We try and plan our activities based on observations that we make of the children. Sometimes, however, learning is spontaneous and the learning is very much ‘in the moment’. This is a really important part of early years because the children are leading their own learning; as adults we are simply there to try and recognise the learning potential and to help children to explore their own ideas. A wonderful example of this was when we put a canopy up in the garden this week. We adults thought we were constructing a cosy corner for children to read… the children however had other ideas. One child said, “it’s a tent… we can go camping!” This led a number of children to seek material from the dressing up trolley to use as sleeping bags, others started to gather fallen twigs to ‘make a campfire’, they collected acorns and conkers to use as ‘marshmallows’, we then sat on our sleeping bags, toasting our marshmallows, and sung some campfire songs. This shows wonderful creativity; the children worked together to work out what provisions they needed, they then set about working in small teams to set up the sleeping bags, whilst others were making the fire. This activity links in with various areas of learning including, personal and social skills, communication and language, understanding the world, and expressive arts and design… all of this was unplanned and child-led and helps illustrate why we need to be able to tune into the children’s interests.
Other activities that have been popular this week have been exploring the paint with our hands! We often get handprints when children first start at Squirrels as a keepsake for their learning journeys… this seemed to inspire the children to explore the paint with their hands on their own as they enjoyed getting messy and enjoying the sensory aspects of ‘squelching’ the paint. We used some of the many handprints children did to make our autumn tree display – this started lots of conversations about ‘signs of autumn’ with children focusing on colours, leaves falling down, and finding things such as acorns and conkers!
Other popular activities have been the shop, the playdough, and the farm animals in the garden. The children have also enjoyed rolling balls and cars down half-pipes, and dancing to music in the garden with scarves.
Ideas to continue this week’s fun at home:
Join in with your child’s play – offer them open ended resources, such as a cardboard box or a blanket over the table, and see where their imagination takes them… let us know what adventures you have!
Other activities that have been popular this week have been exploring the paint with our hands! We often get handprints when children first start at Squirrels as a keepsake for their learning journeys… this seemed to inspire the children to explore the paint with their hands on their own as they enjoyed getting messy and enjoying the sensory aspects of ‘squelching’ the paint. We used some of the many handprints children did to make our autumn tree display – this started lots of conversations about ‘signs of autumn’ with children focusing on colours, leaves falling down, and finding things such as acorns and conkers!
Other popular activities have been the shop, the playdough, and the farm animals in the garden. The children have also enjoyed rolling balls and cars down half-pipes, and dancing to music in the garden with scarves.
Ideas to continue this week’s fun at home:
Join in with your child’s play – offer them open ended resources, such as a cardboard box or a blanket over the table, and see where their imagination takes them… let us know what adventures you have!
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