Unit CHP3 Learning through play for child development
3.1 Types of play and their importance in relation to
At the end of this module the learner will be able to:
- describe different types of play
- list 12 features of free flow play
- identify links between play and developmental milestones
- list 6 areas of learning and development described in EYFS
Play is very important in many ways. The many different types of play can be summarised into a few main groups:
· Free-flow play
· Structured play
· Spontaneous play
Friedrich Froebel (1782 – 1852) was one of the first theorists to think about play and it’s importance and role. His work still has influence now in how we think about play. Froebel believed that children learn best through nature, and through non-directed learning. His ideas focused mainly on free-flow play, and he described different types of play within this. This includes play where children:
· Experiment:
o How does this work?
o What happens if I do this?
o How is this different from that?
o Will this make a noise?
· Understand
o What’s a police man/woman?
o What’s a nurse?
o What happens at hospital?
o Do you think the same as me about this?
o What do you think is important to do?
· Imagine
o What would you do if you were me?
o What would superman/the fairy queen/spongbob do?
o What’s it like to live under the sea?
o If I was a queen/king in my castle…..
o If the garden was a mountain…..
· Create
o Drawing, colouring, painting
o Dance and movement
o Plasticine, playdoh
o Music, songs, plays
· Act out
o Dress up
o Plays
o Role play
o Small world play
Tina Bruce is a key researcher in the area of play. Two important outcomes of her research tell us about principles and features of play.
Twelve features of play, Tina Bruce, Learning through play, 2001:
· In their play, children use first-hand experiences that they have in life
· Children make up rules as they play, and so keep control of their play
· Children make play props
· Children choose to play. They cannot be made to play
· Children rehearse the future in their play
· Children pretend when they play
· Children play alone sometimes
· Children and/or adults play together, in parallel, associatively, co-operatively in pairs or groups
· Each player has a personal play agenda, although they may not be aware of this
· Children playing will be deeply involved, and difficult to distract from their deep learning
· Children try out their most recent learning, skills and competencies when they play
· Children at play co-ordinate their ideas, feelings and make sense of relationships. When play is co-ordinated it flows along in a sustained way. It is called free-flow play.
Most different types of play will show differences according to children’s developmental stages – these may be loosely associated by age, according to the ideas and theories discussed in the unit on child development.
Structured Play: structured play is planned and led by an adult. This adult may be involved in the play, or may be supervising the play they have planned. Tina Bruce and many others would argue that this is not ‘true’ play. The balance and the true play experience might be in the adult structuring the types of play equipment available at any one time, or where the children are playing.
The adult may guide the play initially around a particular theme that they feel the child(ren) would benefit from exploring. This would include providing 3 year olds with opportunities to learn about turn taking and sharing, when they are ready to take that developmental step; songs and rhymes that encourage children to join in.
Structured activities such as these are clearly beneficial, and perhaps this is where the ‘free-flow’ play theorists would argue that a structured activity is not really play.
Spontaneous Play: spontaneous play is where the adult provides the materials and resources, but the children develop their own play from what’s available. Adults need to learn to be flexible, to take the opportunities that arise from children’s spontaneity and interests.
Mastery Play: this is play most frequently seen in babies and toddlers. The child is learning a skill or movement. The movement is repeated over and over as if the child was practising. They are starting to learn about cause and effect.
Symbolic Play: where a child uses one thing to represent something else.
Whatever the ‘type’ of play or activity according to these broad definitions, there are various types of play that children will engage in and benefit from. For ease, these are described here, alongside some developmental stages where possible. This way of describing play doesn’t mean you will only see one type of play at a time. For example, the impact of children’s social development on play means that at certain developmental stages, children will play in certain ways. As they pass developmental milestones, additional ways of interacting and therefore playing, are available to them.
These types of play include:
· Social play
· Physical play
· Creative play
· Imaginative play
· Construction play
· Sand and water play
· Stories, rhymes and music
Social play stages:
Children play alone, and may need adult support.
Parallel Play / 2 – 3 years
Children play alongside another child. They may be aware of games other than their own, but don’t co-operate with these games
Associative Play / From 3 years
Children will watch other children and copy their actions or play.
Co-operative play / 3 – 4 years
Children have shared enjoyment in play, and start to organise their play (e.g. ‘let’s be fairies’)
Play will mimic the developmental stage of the child, and should provide them with opportunities to consolidate skills they’ve learnt and practice new ones. An example of this in practice for play linked to physical development includes the following stages:
Age / Physical development / Play0 – 6 months / Locomotor skills
Gross motor movement
Fine motor movement / Not shown at this age.
Baby gym; moving arms and legs; wriggling; learning to sit up
Rattles, mobiles, textured toys, reaching and grasping
6 – 12 months / Locomotor skills
Gross motor movement
Fine motor movement / Crawling, creeping, rolling; pulling up and cruising; starting to walk; pushing trolley; music to dance
Reaching, stretching, rolling; picking up and throwing; rolling soft ball; toys that move
Stackers, shakers and sorters; wooden bricks; toy instruments
12 – 24 months / Locomotor skills
Gross motor movement
Fine motor movement / Increasing walking (many children start to walk at this stage); running; ‘funny walks’
Pull-along toys; all of those in previous stage; tricycles; buggies; sit-in or –on toys; ‘treasure hunts’ – ‘show me a tree, etc’
Early painting/mark making activities; stirring and mixing; all of those in the previous stage; books with flaps and textures
The EYFS Framework defines six areas of learning and development:
· Personal, Social and Emotional Development
· Communication, language and literacy
· Problem solving, reasoning and numeracy
· Knowledge and understanding of the world
· Physical development
· Creative development
“None of these areas of Learning and Development can be delivered in isolation from the others. They are equally important and depend on each other to support a rounded approach to child development. All the areas must be delivered through planned, purposeful play, with a balance of adult-led and child-initiated activities.”
Activity CHP3.1 refers to the above3.2 Observation and planning
At the end of this module the learner will be able to:
- explain what is meant by observation and assessment and outline guidance for observation
- distinguish between fact and opinion
- explain the planning cycle and describe its use in planning activities for young children
What is observation?
Observing children is more than just watching – it’s watching with a goal. There are many goals you might have, for example around a particular child’s development, or health and safety’ or assessing an activity you’ve set up. So when you’re observing children, you are watching with a goal, making a record of your observation, and using this information to plan the next stage.
There are many observation tools around – detailed recording systems, checklists, charts and assessment tools. You need to find something that is suitable for you and for the child(ren) as well as for the reason or goal behind your assessment. Remember that some assessment tools are complex and designed for specific purposes, or use by other professionals such as psychologists.
The EYFS materials say:
”Babies and young children are individuals first, each with a unique profile of abilities. Schedules and routines should flow with the child’s needs. All planning starts with observing children in order to understand and consider their current interests, development and learning.”
How to observe
When you are clear about your goal, and what you are observing, these guidelines might help you:
· Avoid labelling children
· Describe what’s happening
· Stick to the facts
· Don’t make assumptions – what you observe right now might not be true all the time
· Be realistic
· Time your observations to ensure safety of all children, not just the one you’re observing (if you are observing one child)
· Keep a simple way of recording
· Make sure you get parental permission before carrying out observations – you could do this as part of other parental permissions when a child joins your childminding service
· Don’t reach conclusions you’re not qualified to make
· Don’t be tempted to ‘diagnose’ children
· Focus on the positives
· Your observation should be more than a list of behaviours
Facts versus opinion
You need to be clear about the difference between facts and opinion. Facts are things that cannot be argued about. So when describing a child playing with stacking blocks the facts are what they did, how long they played for, did they play alongside or with another child, etc. Whether the child played ‘enthusiastically’ is an opinion.
Feelings, attitudes and values
Be clear about your own attitudes and values – for example around expectations of boys and girls playing with different toys, or that certain culture groups may not want to be involved in certain kinds of play.
Reflect back through the unit on equality and diversity, and put the concepts into practice in relation to play. Do you unconsciously use language that confirms gender stereotypes, or have low expectations of children with disabilities?
Challenge yourself to review your own attitudes and values, thinking through the different types of play outlined above. You need to ensure that you observations, and consequently your planning for children in your care, are based on sound values and attitudes.
Planning:
“Planning
· Planning can be for the long-/medium-term and can show how the Principles of the EYFS will be put into practice
· Some planning will be short-term – for a week or a day and will show how you support each child’s learning and development
· This planning always follows the same pattern – observe, analyse, and use what you have found out about the children in your group so that you plan for the next steps in their learning”
A planning cycle should include the following steps:
In other words, you need to make a plan for the next steps in a child or group of children’s learning.
Try it out – put your plan into practice.
Observe what happens
Analyse your observation – any changes to make? Did it work how you expected? Any child or children ready for a next step in learning? Any change to adult input? What about health and safety?
Some ideas around planning
You might be planning in the short, medium or long-term. Think about the overall childminding service, and how you will plan activities.
Your long-term plans might cover six months or a year thinking in broad terms about the kind of activities that might be suitable. For example, you could think about seasons; about festivals and celebrations and match these to a rough plan that will guide your themes during the years.
Medium term planning looks in more detail at some of the themes you’ve chosen. You might be looking at a month at a time, getting an idea of what themes you want to use. You will start to give some detail to these themes – for example around resources, including toys, games and other activities you want to do. You might check out what’s available at the library – story books and music for example.
Short term planning looks in more detail at this week or today. What are the babies and children in your care going to be doing? What themes are you going to use, and do you have everything you need? Have you planned some variety and different opportunities? Have you made sure these will fit with the children’s needs, and with the structure of your childminding day?
Make sure you store your plans, in a way you can refer back to them for ideas and future planning. This will help you reduce the amount of work involved – next time, you’ll know exactly what resources you need for your theme around winter, for example, because you’ve kept your plan and your analysis and notes of how it went this time.
Activities CHP3.2 & 3.3 refers to the above3.3 Every Child Matters and the Birth to Three Matters Framework
At the end of this module the learner will be able to:
- explain the background, aims and purpose of Every Child Matters, and links to the Children Act ‘04
- list the 5 outcomes of Every Child Matters, and the 5 areas for each Outcome
- explain the Birth to Three Matters framework and outline statutory guidance and principles underpinning the framework
- list 4 key aspects and the 4 components of each aspect
- describe what is included in each aspect and component