A fascinating end-of-the-school-year activity for 3rd-graders that can be carried out during their English sessions in June and keep learners motivated and focused is the crafting of a dollhouse. This will be used for revision of the rooms of a house and vocabulary extension through the addition of crafted/drawn furniture with labels in the form of a picture dictionary.
The necessary materials for the construction
of the rooms are cardboard shoe boxes. Regarding the furniture or general
decoration, learners will need coloured cardboard sheets/construction paper/or
even plain A4 paper for hand drawings, scissors, rulers, glue and coloured
markers.
Learners can work in
groups and each group can undertake to carry out a different room whereas at
the end all the groups have to collaborate productively to construct the house.
This is an activity that improves vocabulary in the
target language while promoting STEAM
education in the following ways:
·
Science: Students
learn about the properties of cardboard and paper such as their flexibility or
strength, and how they behave when cut, bent, or glued.
·
Technology: They handle simple tools and practise their fine motor skills while testing processes used in architecture and
product design.
·
Engineering: They learn problem-solving while considering
issues of balance or weight distribution.
·
Arts: Painting, decorating,
designing furniture, and deciding on the house layout promotes creative
expression.
·
Mathematics: Learners use rulers to measure cardboard accurately which
helps them reinforce concepts of length, width or height. At the same time they
are acquainted with shapes, spatial reasoning and scaling in the design of
furniture.
Get ready for a
surprise! Young learners have fascinating ideas and wild imagination. You can
have a taste in the photos.
