Ten cheeky tips sitting on the mat…                                         

Ten cheeky tips sitting on the mat,
Ten cheeky tips sitting on the mat,
And if one cheeky tip should accidentally fall…

10. Set the scene

 A play mat can provide a storyboard for contextualizing and generating interest in stories. Using flashcards of the main characters we can move around the mat, asking questions about the different locations we stop at, until we finally end up at the location of the story we’re going to tell. Of course the mat provides a storyboard for post-story activities too!

There’ll be nine cheeky tips sitting on the mat,
Nine cheeky tips sitting on the mat,                                              
And if one cheeky tip should accidentally fall…

9. Revise target language

The mat provides a great opportunity to consolidate language. Here’s a simple example called Pass and touch! Point to the mat and encourage the children to explore the areas they know, then identify colours and hand out colour flashcards. Play a song, stop the music and ask the child with the flashcard to touch something of that colour. If they respond correctly confirm the choice saying ‘That’s right! It’s a (yellow bus, etc)’.

There’ll be eight cheeky tips sitting on the mat,
Eight cheeky tips sitting on the mat,
And if one cheeky tip should accidentally fall…

8. Cheeky’s whispers

Put on the Cheeky Monkey puppet. The children sit in a circle around the mat and you tell them that Cheeky wants to share a secret with them. Cheeky whispers a word to a child, for example, coat. As in the game Chinese Whispers the children whisper the word to each other and when the word reaches the last child, encourage them to point to it on the mat. Then you can repeat with other children and other vocabulary from the same lexical set.

There’ll be seven cheeky tips sitting on the mat,
Seven cheeky tips sitting on the mat,
And if one cheeky tip should accidentally fall…

7. I spy!

Put on the Cheeky puppet and point to your eye saying, for example, ‘I spy a red bus’. Encourage the children to touch the object and if they respond correctly say ‘Well done! A red bus!’. You can then repeat with the other colours and alternate between the children until you feel they are gaining confidence with the language.

There’ll be six cheeky tips sitting on the mat,
Six cheeky tips sitting on the mat,
And if one cheeky tip should accidentally fall…

                              
6. The colours dance

First, divide the children into two groups based on the characters in the course, for example monkeys and lions. Then encourage them to dance on the mat to The colours dance song on the course CD. Call out commands such as ‘Monkeys, stand on a green square!’ and get them to stand on a green square on the mat. Then do the same with lions and another colour, alternating between animals and colours to help consolidate the language.

There’ll be five cheeky tips sitting on the mat,
Five cheeky tips sitting on the mat,
And if one cheeky tip should accidentally fall…

5. What’s on the mat today?

Put some flashcards face down in a pile in front of you, such as body parts. Mime looking through a magnifying glass and say, ‘Let’s be detectives!’. If you can get a real magnifying glass as a prop, even better! Play the chant from the course CD and encourage the children to join in doing the actions. Choose a child to point to the body part on the mat and then repeat with other children.

There’ll be four cheeky tips sitting on the mat,
Four cheeky tips sitting on the mat,
And if one cheeky tip should accidentally fall…

4. Sing and play ‘Pass the flashcards’.

Show a flashcard and say what it is, for example mummy, and then repeat with the others in the lexical set. Choose four children using a chant and give them a flashcard each. Using a song from the CD that includes the set, encourage the children to pass the flashcards around the circle. Stop the music when you hear a word from the set and the child holding the card puts it next to its matching picture on the mat.

There’ll be three cheeky tips sitting on the mat,
Three cheeky tips sitting on the mat,
And if one cheeky tip should accidentally fall…

 3. Abracadabra!

Put on the Cheeky puppet and explain that Cheeky is going to do some magic. Hide the flashcards behind your back and chant ‘Abracadabra!’, encouraging the children to join in. Slowly reveal a flashcard and get the children to say what it is. If they get it right they can then match it with its picture on the mat.

There’ll be two cheeky tips sitting on the mat,
Two cheeky tips sitting on the mat,
And if one cheeky tip should accidentally fall…

               
2. Sing 'Farmer Brown'

First, give each child an animal role, such as duck, cow, horse and sheep. Practise the mimes and play the song. When their animal comes up the children do the mime. When the song finishes, encourage the children to associate their animal and a colour, for example, ‘Horses, touch yellow!’. Repeat with the other animals and colours.