Marking children’s birthdays provides the individual with a special event to share with
the rest of the class. It is part of ‘caring and sharing’ that should be encouraged. Each
child should be able to have their own ideas about how to decorate their Top for the
special day. Begin by talking about the Birthday person.

• Whose Birthday is it?
• What is the day and the month?
• How old are they going to be?
• What are their favourite things?
• Do you know their favourite colour?
• What would they like best?
• What shall we put on our Tops to celebrate the day?
  

After the Top has been decorated, other ideas for the Birthday can be introduced
such as other things to wear and decorations to make the classroom festive.

• Do we need hats and streamers?
• Do we need things that make a noise?
• Shall we paint a banner for the classroom and how about balloons?

Meeting curriculum requirements:

The children are learning to think about and please each other. They are joining in and sharing the experience of a
communal event. They are making decisions and choices about how to decorate their Top and will be developing
manipulative skills as they paint and mark their Tops.

Tips for Painting:

Children should know what they going to do before they begin work on the garment, experiment on kitchen
or sugar paper first
Paint the Top on a flat surface
Don’t allow children to put their Tops on until the paint is dry
Keep ideas simple - remember it may be more dramatic and effective to limit the range of colours
Small sponges can be used as well as brushes

Useful Reference:

Keep an album of party images, people having fun

What you will need:

Tops, paints, brushes and small sponges, water jugs and rags or paper towels and as many
accessories as you can find. Possibly a paint tray if using sponges.

Activity 0015 Clowns and comedy
Activity 0034 Ragtime