Experience Instructions - Adventure Ready

Preparation

Curate a collection of items that tell the students something about you that you might take to a sleepover at a friend's house. You might pack things like your favourite Star Wars pyjamas, or a book because you like reading and it helps you get to sleep, or a photo of your family just in case you miss them while you are away.

Set up the roleplay station outlined in the ‘Take Action’ section of this experience.

Tune In

Place an empty backpack or small bag on your lap. Allow the children to curiously question you about what it is for.

Explain to them that you are going on an adventure after school to sleep at your friend’s house and that you need to pack a bag of things to take with you.

Ask the children, “What sort of things do you think I should pack?” Discuss the different suggestions.

Explain to the children that “Our ideas are all different because we are all different. We all like and need different things”.

Find Out

Tell the children, “Let’s see what I’m taking to my friend's house and why I’m taking it!”

Begin to pack the backpack in front of the children with the items that you have chosen to take on the sleepover. As each item is placed into the backpack:

tell a story about the item being placed in the bag. This will demonstrate the connection between what has been chosen to be packed and why. Eg, ‘I need this dog lead because my dog will need a walk first thing in the morning’ or ‘I packed a jigsaw because my friend and I like to do them together.’
explain the decisions you are making while packing. This will help to demonstrate that we need to think about what and how we pack our items Eg: I couldn’t bring my favourite teddy because it is too big and wouldn’t fit in the bag’ or ‘I am putting my shoes in first because they are heavy and I don’t want to squash my puzzle box.’
take the opportunity to answer questions and talk about the items. This is a great chance to share some information about yourself and start to establish connections with the children.
establish the difference between asking a question and sharing a statement. This is something children need to practice and this is an appropriate situation to both ask questions and share statements. You can specifically ask the children if they would like to ask a question or if they would like to share a statement at different times throughout the discussion.

Once the bag is packed thank the children for helping you get ready for your sleepover. Let them know that they will now have a chance to pack their own bags for their own adventures.

Take Action

Set up a roleplay station for the children to access throughout the day, and provide:

a variety of bags, backpacks, and suitcases of different shapes and sizes
clothes, hats and dress-ups
imaginative play items like pretend/old technology, tea party items, dolls and toys, tools etc.

Educator scaffolding: to support the experience, educators can use prompting questions with the children. For example

Where are you going on your adventure?
Have you got everything you need?
Is there anything you wanted to take that wouldn’t fit in your bag?
Why did you choose this bag to pack?
Oh, I love [item], Why did you choose to pack this?

Learning support: To help children engage with the activity, you could provide location cards (e.g. kindergarten, the beach, Grandma’s house, the zoo, the library), and ask what we would like to take with us to that specific location.

Building Belonging: Packing for Adventures!

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Summary

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Activity Details

Curriculum Mapping

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