PEFaL Children’s Programme Development
Session: Module 3 Week 5 Focus: Fun with Words Parents / Children: Joint
Session Songs, Rhymes and the Use of Puppets
5.2
General Develop awareness how popular songs can help develop literacy skills
Objectives Develop word association and spelling skills
Promote the use of creativity and games as fun teaching aids
Promote the idea of families learning and having fun together
Development Targets Resources
2.25 p.m. Food, toilets, change • Preparation for session • Food
• Sanitary facilities
20 • T-shirt put on
minutes
2.45 p.m. Transition Activity/Activities1:
15 Energiser: Building Rhythms Oracy: • Open space
minutes • Practicing rhythms
• All children sit in a circle. • Awareness of rhythmical
• Everybody is asked to think of a rhythm to patterns in sounds
“clap out” • Awareness of tonality and
• If the children have difficulty finding a loud and soft sounds
rhythm, ask them to think of what they had
for breakfast that morning and build a
1
Focus on energiser.
rhythm around that (for instance, ‘freshly Motor:
squeezed orange juice’ ‘toast and butter’, • Physical movement
etc.) • Body awareness
• Younger children may be asked to think of • Development of rhythm
an animal that starts with the same initial as • Co-ordination
their name – for instance Dennis the
dinosaur. PSD / Social:
• One person begins by clapping out their • Predicting sequence of
rhythm twice (they can say their sentence events
softly if it helps them perform the rhythm • Turn taking
better). • Leadership and group skills
• The next person then joins in and adds • Having fun
theirs to it.
• This goes on around the circle until
everybody is clapping and performing their
rhythm.
• When the first person is reached again, this
person stops clapping.
• The person next to this child (the one who
had been the before last) claps out he / her
rhythm again but softly now until he /she
stops clapping too.
• The other children do the same when their
turn comes until the sound slowly
decreases round the circle and finally all
children have stopped clapping.
• The game can be tried out again, this time
by making different rhythms using a variety
of different sounds (for instance, like
slapping sides, rattling keys, drumming on
chairs, etc.).
• The children can discover how many
different sounds they can produce using
objects around them or even their own
bodies.
3.00 p.m. Circle Time • Cooling down activity • Cushions or other
• Introductory discussion seating
5 minutes • Recalling what was done
during the previous session
• Instruction giving
3.05 p.m. Big Group Activity2:
40 Musical Puppet Caxixi Oracy:
minutes (A Caxixi is a musical instrument that is like a • Interaction with other children • Empty containers
rattle) • Listening and following • Rolls of coloured
instructions sticky tape (or
• For this activity, the tutor chooses two or • Role playing paints and brushes)
three popular songs that are familiar to the • Singing and sharing songs • Rolls of coloured
families. • Practicing pronunciation and papers
• At the beginning of the session, the tutor tonality • Stickers
tells the children that today they will sing • Glue
songs together with a special ‘friend’ that Motor: • Scissors
they are going to make. • Manipulation of craft • Bags of marbles,
• The tutor gives different containers to materials and creating puppet beads, lentils, beans
different children. (scissor handling, co- or other similar
2
Step-by-step development
• The containers should be empty and clean. ordination of hand materials
• The containers should all have a lid that movements to stick and • Handouts with song
closes well and may be old plastic bottles of paste objects, fill container lyrics (the words)
drinking water, empty tins of coffee (ideal etc.) • Markers
containers) etc. (always avoid glass). • Playing game • Music player and
• Children are given coloured sticky tape. • Role playing recorded songs
• The children cover the whole of the • Singing
container with the coloured sticky tape. • Identifying rhyme and
• The container may be painted with acrylic keeping time by performing
paints but this might take a lot of time, as rhythmic movements (rattling
the container will need to be dry before the the puppet musical
children can continue creating their musical instrument) to accompany the
instrument. song
• The children then decorate the container
with stickers and other materials. Reading:
• Out of different coloured paper, the children • Read, understand and follow
should cut a strip from each of the coloured instructions
sheets of paper, long enough to wrap • Recognise and point out
around the container. known vocabulary
• To make a fringe, the children should fold • Spell and attempt to read
the strips over and make plenty of small new vocabulary
cuts halfway across the strips of paper. • Recognise rhyming endings
• The children then use colouring materials • Read the text fluently enough
and other bits of coloured paper and glue to sing it
(or stickers) to decorate the container with a
funny face. Writing:
• When the Caxixi puppet is ready, the • Read, understand and follow
children can fill it up with beads or beans or text
lentils or other similar material. • Recognising rhyming endings
• To produce different sounds, different and mark rhyming word pairs
containers may be filled with different
materials and to different levels. PSD / Developmental:
• Once the lid or cap is closed securely, the • Following instructions
children have their own Caxixi puppet rattle. • Practicing listening skills
• The children sit in a circle. • Developing communication
• The tutor introduces the songs that the and turn taking skills
children are going to sing. • Sharing and co-operating
• After a few rehearsals, the tutor divides the • Developing imagination and
children into groups of 3. creativity
• The tutor gives all the groups except one a • Developing co-ordination and
handout with the words of the song written rhythm
on it. • Developing awareness of
• The tutor tells the children who have the rhythm and patterns
song handout to sing the song softly to the • Developing manipulation
other group who does not have the song. skills
• The group without the song handout take • Developing group skills
their Caxixi puppet in their hands and listen • Associating learning with fun
very carefully to the song as they have to
rattle their Caxixi puppets loudly whenever
they hear rhyming words.
• The children who are singing are the judges
and check whether these children get all the
rhyming words by marking them on the
handout.
• The children who are rattling the Caxixi
puppets are the musicians who are
performing the song.
• After the song finishes the judges report
how many pairs of rhyming words the other
group managed to guess.
• The game is repeated until all the groups
have had a go at rattling their puppets to a
song.
• The winning group is that who guesses
most rhyming words.
Note
1) The tutor can have written instructions on
how to make the Caxixi rattle so the children
can read and follow them and not just listen
to the tutor talking.
2) The tutor can have recorded music in the
background to help the children sing in tune
and in time to the song.
3) The tutor can ask each family to bring a
clean empty tin and a bag of beans with
them for this session during their previous
meeting.
4) The tutor should make sure that there are
enough copies of the songs because as the
children will be marking on them, fresh ones
will need to be used if the same song is
going to be sung over and over again.
5) A couple of rehearsals may be necessary
before the actual activity starts; the children
may first need to read through the song
before actually singing it.
3.45 p.m. Small Group Activity:
20 Silly Songs Oracy: • Cushions or other
minutes • Talking about ideas and seating
• Each family is given the words of a opinions • Song handouts
rhyme or short song (it can even be part • Listening and sharing ideas • Writing materials
of a song). and opinions
• Some of the rhyming words are • Making up silly words and
underlined. rhymes
• The family has to replace the rhyming • Recalling past knowledge
words with other different rhyming words • Stimulating and receiving
to create a silly song. feedback
• Then, they will use the puppet created • Joining in song / rhyme
during the session families can sing the • Making up rhymes
song according to that puppet, miming • Singing and role playing
the song as if it is the puppet that is
singing it. Reading:
• The children can use silly voices to sing • Recognising known
the song. vocabulary
• The families can sing this song to the • Spell and attempt to read
other families. new vocabulary
• Recognising rhyming endings
and read rhyming word pairs
• Distinguishing between
rhyming words and non-
rhyming words
• Understanding text and
context of the song / rhyme
• Re-telling song in own words
• Changing context and text by
using other rhyming words
from own knowledge of
vocabulary
• Reading / singing completed
song / rhyme
Writing:
• Recalling similar / different
rhyming endings and pair
rhyming words
• Recalling and write this
previously known vocabulary
• Spelling and attempting to
write new vocabulary
• Experimenting with rhymes
PSD / Developmental:
• Following instructions
• Listening and sharing
• Developing imagination and
creativity
• Developing awareness of
rhythm and patterns
• Associating learning with fun
4.05 p.m. Closure:
10 Distributing the home link-up activity
minutes • Concluding activity • Cushions or other
• The tutor suggests other puppets that • Review of things learnt during seating
can be done at home. the session • Finger puppet
• The tutor gives out an activity handout • Establishing the session’s activity sheet
that explains how families at home can home link-up activity
make simple puppets of their favourite
characters from books or even cartoons.
• At home, families can read rhymes or
other stories using these puppets and
miming different voices.
• The families are to bring examples of
these puppets during the next session
and share the experience with other
families.
Note:
• For older children who have an advanced
grasp of the language, parents can take this
activity further.
• Take the puppet and ask the children to
imagine that this puppet has a character.
• Keeping this character in mind, the children
think of 5 words that the character likes to
use and 5 words that the character does not
like.
• The parents and the children then think up
of 5 pairs of rhyming words.
• After writing down these words,
• The parents and the children have to make
up a short rhyming poem using as many of
the words that they thought of.
In Portfolio:
The Caxixi rattle and handout of songs with marked rhyming words, the silly song handout and the puppet activity created at home
when it is completed.
