Diving deep into a particular topic or project is such a great way to learn! Just like adults, children are keen to learn when they are exploring a topic they’re interested in or have chosen for themselves.
l love seeing the ideas the girls come up with, their creativity and perseverance when we are focused on a topic they are intrigued about. That being said we have also done projects where I have chosen the topic/theme and sometimes it sparks curiosity about new concepts and ideas that they wouldn’t have been aware of otherwise. Generally when I ask for their input and ideas and we collaborate, they have lots of ideas and enthusiasm to contribute.
In this blog post I share our approach to date to project-based learning, how we tend to plan and prepare, how I tie in different skills and subjects and how we mark the completion of a project.
Starting out
At the start of a project (which for us currently tends to involve working towards a Pawprint badge) I ask the girls what they want to learn or find out more about and what activities they would like to do as part of the project. If we are a bit unsure where to start, we go on the Pawprint Family website and see which badges take an interest!
We used to get all of our ideas down in the form of a brainstorm on a big piece of paper with me as the scribe. Gradually, with some encouragement, the girls started to write down their own ideas as we talked it through.
To help them think through the practicalities of their goals and to very gently start to introduce the idea of making them SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound) I created the Project Plan & Reflection sheets to give them a framework to work through and provide prompts to help them reflect on the project afterwards.
As part of our brainstorming we do some research to build on our ideas. The Pawprint challenge pack for the relevant badge is usually our go-to place for inspiration and the girls will usually jot down at least one craft, game and food related activity along with any other ideas on their project plan. There are plenty of places to go for inspiration though: books from the library, Pinterest, searching online and/or talking to friends or local people who know more about the topic to name a few.
Tying in other subjects/skills
There are so many opportunities when it comes to tying in other subjects and skills to a project. Whether it’s a through a game, sensory activities, worksheets, a treasure hunt around the house or going on an outing and being immersed in an experience, the possibilities really are endless! In this post I focus on how I tie in literacy/language arts, maths and art & design, but you could tie in other topics such as geography, history etc. Hopefully this gives some ideas but it really depends on the topic theme, your child, your educational philosophy and where you want to take it!
Language Arts/Literacy
When the girls were younger I prepared activities to help them on the road to reading, as they grow older I am constantly looking for ways to scaffold their skills in a way that is meaningful and memorable. I really loved the idea of us having our own book club and thought this would be a great way to build their vocabulary and learn grammar, punctuation and spelling.
I have started to choose a chapter book that ties in with our project theme, so for our bird project I chose Duet by Elise Broach and for our current project on cats, I chose Ra The Mighty Cat Detective.
I came across both of these books through The Brave Writer Dart programme. For Duet I purchased the Dart programme to go alongside it and I found this really helpful in terms of getting some inspiration for how a chapter book could be used to teach grammar, punctuation and spelling. This became a springboard and give me the confidence to come up with my own activities this time round with Ra The Mighty Cat Detective.
Some examples of activities I have prepared for us to do alongside Ra included:
- Looking at the cover together and writing a list of what we could see, as well as a prediction of what we thought the story would be about/what we thought might happen.
- Looking up definitions for words the girls don’t know.
- Picture and oral narrations.
- French dictation.
- Being a detective and adding missing full stops.
Copywork
The chosen chapter book can also be used as a basis for copywork as suggested in The Brave Writer programme. I decided not to do this for now as the girls are using poems for their copywork which is working really well for us at the moment. They enjoy choosing the poem they want to copy and at the end will have a collection of their favourite poems copied out in their own handwriting.
Maths
Learning math skills through a project is such a great way to learn as the concepts are being applied within a particular context, which definitely helps them to sink in.
There are a wide range of activities and challenges that can be tied to a project theme, it just depends on the topic and perhaps a bit of creativity! Games are a great place to start, they are fun and so much learning happens without even realising.
For instance for our bird project we played Top Trumps – British Birds which was great for comparing different values and working out which is higher or lower. It gave us the opportunity to discuss and practice learning place value – ones, tens, hundreds and thousands. We had several conversations about the numbers, what would the total be if we added so much and so on!
Finding ways to collect, present and analyse data relevant to your topic is another great way to develop math skills. We carried out multiple bird watches from our lounge for our bird project – which the girls loved! We could have used the information to make a graph or multiple types of graphs. We didn’t in that instance but I hope to do so with our monthly weather report which we are currently doing as part of our nature studies.
I am considering using some of the units from White Rose Maths and seeing how I can tie them in to future projects. BBC Bitesize is another great resource which we often use when learning a new concept.
Trips & experiences
Being immersed in an experience or going on a trip based on the project is often a great way to learn or to introduce a new topic. Outings can get costly though and it can take some thought to find options depending on the budget or time available, sometimes it just isn’t feasible and that’s ok!
Just before we were about to start our bird project I heard about a local home-ed workshop about coastal birds at Durlston Country Park, so we booked onto that which was £5 for each of the girls. If an outing isn’t feasible or you just can’t think of something for a topic, watching a documentary or videos or perhaps enjoying a meal/having a cooking challenge based on the theme could be another way of adding an experience to the mix.
Art & design / handicrafts / baking etc..
Both of our girls love crafts and are usually full of ideas when it comes to art and design ideas for their projects. A list of ideas includes:
- Sewing – felt is a great place to start, it’s thicker and easier to manouver to start with
- Baking / other food related challenge
- Painting / drawing a picture
- Making a model or scene with modelling clay / play-doh / air drying clay
- Split-pin activities
Project party planning!
After a year or so of doing different projects, I realised it gave us all a sense of satisfaction and achievement when we marked the end of a project. The Brave Writer also follows this principle with a book party at the end.
We’ll complete our current project on cats just before half term when we finish reading Ra The Mighty and we will have a party to celebrate! We will play some games, complete the Reflection sheet. Usually this is also when the girls are given their PawPrint badge if there is one as part of the project, but they will have to wait a little longer this time round as the badges are in storage!
I also like to prepare and print off a sheet with photos of the different activities we have done as part of the project. I designed the template on Canva (see below for an example) which is available for free, you will find it pinned to the top of my Instagram account, just comment on that post to get the link!
