Group Learning Experience Planning Sheet:

Student Name: Jessica Edwards Course Code: ECS4070

Age Group: 4 to 5 years. Date:

Learning Experience: Art and Sensory Activity- Wet Felt Animal Toy Making
Programming Purpose:

There is one student in the classroom who is very soft spoken and is sometimes very shy when
speaking with her peers. During my second day at placement this student brought in a small
stuffed animal from home. On the same day another student brought in a similar stuffed
animal and decided to play with the other child. This opened up a lot of conversation between
the first student and other children in the classroom. A large majority of the class was
interested in the small toys and we opened a conversation about stuffed animals we had at
home. At this point I came up with the idea to have the children create their own stuffed
animals. Rather than creating them by seeing which may not be safe for some children in the
class due to sharp tools, the staff and I decided that wet felting would be a safe alternative that
could also double as a sensory activity.
Objective:
The children will:
1) Expand cognitive skills related to cause and effect while experimenting with soap and
water to see how they change the shape and texture of roving wool.
2) Practice fine motor skills while shaping and manipulating roving wool into their
desired shapes.
3) Practice cognitive and creative skills related to planning and design when choosing
their animals colours, ears and tails, and using them to fill in an animal planning sheet.
4) Practice social skills while discussing their creations with staff and each other
including details of their animal's personality.
Materials:

Roving Wool In Various Colours

One Animal Planning Sheet per child (24 total)
Water
Dish Soap
Medium Sized Container
Cleaning spray
Paper Towel
Set Up:

Implementation

1. I will introduce the activity to the children by asking them questions about stuffed
animals. Examples include:
a. Does anyone have a favourite stuffed animal at home?
b. What do you like about your favourite stuffed animal?
c. Do you know how we make stuffed animals? Have you ever made one
before?
2. I will pass around my three example felt plushies and answers any questions or
comments the students have.
3. I will split the group into groups of three and work with them to colour in planning
sheets for their choice of a kitten or puppy toy.
4. After the children have completed their plans we will select roving wool colours that
match their design.
5. After all of the children have gathered their materials we will fill a bowl with soap and
water.
6. I will place the bowl in the center of the table and ask the students to dip their pieces of
roving wool into the water and squish them into a rectangular shape to form their
animals bodies. I will model this with my own piece of material.
7. We will continue to dip and shape the wool material until the children have firm
rectangular bodies for their animals.
8. I will then label a piece of paper and set the body shaped pieces aside.
9. I will guide the children through selecting the roving wool colours they need to create
the eyes, ears, tails, arms and legs of their animals.
10. I will model how to roll the roving wool material like play dough to create the
childrens desired body part shapes.
11. After the children have shaped all of their pieces I will package them together so that
they can be needle felted with a needle tool and attached by me outside of class time.
12. I will repeat this process with more groups of three until we run out of time or
everyone interested in the project has completed these steps.
13. I will dump out the water and wash the bowl in the classroom sink.
14. I will use cleaning spray to clean up the table and any floor areas that require drying.
Learning Strategy #1
Behaviour Modeling

As this activity is one that most of the children may not have tried before, I will use adult
modeling to give the children a visual example of the different ways they can manipulate clay.
This includes modeling how the children can manipulate the wool in their hands and how they
can form shapes when their roving wool is drenched in soapy water.
Learning Strategy #2
Do-it Signals

Throughout the activity I will us do-it signals to direct children towards the next steps in
making their pieces. These do-it signals can be somewhat vague to allow creativity, but hold
enough information that everyone can still make the animals they designed. Examples of so it
statements for this activity include:
Lets dip our pieces of wool into the water and roll them into a ball.
Lets see what happens when we press down on our pieces of wool when theyre
wet.
Now lets squeeze some of the water out of our wool so we can keep forming our
shapes.

Overall Evaluation
What worked during this experience? Why?
What did not work during this experience? Why?

What might you have done differently?

What theory might you use to support these changes?