Milk Carton Elmer Elephants

We were busy making these fab Elmer Elephants today.

I'm not overly keen on activities like this as there is very little scope for children's own creativity, however, they appeared to thoroughly enjoy it and were very focused throughout.  The children are quite into Elmer stories at the moment, which was the reasoning behind the activity.  It also gave us the opportunity to practice existing skills including colour recognition (the children were quick to point out the colours we didn't have!), and small motor skills, which is vital for firm connections to be made in the brain.  I put an Elmer book on the table during the activity and was surprised by how much the children used this for reference, looking to see what colours were on Elmer's trunk etc.  Our Elmer's were made from 4 pint plastic milk cartons.

I cut the bottoms and the very tops off and masking taped around the holes that this created. 

I then gave these to the children alongside a range of different coloured tissue paper and glue (coloured paper may have been a better choice as the colours in the tissue paper tended to run).

And here are some of our fantasic Elmers - some are missing as I fogot to take a picture before the children took them home.  We also used 2 pint milk cartons to create a baby Elmer!

Links to EYFS:

CLL: Language for Communication - where older children are initiating conversations, using language to negotiate turn-taking, taking account of what others say and where younger children use language to show their interest in the activity.

CLL: Writing - where children are able to use the glue spreader to effectively spread glue onto their Elmer.

PD: Using Equipment and Materials - where younger children are able to use the glue spreader to effectively spread glue onto their Elmer.

PSRN: Numbers as Labels and For Counting - for example, where older children are able to count the number of red squares they have placed on Elmer

CD: Exploring Media and Materials - where children discuss / name colours.

PSRN: Calculating - where younger children may select only one colour to place on their Elmer (categorising objects according to their properties)