Babies, toddlers and children arriving new to a setting need a predictable and familiar environment. When they get to know what to expect in the layout of the surroundings, the resources available to them and the organisation of the day, this gives them confidence and a sense of control over what they are doing.
This sense of control is fundamental in order for children to start to branch out. However, there is a fine dividing line between the predictable and the humdrum. An unchanging environment and dull, repetitive routine results in a bored child and a ceiling being placed on their thinking. Skilled practitioners recognise when a child needs additional stimulus.
Q: How well do you balance a predictable programme with novel experiences to interest and intrigue children?
- Opportunities to explore
Given the opportunity, babies will explore with great interest the possibilities of objects and interactions with others. Treasure baskets enable babies to select different objects and investigate them, using all of their senses. Heuristic play allows toddlers to take an investigation a step further. Now they move to discover objects, fill and empty containers with objects, and try to find out what these objects do and what they are for.
Through observing adults and other children, they start to imitate. This is often more than merely copying, as the young child notes and transforms an action to make it her own.
- Decision-making and taking responsibility
We provoke children to think by encouraging them to make choices and decisions, so helping them to take responsibility for their learning. Messages from the EPPE project suggest that adults should contribute to children's ideas and thoughts, and that these are often best reflected in their freely chosen play activities.
Case study: visiting an art gallery
Childcarers Trish and Debbi decided to take a group of four-year-olds who were keen painters to visit the local art gallery. Initially, they visited the gallery without the children to familiarise themselves with the building and identify what might be of interest and how the children might respond. Trish and Debbi were keen to see how children reacted to the space within the gallery.
- In the foyer
On arrival, the children were intrigued by the sculpture in the entrance hall that accompanied the voluntary contributions box. When money was put in the box, he would nod his head and the occasional tap on the glass from his finger prompted the children to investigate how this happened and how he might do it again. They tapped back on the glass to communicate with him, and pondered who he was.
'It's a man... I think he had been there a hundred story years ago... He has a real glass in his hand. Maybe he was a spy,' said Aimee.
- An empty space
An empty space within the gallery gave the children a chance to sit and just 'be'. Trish invited them to listen to the space. The chairs cast beautiful two-toned shadows on the floor and for a short time the space was filled with the thoughts and ideas of the children:
'We could fill it with decorations.'
'...or put a carpet in here.'
'...maybe a door as well.'
'What about some paintings...'
'....and some statues.'
'Maybe just nothing, leave it like a space...'
- Moving images
One of the exhibits in the contemporary art section used a data projector to project digital images of photographs and text on to the floor of the gallery. The children were already familiar with exploring light and shadow from their experiences in the nursery. They move light and shadow using the overhead projector to project shadows; they create compositions on the light box, and create electronic images on the interactive whiteboard.
In the gallery, the children have come across light in an unexpected and unfamiliar context.
As the images slid and moved across the floor, the children followed them. They lay on the floor, aligning their bodies with the text forming a relationship with their bodies to the artwork. For some children, they wanted to know how it worked and how the images moved.
'Look, it's a projector on the ceiling,' said Aimee.
Others jumped on the floor as the images seemed to change on command from their jumps. This gesture was repeated back in the nursery, when photographs and video were re-shown to the children on their return.
'There were names there on the floor,' said Sam.
'And words too,' said Maisie.
'It was a big floor, it was a magic floor going on and off, off and on,' said Andrew.
- After the visit
Back at the nursery and meeting with the children one week later, Trish and Debbi played a video and slides from their visit and invited the children to share their thoughts and impressions. The children were not interested in copying paintings or building a sculpture, but rather, in the huge scale of the pictures in the gallery and the space for display.
This time their remarks were more practical-minded.
'I can't paint (like those in the gallery),' said Andrew.
'We can only do little paintings (in nursery),' said Reece.
'But we could do a big painting that would have to go on the ceiling (of the nursery),' said Andrew.
Trish and Debbi saw that this idea offered the potential of working on a large scale and exploring concepts of collaboration and negotiation.
Debbi and Trish later reflected on what they had learned from the visit:
- the importance of planning in advance for the visit, but not to produce an inflexible plan
- to be prepared to 'let go' of any pre-conceived ideas and allow the children time to explore what they were interested in
- to listen carefully to the children's comments and observations.
CASE STUDY: DAISY
Daisy has attended a baby group for three sessions since she was a young baby. She has a gradual introduction to treasure baskets and is given time to explore. Her early investigational play is observed carefully by her key person.
At nine months, she explores a basket of wooden resources. She gazes at two wooden rings, holding one in each hand, having already tasted them.
At 14 months, Daisy explores the possibilities of a squashy ball with a bell inside. She feels it with her face, shakes it to hear the bell, then tries to bite it.
Daisy starts to enjoy playing with other children as she interacts with one- to three-year-olds. Her imaginative play is observed to be developing rapidly. She watches another child carefully and then feeds the doll with Lily.
CASE STUDY: ROLE PLAY
Should a role-play area be a prepared environment or offer open-ended resources? I observed role play in reception classes in two similar primary schools. The staff in school A planned their role play very carefully and introduced a play theme to children through a story - in this instance, 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff'.
The story was read to the children several times and staff made sure that children were familiar with characters. The role-play area was organised in great detail, with attention given to masks and coats for the billy goats and troll, and a beautifully constructed bridge over a river of blue cloth.
Staff encouraged the children to think sequentially as they recalled and played through the story and to develop the characters in their own way.
The reception class in school B had prepared no theme for their role play but had instead a defined 'magic space'. The space was empty, but adjoining it was a rich range of open-ended materials, boxes, fabrics, rope, blocks, poles, papers.
Staff explained that they had changed their provision when they noted that by setting up a scenario in great detail, this left little for the children's own ideas. Initially, children were bemused by the challenge of creating their own role play. They needed adults to work with them to develop sparkly ideas.
Once they realised the area and resources were for them to develop for themselves, the children were unstoppable in their creativity.
There was good-quality play in both classes, but the seedbed for thinking was more evident in School B, where children had to rely on themselves to make things happen.
LINKS TO EYFS GUIDANCE
- EE 3.1 Observation, Assessment and Planning
- L&D 4.2 Active Learning
- L&D 4.3 Creativity and Critical Thinking
- L&D 4.4 Areas of Learning and Development: Creative Development
- L&D 4.4 Areas of Learning and Development: Communication, Language and Literacy
References
- Case studies of Daisy and the Visit to the Art Gallery are with permission from Bushbury Nursery School, Wolverhampton
- Images taken from A Visit to the Art Gallery are with permission from Wolverhampton Art Gallery.