Part of what I want to do with my VYL Kindergarten curriculum/syllabus is to have resources for break times so that children are learning and engaged throughout the class, including the break times. I want it to be a ‘learning adventure’, so that students will continue to be surprised, delighted and interested to come to class each week.
For some of the breaks, I want to use educational video resources. (At many language schools what the children do during break times is completely random, rather than incorporating a learning component.) I think there are many good choices of videos for a zoo/wild animal theme, like this one, a day in the life of a zookeeper.
SwitchZoo
Another idea for break time (although is probably better suited to pre- or post-class) is SwitchZoo. SwitchZoo is a website that allows you to learn about animals, and also create your own unique animal by changing the core body parts.
One creative use I found of the SwitchZoo service (which is also available as a smartphone app), was to allow the children to create their own animal, and then screen capture the result for inclusion on an individual worksheet. Each child was able to draw a habitat around their unique animal and take their animal home.
