Focus

Setting up a gallery of photos showing tiny figures in unusual places.

Suitable for

This can be aimed at KS2 children but with modifications it can be engaging for young and old alike.

What you need

• A set of tiny figures (try: www.newmodellersshop.co.uk/Model%20Railway/scenery-people-and-animals.htm)
• Digital Cameras / iPods or iPads.
• A digital projector or electronic whiteboard
• Lots of paper to write and draw on.

What you do

This activity is based on ideas from the Little People Project and Un Petit Monde, and by the adaptation of these ideas for schools by the inspiring Chris Dicken from Parklands Primary.

Children take small model railway figures and plant them around the school in unusual places, perhapsa tiny person looking at a large book, or a sitting on a swing. They then take two photos of each little scene, one from a distance so it’s not clear what we’re looking at, the second is a close-up of the figure.

The photographs are shown on a large screen and they are asked to talk about the tiny person’s story. The can share thoughts as a class group, write stories about the scenes, or respond with drawing, drama, or song: any artform that feels like fun.

Learning Benefits

Children are encouraged to use their imaginations and bring the figures’ lives to life. Experience of group working is also a benefit as they can collaborate on the creation of shared narratives.

Photos from The Little People Project and Un Petit Monde.

The example below was made by student teacher Ashley Williams during a visit to Abingdon Park: