1,2,3,4,5 once I caught a fish alive nursery rhyme

[jacquiharbinson]

We have a large book of nursery rhymes and I try to let the child who is leader for the day choose a rhyme they want us to recite. Today it was this one 1,2,3,4,5 once I caught a fish alive. It was good for learning numbers in rote and also led in to talking about fish and who goes fishing with parents as well as eating fish!

I want to follow this on tomorrow in our group time by creating our own fish on a line. I am unfortunately one of the old style who uses templates (cringe!) but want to move away from that - how can I do this group activity effectively?



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4 year old fish drawing from Mark Making Matters 2008

[Ruthierhyme]

Hi, a warm welcome to silkysteps. This rhyme is nicely inclusive, respecting a range of cultural and lifestyle values. I like it as it catches the fish alive, without a mention of how! and then lets it go again :) also fairly sure I'd be a little upset if taken from my home without warning, tho maybe not enough to bite a finger ;)

If you've got any aquatic reference books maybe use them to support the children in making their own fish shapes? eg. oval body, triangle fins or use left and right hand outline tracings as the fins, and then colour-fill designs with scales - collage with paper circles, finger prints or outline impressions made with paint-dipped dough cutters. Maybe display outcomes on a number line that shows shoals/groups of fish in quantities?

Collaged fish crafts on google images

Best wishes with it xx


From Mark making matters - 2008 DCSF publication
© Crown copyright 2008
Published by the Department for Children, Schools and Families

If the DCSF archived download link fails please see this link

[jacquiharbinson]

Thanks for your reply - have been working in a Playgroup for past 5 years and really want to embrace this idea of moving away from cut outs - even caught myself on today after downloading the template and cutting out shapes onto white card! We have always done the traditional heart shapes for valentines, teapots for mothers day etc and to be honest they all look the same when taken home. The usual phrase has been said every time "but the parents love to see these coming home how are they to know they are all the same!" I really would love to see them expressing themselves more and drawing the shape or even just having a piece of paper with a eye on it and that is their fish! One of our parents commented today that we had an excellent range of junk art materials and it was well laid out so want to encourage children to use what is available and identify the shapes available through yoghurt pots, kitchen roll holders, cardboard boxes etc Guess this is what I could be doing - taking some of the various items and asking the children to name the shape ie oval, circle, square, rectangle, triangle then lead them on to look at the books of fish and ask them to recognise the different shapes in the pictures. This has got me thinking! You mentioned dough cutters and collage pictures - is it acceptable to allow children to use these to draw around? Sorry for so many questions!

[Ruthierhyme]

Templates, arguably, have a place in learning as everything has outline and form, it's how they're used, why they're being used and what choice exists that I feel is most important. As an example, how might blank cards alongside a selection of teapot shapes & sizes, & maybe even a real teapot & tea bag to examine of impacted on feelings about the activity & its presentation on mother's day?

Heart is a recognised shape, however the shape of a heart is unique to it's creator. Fish in the same way can have variety in shape, its their shared features that can be fun identifying, so your junk modelling sounds great (so does your paper & eye ) you could use pictures of fish to see exactly what makes a fish be a fish! where they live, what they need in order to swim, see, eat, breath and then build your own fish & watery environment!

Drawing around and inside things is great for fine motor development and concentration.

What you want children to enjoy and learn from the activity seems to be the barrier, if it helps, and isn't too late in the day there's a planner here that can give your idea a little structure & rationale xx

[jacquiharbinson]

Thanks once again. Have sat down and completed this form as far as can. Even managed to get it to fit into 5 areas of learning! It will be interesting when I actually do this exercise tomorrow to see what happens. I am going to use real examples - like I said earlier yoghurt pots to show circles, an egg and a rugby ball to show the oval etc. Just need to gather up all the resources now for the actual exercise which will probably last all of 10 minutes probably!

[Ruthierhyme]

How did it go? xx

[jacquiharbinson]

We ended up having a snow day on Tuesday so Playgroup closed and kept the activity for yesterday. Filled out your form and was all ready with props - yoghurt pot for the circle/round shape, butter dish for square, large rectangle box and then brought in a small rugby ball and real egg. Most children got the shapes but not the oval! I had to repeat this a few times for them to understand it was oval and not an egg shape! We then went to the tables and made our own fish and yes I did use templates but junk art was freely accessible with glue, buttons for eyes, material and shiny paper. I am planning now to display these on the board with our rhyme in the centre. Today one of our parents donated some junk art items and in the middle of them found some netting. One little girl was obviously inspired by yesterday and took one of the fish put it in the centre of the page then cut the netting and put it around the outside. I am definitely including this in our display! Evaluating it today I realised certain children never ever go near this junk art area and others were very deliberate in their placing of material. I also observed several cutting material although others needed adult help. There was great discussion about how many eyes the fish should have - then where it should be placed. Several were very adamant that the fish needed 10 eyes because there were loads of buttons available!

[Ruthierhyme]

it sounds great :)

[jacquiharbinson]

Thanks. I think it was OK - maybe being too hard on myself, maybe expected more out of it but really I think I need to lower my expectations - there are different age groups and capabilities, even following instructions is something new for quite a few! I guess when I follow their lead more often it will get easier and I will become more confident in myself! I think I have been depending too much on past experiences ie it is done a certain way where all the children get a template and you basically tell them to decorate it and mums are absolutely delighted. Children will not learn anything that way nor will associate shapes in their own environment!