Nintendogs - Oakdale Infants Project Overview

Nintendogs is a two week project that is totally cross curricular and happens in the summer term in Year 1. The children are put into groups of 5/6 and given 1 DS and 1 game. Initially the project was put together to encourage sharing and teamwork in a rather difficult Year 1 class but we soon realised there were many other positives to this project. The major thing that came out of the project was the fact that my reluctant boy writers were writing independently and through their own choice. The children are given the task of caring for a group dog. They have to choose it together, name it, feed it, walk it and clean it together. They are given 15/20 minutes twice a day to look after their dog and every time they are given their DS’s they have to fill in their Nintendog diaries describing what they have been doing for their dog. The children began to write Nintendog adventure stories and creating comic strips and pictures during free choosing and at home and bringing them in.  The children completed maths activities that link in as well as Design and Technology, Art, Science, RE and PE activities. The children particularly enjoyed the Crufts for kids activities (sports day practise)  and our Guide Dog day where we had a real guide dog brought into school to meet with the children. The children then spent the rest of the day completing different activities e.g. wearing a blindfold and trying to eat beans, get dressed, spread butter etc. or writing their name in brail after drawing a self-portrait.  We have now run the project for 3 years this year and the children who are in Reception all look forward to being able to use the DS’s and taking part in the project. Many parents have been very impressed with the level of their children’s level of enjoyment and engagement with the project and one parent last year said ‘ it’s the first time in his school life that he is coming home eager to talk about what he did at school today.’