Carefully planned, high-quality and open-ended continuous provision is key to creating an enabling environment for children in the EYFS. It is important to frequently review how the children are using the continuous provision and when it would be beneficial to add ‘enhancements’. Reasons for adding enhancements include:
- Inspiration: Play has become repetitive so you may decide that an enhancement could give the children new ideas for their play, offer new challenge, enable them to build on their vocabulary, and encourage collaborative play. This does not mean the familiar resources in the continuous provision are taken away.
- Following interests: Observations of the children have shown that they have an interest in taking their play in a new direction or they have a new fascination and would benefit from an enhancement to develop this further.
- Applying knowledge and skills: After being taught a concept or skill, children often apply their learning in the continuous provision. Sometimes a more specific enhancement can provide opportunities to observe and assess whether children can apply what they have learnt and encourage them to reinforce and develop what they know.
Enhancements are very personal to the children in your class, and the amount of time they last can vary from one day to several weeks. Adults may judge that an enhancement would be beneficial in that area of the classroom, so they end up being added to the continuous provision itself.
All of my examples in this series are from the Little Learners Nursery at Ormiston Herman Academy in Gorleston, Great Yarmouth. The children who attend are aged 3 to 4 years old. Each year, several children in our cohorts have speech and language delay, so providing communication and language opportunities is at the heart of all our enhancements.
AUTHENTIC OBJECTS
When you give children real objects, it makes them feel trusted, which adds to their confidence. Authentic objects can be much more intriguing than toy versions and can lead to more valuable play experiences.
Observations of the children in the nursery had shown that for a long time, many of them enjoyed pretend tea play. As this was around the time of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, an enhancement tuff spot was placed in the home corner with water, spoons, tea bags and an authentic china tea set. This enhancement attracted all the children at various points to participate in tea party play during the week the tray was available.
Having a range of ages and stages of development means that different children will interact with enhancements in a variety of ways. Some were fascinated with the sensory aspect of the enhancement; the sound the spoon makes as they stir the tea, the colour changes that occur as the tea bag enters the water, the different smells coming from the tea. Some were feeling with their hands how the tea bags change as they went from dry to wet – ‘It is heavy now!’ a child observed. Some children had a curiosity about what was inside the teabags and opened them up to explore the contents. Others were more interested in role-playing and collaborated with their friends, talking about celebrating the Jubilee with a tea party. Comments were made such as, ‘Can you pour me a cup of tea, please?’, ‘I’ll give it a good stir’, ‘The Queen likes tea’ and ‘Hold it carefully!’
It was decided that the tea set brought some valuable learning experiences to the home corner. It has a new place here as part of the continuous provision. It is still in good condition and a parent commented during a stay-and-play session, ‘I can't believe the children are allowed to play with that and they have treated it with such care!’
Our outdoor mud kitchen only contains authentic objects. The sink, microwave, toaster, kettle, pots, pans and utensils are part of the continuous provision. Sometimes enhancements are added such as a dish rack and a bubbly washing-up bowl with sponges and brushes.
Authentic objects do not have to be expensive to enhance your setting. Charity shops can be treasure troves for enhancements. The china tea set was bought from Barnardo's for only £8. Our mud kitchen equipment consists of a mixture of donations from staff of equipment they no longer need, alongside low-cost additions from supermarkets, such as wooden spoons and whisks. Many of the A-Z enhancements throughout this series will include more examples of using authentic objects.
Amy Jackson is EYFS specialist leader of education and teacher at Ormiston Herman Academy, Gorleston