I am a great fan of IKEA.

As I have shared before, I find it a goldmine for teaching resources.

On my latest visit, I made a couple of purchases-

1. finger puppets

Great for speaking tasks to encourage reluctant speakers, to encourage imagination and to ‘distract’ from repetitious or disliked activities.  This set add to my already large collection of animals, fairytale characters, sea creatures and other random puppets I’ve gleaned from parties, charity shops and toyboxes!

2. fruit and vegetable punnets

These were my favourite find this time.  Soft fruit – banana, grapes, kiwi, orange, apple and watermelon – and vegetables – leek, carrots, cucumber, mushrooms, garlic, tomatoes and lettuce- in a punnet / basket.

Just the thing for –

• discussing fruit and vegetables
• looking at colour
• talking about healthy eating
• giving opinions – I like / dislike and why
• reenacting stories – Handa’s Surprise, The Hungry Caterpillar – or writing your own

and I’m sure there are more things that could be done with them given more than 10 seconds thought!  If you’ve got any ideas, leave a comment below!