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Making a Picture EYFS

Challenge Level: Challenge Level:1

This activity is one of a set of trial Early Years Foundation Stage resources.  For further information and links to others in the set, please see the introductory page.

You may wish to download and print one of these three observation sheets (1, 2, 3) which link to this activity.


Resources
Thin card shapes (a selection of triangles, rectangles, semicircles etc.)
A3 sheet of coloured thin card
A (narrow) card frame that will go around the A3 sheet to create a 'picture frame'
Activity
The adult works with a group of children around him/her. There is a variety of card shapes available and s/he chats with the children to find out where on the A3 sheet to place the shapes in order to create a picture.
Once the pieces have been agreed they can be pasted in position along with the frame.  
Questions to ask
Which of these (shapes) would you like us to use?
Where shall we put this one?
Are we ready to put the frame around it?
What do you see in the picture?  
Possible observations
You may have opportunities to hear how the children describe the shapes giving some evidence of their understanding of properties of 2D shapes.  
(If you are using coloured shapes then that is likely to be the most obvious way children will identify them.  However, encouraging children to find other ways to describe the shapes will help them develop their mathematical language, which is the focus here.) 
Follow up
The children might decide to create their own picture.  
 
For an easily printable version of this page, please download this pdf.
 
This activity was adapted, with permission, from ideas in Kate Tucker's book 'Mathematics Through Play in the Early Years', published by Sage ISBN 978-1-84860-884-9.   

The NRICH Project aims to enrich the mathematical experiences of all learners. To support this aim, members of the NRICH team work in a wide range of capacities, including providing professional development for teachers wishing to embed rich mathematical tasks into everyday classroom practice. More information on many of our other activities can be found here.
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NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.