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Talk shop

It is important that any planned topic reflects children's learning needs and interests. A project on shopping may stem from the interests of a specific group of children or be in response to an event, such as the opening of a local supermarket. But such a topic is always appropriate because it can build on the familiar and on what children know and can do. Role play
It is important that any planned topic reflects children's learning needs and interests. A project on shopping may stem from the interests of a specific group of children or be in response to an event, such as the opening of a local supermarket. But such a topic is always appropriate because it can build on the familiar and on what children know and can do.

Role play

Young children learn best when they are involved in self-chosen activities that offer stimulation and challenge. Well-planned role play offers children rich learning experiences, which can be revisited and developed over time. It is often in these situations that children function at their highest level and achieve the most.

A topic such as shopping lends itself to the development of high-quality role-play experiences which will augment home corner play. Exciting role-play areas make a significant contribution to children's development across all six areas of learning.

While practitioners have always been good at planning to support communication, language and literacy and personal, social, emotional and creative development through role play, mathematical development has sometimes been sidelined. However, shopping naturally includes counting and calculating in meaningful, relevant ways (see 'It all adds up', page 16).

Outdoors

Likewise, the outdoor area is sometimes overlooked when practitioners plan theme-based experiences to support children's interests and learning needs.

However, experiences planned for indoors can be replicated outside, though the outdoor environment should be planned to complement, enhance and extend learning indoors. The outdoor area gives children lots of opportunities to do things on a much larger, noisier, messier scale and to interact with natural resources in a different way from indoors.

Practitioners could simply replicate indoor role-play scenarios outside, such as a supermarket or pet shop. But what would be the point? A much better approach is to plan role-play scenarios that actually occur outdoors, such as a fruit and vegetable or flower stall, street market, farmer's market, garden centre or car boot sale.

A role-play theme can also be developed to incorporate both indoor and outdoor play - through, for example, the inclusion of a delivery service for food, plants or flowers. Such a scenario has the added advantage of incorporating bikes, scooters and trolleys into role play and taming the competitive or repetitive play that sometimes occurs with wheeled toys.

Local environment

Practitioners all know that children learn best through first-hand experiences, but it is rarely appropriate to take a large group or whole class on a local visit.

Children will learn much more through informal experiences that involve, ideally, two adults and four children. In this way, the children can have high-quality interactions, ask and answer questions and make the most of the visit.

Using a digital camera, children can record their experiences through the photos they take and share these with their peers. Such visits can be used to inspire activities such as a number hunt or develop children's understanding of ICT in its widest sense (see 'Street wise', page 20).

However, for various reasons, practitioners in some settings are finding it increasingly difficult to plan for short trips. In such instances, some children may have little or no experience of some of the planned role-play scenarios and be unclear about the roles involved and what they could be doing.

Where practitioners find it impossible to plan visits for all the children, they can help supplement the children's understanding of a theme by watching DVD footage with them. Among the DVD resources available are Early Vision's Inspire and Inform materials, which aim to 'unlock the door to quality role play by enabling children to watch and hear adults in their work' (see resources, page 18).

Judith Stevens is an early years adviser and author. Publications include A Place to Learn - Developing a stimulating learning environment and Focus on Planning - Effective planning and assessment in the Foundation Stage (LEARN Publications, 17.50 and 30 respectively, including p&p, tel: 020 8695 9806)