Hello everyone!
This will be our last post of the week. There will be new ideas and suggestions from Wednesday 27th May, following holidays and an in-service day. We wish you a safe and happy long weekend and a particulary special time if you are celebrating Eid.
Here are today’s suggestions:
- Do you know what these interesting things are? Do you think they are made by humans or grown in nature? Can you describe the colours and shapes? Can you imagine how they would feel? Smell? Have you guessed what they are yet? …. They are cocoa pods!
Here’s what they look like inside. Do the little things inside look familiar? They are called cocoa seeds.
2. They come from the cacao plant. Watch and learn some facts here:
Were you surprised to learn that the pods, seeds and beans are used to make chocolate?! Can you tell your adult two interesting things you heard or saw in the video. Did you hear any unusual words?
3. Here is a tasty chocolate bar I bought. What shape is the bar? What shape are the smaller pieces?
They are rectangles! Two long straight sides and two short straight sides.
4. Can you find other rectangles around the house? How many can you find in two minutes? Maybe you could make a collage picture only using rectangles.
5. How many little pieces are there altogether? How many did I eat? How many were left? Why don’t you use blocks, dried pasta other items to play a similar game to practise more/less/altogether?
6. I like to eat chocolate or drink hot chocolate as a treat. Do you? Will you be celebrating Eid this weekend? Do you think there might be chocolate and other sweet treats to celebrate these special days? It would be wonderful if you shared photos of your celebrations on our Team next week.
Even if you are not celebrating Eid, why don’t you make something chocolate-y as a weekend treat?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/makes/i-can-cook-stickychocolatecake
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b09vdn26/my-world-kitchen-series-1-9-lewiss-israeli-chocolate-challah-bread
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/watch/my-world-kitchen-israeli-chocolate-challah-bread-recipe
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/makes/pink-and-white-muffins
8. Focus on your child’s sense of taste and develop their descriptive vocabulary. Have small pieces of chocolate/fruit/other foods prepared on a plate. Ask your child to close their eyes and hand them something. Have them try to describe the feel and smell, guessing what it is before they taste it. Encourage them not to gobble it too quickly and have them describe the taste and texture, again guessing what it is. You can then show them and chat a little more. Maybe they can set the same challenge for you with another adult’s help!
9. One of the best stories told by one of the funniest storytellers! Michael Rosen’s ‘Chocolate Cake’
10. Join the Go jetters as they visit the chocolate hills! Have you visited somewhere like that before? Can you find out if there are hills a bit like that in Scotland? What hills and mountains are near us? Do people or animals live there? What plants grow there?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0bhr7jz/go-jetters-series-2-48-chocolate-hills-philippines
11. As tasty as chocolate can be, it contains quite a lot of sugar. To keep our teeth and the rest of our body healthy we shouldn’t eat too much sugar. We should also look after our teeth in other ways. Do you have some ideas about that? What do we usually do in nursery?
18th May-18th June is National Smile Month. Follow the link here for some ideas: http://www.nationalsmilemonth.org/
12. Even a little piece of chocolate has a lot of energy in it so if we are enjoying a treat we also need to be active to use that energy so please keep moving!
