Catch the Fish

The children participated in counting fish from a tub of water. Using nets, the children counted and scooped fish and then poured the fish into the correct numbered bowl. The bowls were labelled up to 5 and the total number of plastic fish in the tub were 15.

Materials

• Water

• Net scoopers

• Bowls

• Plastic fish

• Water table

• Tape

• Numbered sheets of paper

Learning Objectives & Outcomes from Early Learning for Every Child Today

ELECT 5.3 Sensory Exploration/Sensory Motor Integration

• using senses to explore properties and functions of objects and materials; eye-hand coordination

ELECT 4.13 Determining Quantity

• counting to determine quantity/matching numbers to sets of objects

ELECT 5.2 Fine Motor

• coordination, holding and using tools, palmar grasp

Observations

• Generally, the children participated in parallel play and occasionally, some children helped each other scoop the fish into the right bowl. Phrases included: "Let me show you!" and "Like this!".

• During the activity, the plastic fish would get caught in the net and the children made comments like: "It's stuck" and "It won't come out!". Some children resulted in using their hands to place the fish in the right bowl instead of dumping the fish from the net.

• After placing the correct fish by numbers, the children began sorting the fish by colour and patterns.

Reflection & Outcomes

Regulating this activity to two children at once was effective in allowing all children to have an equal opportunity to participate in the activity. Moreover, having one type of object for the children to scoop provided a clear focus on what the children needed to do and having the large bolded numbers on the bowls acted as a reminder for how many fish needed to be in each bowl. An improvement that can be made is providing materials that would not get damaged during the process of the activity such as laminated numbers taped down instead of just taped paper.