Method

Explain the basic story of Noah using the ark set to demonstrate, this is especially good for children who have English as an additional language.
You can then re-tell the story getting the children to each have an animal and put it into the ark when that animal is mentioned. There are enough animals for 14 children to have one each.
If you have more children they can share or you can give them Noah and his wife.
You can develop the story further by adding sound effects such as the sound of rain or animals.
You can also use a piece of blue cloth stretched across the floor by the arc and get the children to ripple it to make it look like the rising water levels.

You can go on to use this theme in other areas of learning. For Mathematical Development you can count the animals and discuss the differences between them. You can also introduce the idea of counting in 2's.
For Creative developement you can sing "The animals went in two by two" (www.poppyfields.net/poppy/songs/twobytwo.html) and create a wall display by using the noahs ark stencils and the animal card shapes decorated by the children.