Langholm hair project

Kate Nicolson of Langholm Primary School has documented this project as the nursery children learn more about hair.

First steps

First we had a discussion to find out what we each knew about hair. We talked about who cuts our hair, what you can do to hair, things you might find at the hairdressers and what you might do while you are waiting. We shared our experiences of having a haircut.

Things at the hairdressers

Hair dryer, scissors, brushes, seat, sink, mirrors, curlers, shower things, a couch and lollipops were some of the things we knew were in a hairdressers shop. We visited a salon to find out more and saw Phillip having his haircut with clippers. At first, he kept his eyes shut tight. When he opened them he said, 'mum won't recognise me!'

Our hairdresser's shop

We decided to set up our own nursery hairdresser's shop. We talked about what they would need - towels, clips, chairs, mirrors, magazines, a diary to take appointments, a book of hairstyles to choose from and an electrician to fix broken hairdryers.

Some parents and P6 buddies visited and chose new hairstyles. The hairdresser writes how much you have to pay, so we did too and matched the toy coins with the the real money from our snack tin.  

Our investigations

We used our senses to investigate some hair projects - looking, touching and smelling. We thought one looked like apple juice and smelt like perfume. It felt soft and runny. Finn and Juliet guessed shampoo. Then we discovered what happens when we add cold water to our hair products. 'It'll turn into water' predicted Sam. Charlie thought it would go bubbly. After that we looked more closely at ourselves - our eyes, ears, nose, mouth and eyebrows - and painted portraits of ourselves using the right colours for our eyes and hair. Finally, we celebrated 'Hairy Red Nose Day.

Further information