I've written before about the power of using dramatic play to help teach literacy and numeracy skills (see blog post there) and how they help students to use real-world problem-solving skills and these new Coles Minis make a great addition to classroom activities.
I realise that a lot of people are upset with Coles for bringing out lots of 'plastic junk' on the eve of a plastic bag ban and to some extent I agree with them. However they are here and like most shoppers I have them - so how can I reuse them?
As a primary school teacher I'm forever looking for interesting and exciting ways to engage my students! Kids just LOVE these things... I mean they are going NUTS for them (some adults too!) so the minute you bring these out your students are going to be engaged no matter what and that is what every teacher is looking for - engagement!
Here are some fun ways to use the Coles Mini Little Shop Collectables in your classroom:
The most obvious idea is to use them in your maths rotations and let students buy and sell them but you will need a few of these to satisfy student demands as you don't want students shouting "I'm finished!" within the first few minutes - so to get around this let students create the pricing and money for their buy and sell.
This will force students to consider what prices they will need to set for each product and then the denominations that will be required for purchasing. I suggest one rotation set up the store with the money, prices and signage and the next rotation try the shop as customers and store keepers. You should allow that group to give feedback to the next groups about what needs to be fixed. For example, the first group might set the product amount of $2.50 but not provide any 50 cent pieces for the next group to give change. This activity allows students to start thinking outside the box rather than just being buyers and sellers.
STEM IDEAS
Create a shopping cart for the mini products and/or shelves. To do this students will need to consider the height of the products for shelving (volume) and weight. By making a shopping cart, students can consider how big the cart would need to be to fit as many items in as possible, while still being movable.
HASS - GEOGRAPHY
Bring in some life-sized objects and read the labels on the back (you'll need the larger versions to read the details). Where were these products made? Stick the minis on a large map of the world and have a discussion about the countries these are made in.
What did families buy in the past? How were clothes washed in the 1900s? How has life changed from today? Use the minis as prompts for discussions and as part of a wall display to show how life has changed.
These minis make great little writing prompts. Provide sentence starters for students such as...
"Suddenly she noticed everything was much smaller..."
"He heard a banging noise coming from the laundry and raced inside to see the washing liquid was only 2 inches high!"
"The old lady smiled and placed an object into Sarah's hand. Slowly Sarah turned her hand over and peered closely at the tiny tube of toothpaste. So this was how the magic happened!"
HEALTH
Healthy foods sorts.
Which foods come from animals.
Natural vs man-made.
If you can think of any other ways to use these Coles Minis in your teaching practice I'd love to know below in the comments.
If you use one of the ones I've suggested above please let me know how it goes using the #TechTeacherPto3 - I can't wait to see what ideas you come up with!
You have some good ideas here. I just thought of another. If the children have all the minis laid out, could they work out ways to group them? Healthy, drinks, perishables, packaging, animal products, natural, country of origin. Would they need Venn diagrams because 1 fits into 2 categories?
ReplyDeleteI love that idea! Good way to move them to higher order thinking.
DeleteWith my class, I printed out prices for each item and then sticky taped each price to each product. I hid the products around the classroom like a scavenger hunt. Each student had to find 5 products, come back to their table and add all the prices together. Then deduct the total amount from $50. Once they were done, run to me for a receipt. Winner received a prize. My students loved it! It was the best game I could have invented!
ReplyDeleteI use them in a childcare setting, I get a few out at a time and make on the spot senarios and then they need to tell me what I need to buy to solve that scenario. e.g mums running late and she needs a hot drink, today were are taking the baby to day care and she needs... its breakfast time and I want to fry something in the pan. Works as a great transition experience
ReplyDelete