frottage muscle

The use of items in the Crayons
Count kit within an Early
Childhood setting.
Compiled by: Shaanii-Grace Robinson
Early Childhood Education Consultant
The Early Childhood Commission
Vision
All Children having access to high quality early childhood
development services enabling the realization of their full
potential.
Do Good Jamaica and Crayons
Count
How did Crayons Count Start and
why?
Crayons Count first started when Deika Morrison, the founder of Do
Good Jamaica, heard that Jamaican children did not have crayons.
She consulted with the Early Childhood Commission (ECC) and was
advised that there was a severe shortage of appropriate learning
materials in early childhood institutions (more commonly known as
basic schools) across Jamaica.
Do Good Jamaica and Crayons
Count
Crayons Count was established with two objectives:
•
Objective 1: To increase awareness of the importance of
early childhood education and good early childhood
practices.
•
Objective 2: To provide recommended learning resources to
basic schools.
The Early Childhood Commission and
Do Good Jamaica
The Early Childhood Commission’s vision fused with Do Good
Jamaica’s mission support within the early childhood setting:
1.
The availability of developmentally appropriate and safe
teaching/learning material.
2.
The full enjoyment and success of all teaching/ learning
experience by both early childhood practitioners and children.
3.
An integrated lesson where children experience holistic
development while ‘Learning through Play’.
4.
That early childhood institutions adhere to the standards of
operating within a conducive learning environment for all
children.
Learning through Play
Learning Through Play - a Child's Job
Play is fun for children. Play is the way children learn.
Through play, children learn about themselves, their environment,
people and the world around them. As they play, children learn to
solve problems and to get along with others. They enhance their
creativity and develop leadership skills and healthy personalities.
Play develops skills children need to learn to read and write. Play in
early childhood is the best foundation for success in school.
By Jane K. Frobose, Colorado State University Extension, Family and Consumer Education Denver County, February
2008
Do Good Jamaica-Crayons Count Kit
The Crayons Count Kit supplied by Do
Good Jamaica includes:
• Items of various textures, colours and shapes.
• Items that are kid-friendly.
• Items that are age and developmentally appropriate for all
children at the early childhood years.
• Items that are non-toxic and safe.
Do Good Jamaica-Crayons Count Kit
Benefits of wooden blocks to
the early childhood child.
Wooden Blocks
•
•
•
•
•
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Promote creativity
Encourage cooperative play
Develop fine motor skills
Foster hand-eye coordination
Ensure letter and number recognition
Enhance spelling and number skills
Provide the opportunity for the
development of spatial relationships and
problem solving skills
Ideas
1. Have child create words and interchange letters to make
‘nonsense’ words.
2. Ask child to find the matching number for the amount of letters
in a word, then use the math symbols on blocks to perform
simple mathematics problems.
Do Good Jamaica-Crayons Count Kit
Benefits of paint and paint brushes to
the early childhood child.
Assorted Art Supplies
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•
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Allow the release of stress as
art therapy
Encourage the identification
of colours and designs
Develop fine motor skills
Enhance imagination
Fosters the learning of
different painting/art
techniques.
Ideas
1. Let child paint his/her interpretation of a story that was read or supply
an outline of the characters and let them paint in the colour.
2. Allow child to paint items to represent counters or letters.
3. Let child mix paint colours or melt pieces of crayons together to
discover new colours and create new crayons.
Do Good Jamaica-Crayons Count Kit
Assorted Art Supplies
Benefits of crayons to the early
childhood child.
• Foster language and selfexpression skills
• Develop small muscle
coordination
• Promote writing skills, Math
skills, Science skills, critical
thinking and creative skills
Ideas
1. Have child use crayons as writing tools or restrict the amount/hues of
crayons to be used. Children may also overlap crayons on paper (blue
+ red= purple); this helps them to learn new colours.
2. Provide child with two pictures, one that was pre-coloured with more
than three (3) hues and the same picture without colours; let students
select matching colours to replicate the picture.
Do Good Jamaica-Crayons Count Kit
Assorted Art Supplies
Benefits of pairs of scissors
to the early childhood child.
•
•
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Develop fine motor hand skills
Develop the use of the index
fingers
Promote Language
development (in and out,
open and close)
Sequencing
Ideas
1. Have child cut along varied types of lines, such as curvy, curly, wavy,
straight lines among others eg. Healthy Foods-banana, apple.
2. Allow child to cut out objects and make a collage.
3.
Invite child to cut along the outlines of numbers, letters and shapes.
Do Good Jamaica-Crayons Count Kit
Benefits of paper to the early
childhood child.
Paper
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Is versatile
Increases the imagination
Is a medium for selfexpression
Promotes fine motor skills
Enhances creativity skills
Ideas
1. Engage child in simple paper folding techniques, such as
origami, to make objects such as , birds, rings, boats among
others.
2. Allow child to colour or design plain papers and tear or cut to
make confetti for the desired celebration.
Do Good Jamaica-Crayons Count Kit
Benefits of wood blocks to the
early childhood child.
Wood Blocks
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Build hand-eye coordination
Develop fine motor control
Support mathematics skillssorting, counting, adding
Assist in the creation of
designs
Ideas
1. Make an object and allow child to use the blocks to re-create
a design that matches the previously made item.
2. Invite child to create outlines of geometrical shapes using the
prescribed pieces or colours.
Do Good Jamaica-Crayons Count
Kit
Shape Sequencing Sorting
Set
Benefits of shape sequencing sorting
set to the early childhood child.
• Promotes math skillssorting skills, sequencing
• Fosters colour
identification
• Develops problem
solving skills
Ideas
1. Have child trace around the outline of any shape.
2.
Invite child to label items with adjectives such as biggest,
smallest.
Do Good Jamaica-Crayons Count
Kit
Benefits of tall-stacker to the
early childhood child.
Tall-Stacker
•
•
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Builds hand-eye coordination
Develops fine motor control
Supports mathematics skillssorting, counting, adding
Assists in the creation of
designs
Ideas
1. Have child create or form a letter from the alphabet.
2. Allow child to create irregular and regular shapes and
designs.
Do Good Jamaica-Crayons Count Kit
Benefits of rainbow stacker to
the early childhood child.
Rainbow Stacker
•
•
Builds early shape, colour
and size differentiation
skills
Promotes problem solving
Ideas
1.
Assist child to roll the parts of the rainbow stacker towards a target.
2.
Allow child to thread the open circles to create a design of their choice.
3.
Allow child to ‘find the same’ or ‘spot the difference’ among the stackers and
create a pattern or sequence of colours.
Do Good Jamaica-Crayons Count Kit
Benefits of balls to the early
childhood child.
Balls
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Help to address bilateral skills
Develop hand-eye
coordination
Ensure timing, sequencing skills
Encourage motor planning and
attention.
Support focus and direction
Ideas
1. Have child compare the sizes, texture, shapes, colours, design and use
of the ball.
2. Pass a ball to child after he/she has supplied a correct answer and
allow them to ‘dunk’ or ‘kick’ or ‘bounce’ in the direction of a target.
3. Have child practice counting skills by ‘dunking’, ‘kicking’ or ‘bouncing’.
Do Good Jamaica-Crayons Count Kit
Play Dough
Benefits of play dough to the
early childhood child.
•
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helps to strengthen small fingers,
hands and wrists.
builds imagination.
helps children develop self
esteem
fosters cooperative play.
Builds communication skills
Teaches dividing, numbering skills
Ideas
1.
Allow child to twist and mold two different colours of ‘play doh’ to create
a new colour.
2.
Invite child to make exact models from a given sample.
3. Ask child to make items of various sizes, shapes and depth.
Do Good Jamaica-Crayons Count Kit
Benefits of puzzles to the early
childhood child.
Puzzles
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Build cognitive skills-problem
solving skills, critical thinking
Develop fine motor skills
Promotes hand-eye
coordination
Encourages good social skills
and self-esteem
Ideas
1. Use as Flash/Clue Cards for picture, number and letter identification.
2. Allow child to use only the letters that spell their name or any other word.
3. Letter hunt/matching: pre-place letters at various location within the class,
write a word on chart/board. Let child search for letters and place under
the given letter.
Do Good Jamaica-Crayons Count Kit
Benefits of hand puppets to the
early childhood child.
Hand Puppets
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Foster creative skills
Enhance communication
and social skills.
Develop oral Language skills
Promote the processing of
emotions
Build imagination skills
Ideas
1. Have child use puppets as characters to compliment a read
story.
2. Allow child to use puppets in imagined scenario or to express an
upsetting situation if unable to ‘voice’ feelings openly.
Do Good Jamaica-Crayons Count Kit
Lacing Shapes
Benefits of lacing shapes to
the early childhood child.
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•
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Develop fine motor skills
Supply the support to build
muscle strength and
flexibility
Encourages mastery of
learning designs, colours
and shapes.
Ideas
1. Have child take turn lacing geometrical shapes during mathematics.
2. Help child to create their own lacing tool by tracing around the supplied
shape.
3. Allow child to pair similar colours, shapes.
Do Good Jamaica-Crayons Count Kit
What are the benefits of using the items in the
Crayons Count kit to the Early Childhood
Practitioner
The use of the items within the Crayons Count kit by
an Early Childhood practitioner can:
•
•
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Provide instant accessibility to attractive and engaging
teaching/learning materials.
Ensure the integration of varied academic disciplines in the early
childhood lesson.
Promote sustained focus; children will be less distracted during a
lesson as they are more likely to remain on-task.
Encourage the use of simple and direct instruction while minimizing
the frequency of commands.
Do Good Jamaica-Crayons Count Kit
When should the items in the Crayons
Count Kit be used?
• The frequency and/or time span for the use
of each item in the Crayons Count kit is
relative to the desired activity. However, the
time may be expanded or reduced to
reflect or coincide with the time or period
allotted for circle time, guided learning ,
free play, creative activity and outdoor
play.
Do Good Jamaica-Crayons Count Kit
How should the items in the Crayons Count kit be used?
•
Early Childhood Practitioners may choose to restrict the amount of
items distributed to the students at any given time or session. For
example within the theme ‘Water Transportation’ a practitioner may
give a student a set of eight (8) blue, rectangular and triangular
wood blocks to create a boat/ship.
•
Items in the crayons count kit may be used with a set of children or a
single child.
•
Ideally the use of the crayons count kit should foster within the early
childhood classroom maximum enjoyment as the children through
play; exploring learning opportunities within an atmosphere that is
‘tooled’ for their optimal holistic development.
Crayons Count Tools
Children’s Interpretation
Spelling with
blocks
1.
Give children instructions to
spell any word.
2.
Allow children to use specific
colours of blocks or allow
them to freely select the
ones they prefer.
3.
Permit children to
commence the formation of
each letter (s) on their own;
you may point to an
alphabet chart as an
example.
4.
You may attempt to spell
any word with child (ren) if
desired.
5.
Congratulate child (ren) on
job well done; any effort
made is a commendable.
Guess the topic.
Can you spell ‘India’?
Using lace
1.
Allow the children to use the
lace to draw, ‘write’ or form
shapes, letters and designs.
2.
State the particular
letter/shape/design that is to
be made.
3.
Allow the children to work
independently before
giving assistance.
4.
Praise the children for their
efforts.
All about me: Parts of the
face
The letter ‘f’
Connect the
letters/dots
1.
•
•
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Ask children to choose three (3)
different colour crayons.
Crayon one-write letters
Crayon two-place dots beside
letters
Crayon three-used to draw the
lines.
2.
Allow children to randomly place
letters within a particular word
on their paper. You may also
give them specific directions for
placement of each letter.
3.
Allow children to place a dot
beside each letter.
4.
Let children connect the letters
while reciting the correct spelling
order.
5.
Praise children for their efforts.
This great artist and speller wrote the letters A-F-R-I-C-A
randomly. He then connected the letters. What did he
create? What lesson can be continued from his work?
Using pegs
1.
Allow child to select
preferred colour (s) or state
the specific colour that is
expected.
2.
Tell child to create a
numeral, shape or letter on
the peg board.
3.
Allow the child to work
independently or provide
assistance as is required.
4.
Look for teachable
moments such as the
creation of sequential
pattern or order.
5.
Praise the child for his/her
efforts.
What letter can you see?
Using Play-doh and
lettered blocks
1.
Allow children to select the
preferred colour play-doh.
2.
Ask children to state the
letters in a given word and
the amount of time it was
seen.
3.
Let children use the playdoh to create the numeral
and place beside the
respective letter (s).
4.
Praise children for their
effort.
Creative learners formed algebra from the letters in the word
AFRICA: 2A, 1F … .
Coloured Blocks and
Lace
1.
Allow children to use lace to
form a pattern or outline of
a shape.
2.
Let children select the
specific colour (s) or random
colours of blocks and place
within the created shape (as
tangram pieces).
3.
Ask children to count how
many blocks were used to fill
one area or tally the specific
colours.
4.
Praise children for their
efforts.
Brilliant young children created an outline of an
aeroplane. Can you tell the topic?
Letter and Number
Frottage
1.
Arrange letters to reflect a
word or topic.
2.
Give children pieces of
paper.
3.
Instruct children to place
each letter on the raised
outlines of the desired letter.
4.
Instruct children to gently rub
crayon over paper, while
holding paper steadily over
block.
Children need to arrange
papers in the correct spelling
order.
Praise children for their
efforts.
5.
6.
This creative child, through frottage, spelt the
word A-F-R-I-C-A.
Mathematical Shapes
with blocks
1.
Let children assemble letters
to spell words.
2.
Allow children to use the
combined letters to create
geometrical shapes eg.
triangle, square, rectangle
etc.
3.
Look for teachable
moments such as equal
sides, sorting, letter sounds,
serquencing/ordering
among others.
4.
Praise the children for their
efforts.
Forming a square.
Lace and Play Doh
Play doh ; red lace
rectangle
1.
Let children roll bits of play
doh and place as dots on a
flat, firm surface (select the
desired distance between
each dot).
2.
Allow children to freely
press, fold or pinch lace into
play doh in their preferred
design or give specific
instruction.
3.
Look for opportunities to
reinforce geometrical
shapes, colours, texture, line
direction, space, position,
fine motor development
and others.
4.
Praise the children for their
efforts.
What colour is the largest triangle?
Do Good Jamaica-Crayons Count Kit
Conclusion
Do Good Jamaica and The Early Childhood
Commission support the use of the items within
the Crayons Count kit to complement any early
childhood lesson or topic. Both entities endorse
the standard that early childhood lessons should
promote the holistic development of children
within a rich learning environment with
accessible teaching/learning materials for the
enrichment and enjoyment of the
teaching/learning experience.