Play based learning is a common phrase used to describe Early Years education but what does it mean?
The word play can be interpreted in many ways and can sometimes be misunderstood. Children need play and this play enables them to explore and investigate the world around them.
In Early Years we understand the importance of a play based curriculum and use our environments as the third teacher. We set out resources and invitations for children to engage with. These resources are open ended to encourage the children to use their creativity, imagination and own ideas. We have a skills based not product based approach to the learning.
Each child is part of a classroom community and will spend some of their day in this classroom with their teacher and co-teacher. At other times in the day children will be in Freeflow. Freeflow is a time when the classrooms open up and children can move between rooms that have a different focus. These focus rooms range from our Atelier with paint, a range of materials, clay, the projector and mark making materials to the construction room that has a range of blocks, smaller loose parts and construction materials. The focus room approach ensures that the children have more freedom and opportunities to move around but also that they have a wider choice of learning to access.
Our adults are skilled at interactions and spend time in the environment with the children. They are an essential part of the play. The early years educators ensure they balance high quality interactions with times of observation. This feeds into our assessment and understanding of the children as individual learners.
Outdoor learning is part of the freeflow and gives our children the opportunity to be louder, messier and move their bodies in a range of ways. Outside we have water and sand areas, we have bikes and scooters, and we also have larger loose parts. We are always mindful to not just take indoor activities outside but to offer resources and experiences that are suited to outdoor learning. Next term we will start to introduce our woodwork station.
Freeflow is an essential part of our day, and we ensure these sessions are long enough so that children get the opportunity for sustained periods of play. Most days the children will get two freeflow sessions. We recently invited the parents in to join our freeflow sessions and it was great to see the children so excited to share their learning and experiences.
