn’t any good at maths,
maybe it’s just not your thing!”
Self – esteem and Confidence
Succeeding with effort – everyone can!Succeeding with talent – reserved for an ‘elite’?
You can do it! … OR
… You can try!
Personal
DevelopmentHow often do we allow
them to reach their
‘stress zone’ and bring
themselves back?
How can we avoid them
feeling stressed? What
is the effect?
How soon do we step in
because we are worried
they might fail?
Personal Development
Growing a positive mindset
Thriving in a community
Being an increasingly effective and responsive learner Focus Perseverance Meta-learning Collaboration Empathy
Realising and expressing how new learning has changed you
Reflecting on learning, experiences and success with
completed work / the end result.
Developing physical coordination
Perseverance
I know what it means to persevere when things get tricky
I can tell when others are persevering
I give it a really hard try on my own before I ask for help
I try a different way if I get stuck
I know how to use resources in the classroom to help me
I can take a breather when I need to and try again
I ask a friend for help if I’m stuck
I know that perseverance most often leads to better learning and that I’ll feel better about myself if I really try
I can work out of my comfort zone for longer and longer
I can persevere in a wider range of activities
Personal Development – in the
curriculum
Reward the outcome? Reward the ‘perseverance’?
CreativityTaking inspiration from others to spark new ideas
Copying and mastering techniques
Connecting with the goal (including empathising with the
audience)
Exploring ideas
Choosing with reason from the range of ideas
Combining ideas
Revising and improving the product / solution
Communication
listening actively (for response)
Informing
Describing
Sharing opinions and ideas
Explaining
Entertaining
Asking effective questions
Persuading
Problem SolvingIdentifying problems for solving and framing them into questions
Understanding the language and nature of problems
Planning (thinking analytically how to approach the problem)
Gleaning and representing useful information
Analysing information
Performance
rehearsing
being ‘professional’
engaging the audience
conveying meaning
How to make the most of it:
Use your performance skills:
Practise several times,
working on one section at
a time to get each one
looking great! (rehearsal)
Experiment with your
voice, body language and
facial expressions as you
take on a new role and entertain others. (conveying
meaning)
You could even sing or dance as part of your
performance to give your act an added flare (engaging
the audience)
Prove it! Bring in a video of your performance; share
your performance with your class during show and tell or
take photographs of yourself in the spotlight!
How to get the most out of it:
Use your problem solving skills:
What do you already know
about making things float well,
and about a lake / stream
nearby (prior knowledge)
Investigate materials you have (perhaps things you would have
thrown away) and decide what you will need to make your boat
(planning)
Try out how buoyant your boat is in a sink or bath to see if you
need to make adjustments (gleaning useful information through
trial and adjust)
Decide what you’ve learnt from your test and make changes
(analyse)
Create a ‘wild’ book
Make a book full of things you have found in the wild.
Helpful Hints:
You could create pictures, make a story or make your own non-fiction
book.
Vocabulary you might use:
Leaf
Petal
Tree and Flower names
Books you might share:
Non-fiction books about nature
How to be a better learner:
•Persist with activity when challenges occur
•Show a belief that more effort or a different approach will pay off
•Bounce back after difficulties
Metacognition: Improving the ‘method behind the madness’!
When we problem-solve, there are strategies that are second nature to us:
We ask ourselves questions We use trial and errorWe brainstorm ideas We sketch our plansWe think back to something we’ve tried previously We predict problems
Often, children don’t.
What would problem-solving be like without our ‘methods’?
Could we ask children:
1. When you solve problems like these, what helps you to think?
We can then suggest strategies such as the above (which don’t solve the problem but do provide a method) until they can think of more of their own.
2. Then we can check in with whether these strategies are helping, reminding them to use them and providing them with tips on how to use them even better.