As you can imagine, I was quite happy about that because I didn't have to research the topic or spend hours looking for an activity to take. I just dipped into Let's Explore Volcanoes and I was away. The pack is aimed at ages 8 to 12, but I knew that we have children as young as 4 and as old as 14 attending so I wanted to pick an activity that they could all do. So I bought 3 blocks of plasticine (orange, white & black) and we made models of volcanoes. I also printed out one of the minibooks for them to complete and took in Boykin's version for the "Here's one I made earlier" moment 😃
It proved to be a popular activity with lots of discussion and questions to be answered. Luckily, I could answer most of them not only due to having written the unit study but because I'd hen completed the project with Boykin. For those I couldn't answer, I had books on hand and when completely stuck, Google was my friend :)
was fun to do this activity with such a wide age range. It gave a small insight into how larger Home Ed families must work. There was a certain amount of juggling, but I noticed that the oldest ones worked completely independently, using Boykin's version and the illustration as a guide. The younger ones (age 10 down) needed more explanation and demonstration to help them build the layers, but they all had their own little tweaks. The very youngest didn't complete the lapbook and were very happy just to make the model. We ended up with a fantastic array of volcano models and pictures.
It all served to reinforce my previous experience of unit studies that different ages and different abilities are able to work together o
n the same topic. As a facilitator, for me the biggest challenge is not to interfere too much by trying to correct and direct. This is especially true when they are little - I found that doing the activity for myself alongside them really helped with this. It also gives them to observe another way of doing things that they can choose to copy or ignore. By joining in with them and working alongside them, it adds value to their learning experience and it helps to reinforce the idea that the activity is worth doing. All of which sets them up with a good attitude for the future as they begin to work independently.
What are your biggest challenges when working with your children on a unit study? How do you overcome them?
Other activities we did at the group:
Volcano splatter paintings - brown cones with vibrant splatters of red, orange yellow and white
Bicarb and vinegar volcanoes - classic volcano activity
Exploring tectonic plates with building bricks and cardboard sheets
Active, dormant, extinct volcanoes - kids act out each stage of the volcano as it is called
and we learnt the chorus of this rap song with added actions and dance moves 😉
As a family, we came home and watched Doctor Who Series 4 Episode 2 The Fires of Pompeii t finish off our short return visit to volcanoes 😂 What's your favourite fun finish to a topic?
Happy Exploring!
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