Boy or Girl?
Key idea: Gender, perception and assumptions.
Stimulus
A bag full of things that could belong to a boy or a girl, include some controversial ones! I used:
- A gold tie
- A pink plastic mug – this one was really divisive!
- A pink Frisbee
- Some blue glasses
- A fish slice
- A spanner
- A fluffy hat
- A pashmina
- A super hero cape
Ask one of the children to choose and item and put it in the middle of the carpet. Tell the children that this is not yours but it belongs to a friend of yours.
Task question: Is my friend a boy or a girl?
Nested questions
- Are pink things for girls?
- Can boys have pink things?
- Does the (insert item) mean my friend is definitely a girl or maybe a girl?
Activity
I used this as a starter just to get them speaking. Would be good to take it further or link it to the enquiry somehow.
Tell the children that they are going to find out who the person next to them is, by asking questions. Get them to turn and face their partner and ask their partner ‘What’s your name?’ Ask chn for other questions we could ask to find out who our partner is. After each suggestion get the children to ask that question to their partner. Some examples from other classes:
- How are you?
- What colour are your eyes?
- Do you like playing?
- But you could throw in your own:
- Where do you live?
- Are you good at writing?
