Fun with eggs!

FINDING OUT MORE ABOUT EGGS!

Following the children's fascination with eggs the previous week, there were more learning opportunities this week. This young man brought us 12 eggs from his egg farm. He was also very excited to share lots of photos of his farm with all of us. This prompted lots of questions about different machinery, how the eggs were transported and why the eggs were different sizes.

We watched the Cbeebies programme "My pet and me - chickens" and learnt more about eggs for eating and eggs not for eating, which had chicks in them! The children couldn't take their eyes off the film as the little chick was hatching out of its egg - delightful to see the look of wonder on the children's faces. 

Some remembered when we had held chicks at Rand Farm Park in the Summer.

TIME TO EXPLORE A RAW EGG!

                                                                     

In small groups the children felt the egg shell. They all seemed to think it would be easy to break it to open it up!
A couple of children tapped it on the side of the bowl - they were very surprised that it didn't break. Others squeezed the egg or tried to peel it open with their fingers. 
Eventually one child hit the egg very hard on the edge of the bowl and the shell cracked!

There was a great deal of excitement at seeing the egg slide out of the shell! 
The children experienced feeling the raw egg between their fingers. Also they handled the broken egg shell - "it hurt my fingers!" "it's sharp", "it crunched!"

PANCAKE TIME!

 I showed the children my recipe sheet for how to make pancakes and we talked about how the order was important, and how the instructions helped us. We compared making pancakes to making scrambled egg the previous week.

 

So many opportunities to introduce and use vocabulary related to consistency, texture and colour.

The activity provided turn taking and sharing learning also.

PRETEND COOKING

It is so important for children to practise sequencing, and putting things into an order both in their minds and being able to describe the sequence with words.
During the week the children acted out making scrambled egg and pancakes, and it was good to hear them using some of the same vocabulary. It was especially amusing to see them using the cloth so they wouldn't burn their fingers when the food came out of the microwave, and reminding each other to be very careful!

We also  watched "Come outside - eggs!" which encouraged the children to expand their thinking about what else hatches out of eggs. When they saw the ostrich egg and I asked what had laid it, many of them commented that it must be a giant chicken!