Breaking The Mould - Appendix 9

Toys, gender stereotypes and advertising. Lesson plan

These Year 2 lessons use toys as a starting point for helping children to think about changes in their own and their families’ lives, discuss what a gender stereotype is, recognise differences and similarities between people and begin to consider the impact of advertising on our choices.

See Boy’s toys and girl’s toys in the online document Boy’s Things and Girl’s Things – challenging stereotypical choices and behaviours for more on this activity.

www.teachers.org.uk/educationandequalities/breakingthemould

Medium Term Planning for: Historical, geographical
and social understanding
Class: Turquoise Term: 1:2 Year group: 2 Year: 2012
Outcomes:
Children will explore changes in their own lives and the way of life of their families.
Children will sort old and modern toys and discuss how they are different.
Children will find out about the past though handling and discussing artefacts.
Children will find out about toys played with in other parts of the world and locate countries on a map of the world.
Children will read and enjoy William’s Doll and use this story to explain what a gender stereotype is.
Children will recognise the differences and similarities between people and learn that this is something to respect and celebrate.
Children will look at a range of toy advertisements and use these to create a poster challenging gender stereotypes.
Learning Intention (National Curriculum) / Activities / Differentiation
To explore changes in their own lives and the way of life of their family or others around them.
To explore the way of life of people in the more distant past who lived in the local area or elsewhere in Britain.
To identify differences between ways of life at different times.
To find out about the past from a range of sources of information (for example, stories, eye-witness accounts, pictures and photographs, artefacts, historic buildings and visits to museums, galleries and sites, the use of ICT-based sources)
To use globes, maps and plans at a range of scales.
To recognise how places compare with other places.
To recognise what they like and dislike, what is fair and unfair, and what is right and wrong.
To share their opinions on things that matter to them and explain their views.
To identify and respect the differences and similarities between people.
To consider social and moral dilemmas that they come across in everyday life. / Connect: Think about your favourite toy, the one you bought to school at the end of last term. Why is it your favourite? What do you like best about it?
Big picture: We are going to think about our favourite toys and compare them to the toys we played with when we were little, and the toys our parents and grandparents played with.
I am learning to talk about the toys I, my parents, and my grandparents have played with (together)
I am learning to compare the toys I played with when I was a baby to the ones I play with now (independent work)
Input: Show a range of toys (teddies, dolls, balls, games consoles, robots…). Which ones would your parents/grandparents have played with? Why/why not?
Then show a range of toys for toddlers/babies and for primary school aged children. Which ones would be suitable for Tom’s baby sister? Why/why not? Begin to write a word bank of words used to describe toys (soft, cuddly, hard, plastic, wood, moves, noise…)
Task: Children draw and write about a toy they play with now and one they played with when they were a baby, identifying any differences and similarities.
Plenary: Ask children to ask their parents/grandparents about the toys they played with when they were children. We will feedback next lesson.
Connect: Did you ask your parents/grandparents about their favourite toys? What did they tell you?
Big picture: Today we are going to look at modern toys and toys from long ago and start thinking about how they are the same and different.
I am learning to sort old and modern toys.
Input: On tables children have a range of artefacts/photographs of old and modern toys and sort into 2 groups. Report back to class explaining choices. Write WMG sorting old and new toys - talk about materials toys are made out of, what they do, if they use electricity or batteries…
Task: Children have A3 sheet with pictures of old and new toyshops. They work with partner to stick pictures of toys on shelves in correct shop (e.g. pictures from modern catalogues/pictures from internet of old toys).
Plenary: Show children 3 bears (a new bear, Rowan’s childhood bear and 1940s bear). Which are old and which is new? How do you know?
Connect: Show pictures/online examples of early computer games and modern ones. How have they changed?
Big picture: Today we are going to look more closely at some toys from long ago.
I am learning to describe the toys that children played with long ago.
Input: Use puppet making mistakes to write a WMG history detectives (be careful with precious old objects, look carefully, describe what they look like and what they are made of, make clever guesses). On tables children have a range of old toys to explore and discuss.
Task: Children choose one artifact and complete a fact sheet about it – draw/label artifact, materials, What does it do? Who would have played with it? What does it feel like?
Plenary: Read Otto – The Story of a Bear. Discuss the idea that old toys have stories because they have been loved by different children over many years. Can we invent a story for our old toys? Big writing session?
Connect: I have found some secret photos to tell us where Sean the Croc has disappeared to (connects with English plan about missing favourite toy/Dogger)
Big picture: Sean the Croc has been on holiday, exploring countries all around the word and finding out about what children there play with. We are going to use his photos to learn about toys from around the world.
I am learning to identify countries on a map of the world.
Input: Show children a map of the world and discuss any countries they already know. Show Sean the Croc’s holiday photos and discuss what toys/games children play with in different parts of the world. What are they made of? How are they different from our toys? Identify countries on map of the world.
Uganda – plastic bottle car (ensure misconceptions about all children in Africa being poor are addressed)
Chinese dragon toy
Kabaddi – India (play this game in a PE lesson?)
Pokemon - Japan
Shadow puppet – Indonesia
Worry doll – Guatemala
Russian dolls
Task: Children have A3 map of world and work in partners to stick pictures in correct places.
Plenary: Atlas quiz – who can find the places we have discussed in an Atlas?
Connect: Talk about children’s favourite toys again. Are there some kinds of toys that boys like more or girls like more? Why do you think this is? Does this mean that boys can’t play with teddies..?
Big picture: Put a statement on the board: Girl’s don’t like playing with cars. Do you agree? Why/why not? In the next 2 lessons we are going to be talking about the toys that boys and girls play with and try to answer some questions about why some people think some toys are for boys and some are for girls.
I am learning to explain how a character is feeling in a story and know what a gender stereotype is.
Input: Read the class William’s Doll by Charlotte Zolotow. Discuss...
Why was William teased?
Why did William's family and friends tease him because he wanted a doll?
Why should only girls play with dolls? Where did this idea come from?
Take feedback on each question.
Introduce the words ‘gender’ and ‘stereotype’ to the discussion- when people guess what people will like or be like just because of their gender or what they look like.
Ask what the stereotype is in this story- only girls play with dolls.
Task: Children work in groups. Each group has a picture from the story with a speech bubble. Children write speech bubble to show how the characters in the story are feeling. They then present to the rest of the class using acting/freeze frames/reading out speech bubble.
Plenary: In this story, who was William's friend? Who did not believe the stereotype and helped William get what he wanted? What does the story teach us?
Connect: Show children an illustration from William’s Doll. What did William want? Who was worried about this and who helped him?
Big picture: We are going to look at some other toys today and see if they have any gender stereotypes connected to them.
I am learning to talk about the toys that boys and girls play with and describe how advertising is used to sell toys.
Input: Children sit in a circle with a venn diagram in the middle made with 3 hoops and labels: boys, girls, both. Children take it in turns to sort a range of toys into diagram and discuss why they put them there (include books, action figures, cars, dressing up clothes…) Show children some advertisements for toys (e.g. Barbie/transformers). Can you see any gender stereotypes here? Discuss colours and images used (eg. Pink, flowers = girly).
Task: Children make collages using advertisements for toys/pictures of children playing/their own drawings. Sheet of paper divided in half: Some people think that… But actually…
Plenary: Look at a range of children’s posters and discuss.
Beyond Pink and Blue by Robin Cooley, Rethinking Schools 2003 / LA – use sentences starters to help them compare toys...
When I was a baby I played with ______.
Now I like playing with ______.
HA – use because in a sentence to explain why some toys are more suitable for older children.
LA – stick pictures with partner support, encourage to use new vocabulary relating to materials and functions of toys
HA – label toys and draw additional toys on shelves
LA – use word bank of toy words to help describe toy
HA – add additional interesting fact using labels from old toy suitcase.
LA – stick pictures with partner support, encourage to use new vocabulary relating to materials and functions of toys
HA – Write a caption for each picture explaining what the toy is and what it is used for.
Mixed ability groups. HA children to scribe.
LA- finish sentences: Some people think that only boys like pirates. But actually some girls like them too.
HA- children write caption to explain what is going on in pictures.