Book of the week: Maps by Aleksandra and Daniel Mizielinski.
Synopsis: A sumptuous book that really brings geography to life for younger readers. Maps illuminates the topography of 52 countries with exquisite illustrations of cultural figures, national landmarks and wildlife. An aesthetic marvel as well as a hugely enlightening resource, Maps transforms the way we look at the world.
Activity: This weeks activity was aimed at introducing the children to the wider world (EYFS - Understanding the World) by finding out about different countries and cultures. Since we have children either from or have an association with many different parts of the world (see below) we thought it would be fun and interesting to learn a little about where they come from so at base camp time we went around each child (if they were able to articulate) and asked them to tell us a little about where they were from and the things they liked doing. If they were too young to do this then we helped out by finding out an interesting fact about their home country and shared it with the group.
Associated Countries:
Canada Czech Republic Egypt England
France Germany Hungary India
Malta Netherlands Poland Romania
Russia Scotland Sri Lanka Switzerland
Ukraine Yemen
Leading on from this we decided to make some flags from around the world and used the excellent book 'Maps' by Aleksandra and Daniel Mizielinski so the children could either make the own country flag or choose a different one they liked the look of. Once they had chosen which flag to make we asked each child to find a stick to use as a flag pole and cut them to size using secateurs. The we gave them some white material and let them loose with the paints! Some of the children asked for help during the painting stage but others wanted to do it by themselves. Once they had finished painting the flags it was time to attach them to the flag poles. We did this by stretching the flag along a length of the stick and used a hammer to nail the material to the stick. The children then had great fun waving them around before taking them home at the end of the day.