Some of their favourite books are the ‘Oi Frog!’ series by Kes Gray and Jim Field, so it was no surprise that their painted Easter eggs had an ‘Oi Frog’ theme this year.

Resources

For painting eggs:

  • Eggs
  • Paint
  • Paintbrushes
  • Pencils
  • Felt tipped pens

For building nests:

  • Bowls
  • Loose parts: mini logs, carpet tiles, corrugated cardboard, leaves and flowers

Method

Painting the eggs

They both started off painting their ‘Oi Frog’ character, then leaving them to dry. Finn loves it when the water turns the colour of the paint.

Next up was ‘Oi Dog’. They decided to draw their dog on with pencil first, then paint sections in.

They wanted to make up their own ‘Oi Easter Animals’, so each started off with a chick, then Finn added a bird.

Ioan decided to turn the paintbrush over to add the details to the paws of his Easter bunny.

Once the paint was dry, they went back and added more detail with felt tipped pens.

Building a nest

I left out some loose parts and a bowl and they took it in turns to build their nest. Finn went first, creating a rustic looking nest. His decorated eggs were: dog, bird, frog, chick and bunny.

Ioan made patterns in his nest, trying to make it symmetrical. His eggs were: dog, cat, bunny, frog and chick.

Ioan and Finn took their nests outside to play with. When Cian (nearly 18 months) spotted them, he went inside and made his own nest, using the bowl we use to store the mini logs. He proudly carried it outside to join his brothers, then proceeded to empty the loose parts from his bowl on to the floor. Ioan found it funny and Finn just raised his eyebrow disapprovingly.

Cian emptied the contents of his bowl on to the ground, one at a time.

Then he moved on to filling the bowl back up. He was pretending to count as he put the objects back in, “Uh, uh, uh…”

He babbled away as he emptied and refilled the bowl for another 10 minutes. He was clearly trying to talk me through his actions, in the same way he sees Ioan and Finn do.

He started putting all the logs together on the floor. When he was holding a large and a small log, I asked him which was the big log and he held it out. I then asked which was the small one.

Ioan: DfES Outcomes for EYFS and National Curriculum (2013)

Art and design

Key Stage 1 Programme of study

  • use a range of materials creatively to design and make products
  • use drawing, painting and sculpture to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination
  • develop a wide range of art and design techniques in using colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space

Finn: DfES Early Learning Goals (2017)

Expressive arts and design

ELG 16 – Exploring and using media and materials:

Children safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function.

ELG 17 – Being imaginative:

Children use what they have learnt about media and materials in original ways, thinking about uses and purposes. They represent their own ideas, thoughts and feelings through design and technology, art, music, dance, role-play and stories.

Cian: DfES Early Years Outcomes (2013)

Mathematics

Number – 16 to 26 months

  • Knows that things exist, even when out of sight.
  • Beginning to organise and categorise objects, e.g. putting all the teddy bears together or teddies and cars in separate piles.
  • Says some counting words randomly.

Shape, space and measures – 8 to 20 months

  • Recognises big things and small things in meaningful contexts.