Articles for preschool
nursery children's care, learning and development
Information Communication and Technology
Programmable
toys for ICT
This page builds on the original surestart webpage: Archived source page
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Example activity
What
will the children do?
The children will sit in a circle and
‘send’ the programmable toy (in this case Pixie) to each other, estimating
what numbers they will need to enter into the toy to reach their goal.
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Areas of learning
These were originally based on England's eyfs (2008) 6
areas of learning
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What are children able to learn through these activities?
based on England's
eyfs (2008) early learning goals
To be able to instruct a programmable toy
To begin to estimate distance using the size of the toy as a
guide
Say and use number names in order
Count reliably up to 10
Use language such as ‘more’ or ‘less’
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Information and communications technology (ICT) levels of differentiation
To press buttons and makethe toy
move
To have knowledge of FD and BK toy
buttons and what they do
Able to follow instructions and
carry out on the toy
Able to press CM and forward buttons
on the toy
To have knowledge of left and right
turn buttons and what they do
Children’s individual targets that this activity
could meet
To be able to work in a group and
wait for a turn
To listen to instructions and respond
appropriately
To count using one-one correspondence
To be able to enter a sequence of
2 instructions
To be able to make a reasonable
guess about size and distance
Adult input (including language to
be introduced)
Encourage children to estimate
Help children to take turns
Support their understanding of
the toy's buttons and counting up to 10
Develop their vocabulary and understanding
of distance
Switch, forward, guess, buttons,
clear memory, nearly, a bit further, not quite there, half way
Areas & resources inside & out for
spontaneous learning
Using the programmed toy in a small
world environment
Using paper footprints outside for
children to count their way to different areas in steps
Sourcing links are to amazon.co.uk using silkysteps affiliate
account
Programmable toy - Bigtrak - Bee bot - mats - carry bag
Questions for assessment opportunities
How many times are we going to need
to press the forward arrow to make the toy reach you?
What button do we need to press?
Can you count 10 presses?
How many more?
Observations
Do the children make reasonable guesses about distance?
Can
they count each press of the button accurately up to 5? Up to 10?
Do they
know what buttons to press?
Are
children able to wait and then take their turn?
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