Occupations – Younger Children – When I grow up I want to be a..

Preschoolers will watch ‘Jobs and occupations’ video and think about who they want to be when they grow up. They will create ‘Hairdresser’ or ‘Cook’ artwork and develop their agility and physical fitness by doing a set of keep fit exercises.

Educational aids:

‘Put your finger on your lips’ song, ‘Jobs and occupations’ video, ‘When I grow up’ song, a ball, templates (of heads and cook’s hats), googly eyes, paper, coloured paper, wool, cotton wool, crepe paper, plush iron wires, glue, scissors, crayons, plastic/paper plates, cups/screw caps, sashes/loops/hula hoops, beanbags, ‘Rainbow’ song, a tambourine.

Description of activities:

1. ’Put your finger on your lips’ – greeting children – teacher sits with children in a circle. Teacher turns on the song and shows the correct movements, according to its lyrics. Preschoolers imitate and try to sing the song.

Put your finger on your lips

Put your finger on your lip like this, SHHH
Put your finger on your lip like this, SHHH
Put your finger on your lip
Close your mouth with a zip,
Put your finger on your lip like this, SHHH
Shhhhhhhhhhhh

Put your finger on your lip like this, SHHH
Put your finger on your lip like this, SHHH
Close your mouth with a squeeze
Listen up, quiet please
Put your finger on your lip like this, SHHH
Shhhhhhhhhhhh

Put your finger on your lip like this, SHHH
Put your finger on your lip like this, SHHH
Put your finger on your lip
Close your mouth with a zip,
Put your finger on your lip like this, SHHH
Shhhhhhhhhhhh

2. ‘Jobs and occupations’ – watching a video – teacher asks children what jobs they remember they were talking about during this week. Then, children watch a video that presents some other jobs. They talk about the video and the children’s experiences:

  • What jobs were mentioned in the video?
  • Which occupation do you like the most? Why?
  • What would you like to be when you grow up?

3. ‘Building a house’ – movement activity – teacher asks children what we call a person who builds houses (a builder) and asks them to pretend they are builders building a house. They walk around the classroom to the rhythm of ‘When I grow up’ song. When the music stops, teacher says ‘Let’s build!’ – children squat and stand up slowly rising up their hands as if they were building a wall. This activity is repeated 4-5 times.

4. ‘Hairdresser/Cook’ – artistic activity – teacher presents two alternatives of an artistic task and asks children to go to the tables selected by them. There are all necessary materials prepared. Teacher gives the instructions, then monitors children’s work and helps if they need it. When they finish their work, they sit in a circle and present their works.

Hairdresser:

  1. Draw eyes, nose, and mouth.
  2. Design a hairstyle.
  3. Use wool/stripes of paper/crepe paper/plush iron wires/cotton wool.
  4. Draw elements as you wish.

Cook:

  1. Paint paper plate as the face.
  2. Trace your hand – twice – on the black paper and trim them both out with scissors.
  3. Glue them as his mustache.
  4. Cut out a large oval shape for his nose.
  5. Glue nose.
  6. Glue googly eyes.
  7. Cut a cook’s hat out of paper.
  8. Glue the hat.

5. ‘Stretching’ – a set of gymnastic exercises – children perform gymnastic exercises according to the teacher’s instructions.

  1. ‘Warm-up’ – teacher tells children that athletes always do a warm-up before training and it includes some exercises that prepare them for the main elements of training. Children run in a circle and do the exercises mentioned by their teacher (each exercise lasts about 20 seconds):
    – arm circles forward
    – arm circles backward
    – arm swings
    – ‘A’ skips – skip with high knees
    – ‘C’ skips – heel to buttock
    – gallop
    – run
  2. ‘Puddles’ – teacher says that, surely, farmers and gardeners often find puddles in their fields and gardens. In a line, teacher disposes 4-5 sashes/loops/hula hoops on the floor – these are ‘puddles’. Children stand in a line and one by one hop from one puddle to another.
  3. ‘A bow’ – teacher says that in a theatre, after every performance, actors bow to the audience. Children receive beanbags and put them on their heads. They march. When teacher claps his/her hands, children bow low to make beanbags fall off their heads. They lift beanbags with straight legs. The activity should be repeated about 6 times.
  4. ‘A rally’ – teacher gives beanbags in four different colors to children (e.g. green – foresters, red – firefighters, blue – police officers, yellow – journalists). Children march around the classroom throwing the beanbags into the air and catching them. When teacher says the name of one of the mentioned jobs, children who have a beanbag in color assigned to this job have to stand in a line in front of teacher. The others are still marching. The activity should be repeated 4 times to mention all the jobs. Then, teacher can mention two jobs at once (twice) and all the jobs.
  5. ‘Flowers’ – teacher encourages children to imagine they are beautiful flowers in the garden of Ms./Mr. Gardener. Children sit in cross-legged squats wherever they want on the floor. They bent forward and had their hands on the floor. Teacher gives commands: ‘Flowers grow!’ – children straighten, stretch out high, and raise their hands; ‘Flowers wither!’ – they return to the prior posture. Each command should be said about 4 times.
  6. ‘Dancers’ – cool-down activity – teacher plays some relaxing music, e.g. ‘Rainbow’ song, and encourages children to imagine they are dancers. Children dance freely.

6. ‘Interesting occupation’ – meeting with a parent – teacher says that they are going to meet one of the parents of the children who has been invited earlier by a teacher, and will talk about his/her job. Teacher asks children to think what questions they want to ask the guest and writes them down. Children listen to the guest and ask him/her questions. Teacher can add written down or own questions. In the end, they thank the guest for coming to talk with them. Then, children sit in a circle and talk about what new they have learned and what they have liked the most.

Attachments:

Templates for the ‘A hairdresser/a cook/a police officer’ activity

Pages:

  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEHCyoJQ_Ew – ‘Put your finger on your lips’ song
  2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugsRzHMIF2o&ab – a video for the ‘Jobs and Occupations’ activity
  3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TdijPhANa8&ab – a video for the ‘Jobs and Occupations’ activity
  4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDwTmqD3hwc&ab – a video for the ‘Jobs and Occupations’ activity
  5. https://supersimple.com/song/when-i-grow-up/ – ‘When I grow up’ song
  6. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a1/48/f8/a148f81605f12d87f99c4f514b6a0da4.jpg – an idea for ‘Hairdresser’ artwork
  7. https://www.gluedtomycraftsblog.com/2015/02/paper-plate-baker-kid-craft.html – an idea for ‘Baker’ artwork
  9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUmxQCd05QM&ab – ‘Rainbow’ song for the ‘Dancers’ activity