Cian, nearly four, absolutely loves a David Attenborough documentary. So much so, that when we took their start of term pictures a few weeks ago and asked what he wanted to be do in the future, he asked to be David Attenborough.
His brothers were very happy with this decision as Finny wants to film animal documentaries and Ioan wants to be an author and illustrator. They decided that Finny can film the documentaries, Cics can present them, then Ioan can produce the illustrated book afterwards.
Resources
- Pencil
- Coloured crayons
- Scissors
- Scrap paper
- Dynasties Series 1: 1. Chimpanzee on BBC iplayer
David the chimpanzee
Cici loves watching and discussing the episodes we watch together as a family. Today he as talking about his very favourite episode, Chimpanzees. He loves the story of power, politics and fight for survival. The alpha male, David, has been the leader of his troop for three years and David’s rivals are gathering. Successful alpha males normally have allies, but David is alone making him vulnerable.
Cian was talking about David’s challenges with the other males. “Jumpkin and Luther do want to fight for the good feeding spots and to have babies. But David wants food and babies too. It is very tricky!”
As well as recounting David’s journey, Cian also loves drawing the characters he sees in it. Today he asked to draw one of the birds he had seen in the background. He got the episode up on the television, fetched his mat, pencil and pencil crayons and got to work. This was his first draft of the bird and he copied it in the position it was shown on the television.
Then he decided he wanted his bird to be looking upwards, not to the side, so turned his page over and started again.
First he drew the head, body and two wings.
Then he added the feet.
Followed by the branch for him to stand on.
He coloured the beak pink.
He needed an orange head.
He coloured the wings in black and the log in brown.
The tummy was orange and the second wing was finished off in black.
Cian coloured round the edges of his branch first, then filled in the centre. He spoke to me about his elephants.
He stood next to the television so I could see the bird in Dynasties, next to his.
Then he decided that it would be easier for his bird to fly if he cut it out.
He cut the rough outline out first, I kept reminding him to turn the paper, rather than his scissors.
He then went back and cut into the gaps to cut closer to the picture.
DfES Early Learning Goals (2017)
Physical development
ELG 04 – Moving and handling:
Children show good control and co-ordination in large and small movements. They handle equipment and tools effectively, including pencils for writing.
Understanding the world
ELG 14 – The world:
Children know about similarities and differences in relation to places, objects, materials and living things. They talk about the features of their own immediate environment and how environments might vary from one another. They make observations of animals and plants and explain why some things occur, and talk about changes.
ELG 15 – Technology:
Children recognise that a range of technology is used in places such as homes and schools. They select and use technology for particular purposes.
