Activity Planner 3 – Soil
Centre:
Play Dough – Constant Positive
Sensory, exploratory play, fine motor skill development
The children will have different types of play dough in
natural colours, with small rocks and stones added to
mimic soil. The children can be prompted to make
layers, and explore and discuss the textures of the
different play doughs. The children could also be
provided with pink play dough to make worms for their
soil.
Key Questions to Promote Discussion:
• What does the play dough feel like?
• How many layers have you made?
• What makes each layer different?
• Can you make a home for the worms?
Centre:
Small World Play – Constant Positive
Imaginary play, exploratory play, communication and
negotiation
The children will be given a large tray filled with soil
and rocks. The children will have natural materials such
as leaves, twigs and flowers, and toy insects (bugs and
worms), to play with in the tray. This will allow the
children to explore the relationship between soil (a
non-living element of the natural world) and living
Explicit / Intentional Teaching:
Mat session: Focus of intentional teaching will be on
soil.
Concepts for Exploration:
• The earth is covered with rocks, soil, water and ice
• Crumbled rocks form part of soil
Introduction:
The educator will sit with the children on the mat for
the introduction to the activities.
The educator will read the children the text Worm by
Nicki Greenberg. Whilst reading, the educator will talk
to the children about worms, and how they live in the
soil – E.g. ‘We live in houses above the ground, worms
live in the soil below the ground.’
When the educator has finished reading the text, they
will ask the children if they can think of any other
creatures that live below the ground in the soil. The
educator can prompt the children to discuss plants,
and how they also live in the soil, and need it to grow.
The educator will explain that the children will be
engaging in activities to do with soil, as part of their
learning about rocks and soil in science.
Conclusion:
For the conclusion of the lesson, the educator and
children will return to the mat. The educator will have
some small plastic animals (E.g. a worm, a whale, a
butterfly, a lion, a mole, a rabbit, a bird). The educator
will hold up each animal and pass it around, and will
ask the children if they think that animal lives mostly
underground in the soil, or above ground like humans.
This will prompt discussion about the creatures that
live in the ground, and will allow the educator to
evaluate the children’s understandings following
Centre:
Making Edible Soil
Developing conceptual understanding, sensory
engagement
The children will work with an educator/EA for this
activity. The children will be provided with different
foods (biscuits, crackers, chocolate chips, chocolate
rocks), to represent rocks. The children will crush up
the biscuits to make their ‘soil’, and can add different
foods, such as chocolate chips, to their ‘soil’ to
represent smaller rocks. The children could also add
gummy worms to their edible soil, and discuss how soil
is a worm’s habitat.
Key Questions to Promote Discussion:
• What are you using to make your soil?
• Are there any worms in your soil?
• What does your soil look and feel like?
Centre:
Examining Soil
Observation and discussion, exploratory play,
developing conceptual understanding
The educator will fill a large, clear container with layers
of different soil types (e.g. sand, dirt), and small bowls
with each of the different soil types for closer
examination. The children will be provided with
magnifying glasses and digital microscopes in order to
examine the soil, and will have access to paper and
creatures (plants and animals) through their play.
Key Questions to Promote Discussion:
• What creatures live in the soil?
• What is growing in the soil?
• Is the soil a home for plants and animals?
engagement in the activities. pencils to illustrate observations. The children will be
prompted to discuss what they can see in the soil, what
it might be made of, and where it might come from.
Key Questions to Promote Discussion:
• What can you see in the soil?
• What does it look and feel like?
• Are there rocks in the soil?
• Is anything living in the soil?

Centre: Objective/s:
Mud Kitchen The children will;
Sensory engagement, exploratory play, 1. Describe the characteristics of different types
communication, imaginary play of soil.
In the outdoor play area, the children will have access 2. Explain that living creatures, such as plants
to dirt, sand, and water, and a variety of pots and pans, and worms, need soil to live and grow.
bowls, and utensils to mix with and explore. The
children will be encouraged to discuss the properties of
the soil, and the ways it changes when mixed with
water.

Key Questions to Promote Discussion:

• What happens when you mix the soil with water?
• Do you think we could grow a plant with the soil and
water?

Assessment & Recording: (What are we assessing? How are we assessing? How are we recording?)
Assessment for this set of activities will be based on the educator’s engagement with the children in each centre. The educator will write anecdotal notes,
and will record observations on a checklist:
 Was able to discuss and describe the texture and colour of the soil, what they could see in it
 Was able to suggest different places where soil might be found
 Was able to identify the living things that need soil to grow (insects/worms, plants, trees)
The educator will assess the first objective primarily through engagement with the children in the soil examining activity, as well as the mud kitchen activity.
The second objective will be assessed primarily through engagement with children in the small world play activity, as the children engage with natural
 materials.
Highlight one or two outcomes specifically connected to your objective/s ( in red):
Children have a strong sense of
identity
1.1 Children feel safe, secure and
supported.
1.2 Children develop their emerging
autonomy, inter-dependence,
resilience and sense of agency.
1.3 Children develop knowledgeable
and confident self-identities.
1.4 Children learn to interact in relation
to others with care, empathy and
respect.
References:
Greenberg, N. (2016). Worm. VIC, Australia: Windy Hollow Books.
Children are connected with and
contribute to their world
2.1 Children develop a sense of
belonging to groups and communities
and an understanding of the reciprocal
rights and responsibilities necessary for
active civil participation.
2.2 Children respond to diversity with
respect.
2.3 Children become aware of fairness.
2.4 Children become socially
responsible and show respect for their
environment.
Children have a strong sense of
wellbeing
3.1 Children become strong in their
social, emotional and spiritual
wellbeing.
3.2 Children take increasing
responsibility for their own health and
physical wellbeing.
Children are confident and involved
learners
4.1 Children develop dispositions for
learning such as curiosity, cooperation,
confidence, creativity, commitment,
enthusiasm, persistence, imagination
and reflexivity.
4.2 Children develop a range of skills
and processes such as problem solving,
inquiry, experimentation,
hypothesising, researching and
investigating.
4.3 Children transfer and adapt what
they have learnt from one context to
another.
4.4 Children resource their own
learning through connecting with
people, place, technologies, and
natural and processes materials.
Children are effective communicators
5.1 Children interact verbally and non-
verbally with others for a range of
purposes.
5.2 Children engage with a range of
texts and get meaning from these
texts.
5.3 Children express ideas and make
meaning using a range of media.
5.4 Children begin to understand how
symbols and pattern systems work.
5.5 Children use information and
communication technologies to access
information, investigate ideas and
represent thinking.