The Practitioner in an Early Years Setting Supports Children’s Play, Learning and Development
It is important for an early year’s practionor to support young people and children’s play, as play can help the child to have an understand to the world as they grow and develop, by nature children are naturally born to play.
As well as play being an innate drive for children, it also can be used to be able to help in supporting children with their emotional and social development, play helps to create relationships and bonds with other children as well as adults, and making it easier for children to interact and socialize with each other and creating a much more warming and secure environment for that child to feel safe in. “Play is a physiological, psychological and social necessity, and it is fundamental to the healthy development and well-being of individuals and communities.” (Carolyn Meggitt & Tina Bruce, 2014, PG 248)
During my time in practice, I have seen children that have been deprived of play in their past, but when they are invited into a free-play environment, the child will almost instinctively know what to do and play. They may not have the confidence to play with the other children or adults, but they may engage in their own solitary play or may even partake in onlooker play.
I have seen play bring children out of their ‘shell’ and become much more confident with in them self’s and incredibly much more sociable, for example I know this child, who still comes to my placement today, we will call her child ‘N’. When child ‘N’ first came into our setting, she was really quite, would always cry for her mother and father to return, pick her up and take her home.
But after a few weeks of one on one play sessions with the play settings practitioner’s and getting the other children involved as well, child ‘N’ has become much more sociable, she has begun to talk in much more complex sentences than she has ever done before and whenever child ‘N’ plays dress up and other role playing activities with the other children and adults, child ‘N’ will, most likely, always be the leader of the group, telling the others participating in the activity what to do and how the story will pan out from the beginning to the end.
It is important to help children and young people learn and develop through play as it helps advance and create interests and hobbies for that child. When using play through learning and development, children have a much keener interest when it comes to activities being given to the children. Using a child’s interests and hobbies in learning can help the child engage better and have a much more understanding of the task that they have been given, and are able to finish their task in a possible allocated time, this helps to develop their time keeping skills.
Your role as and childcare practitioner is to support a child’s learning and development, and there are a number of ways of doing this, depending on the child’s individual wants and needs. One way would be to set up a one to one for that child with an adult as to set up a
Page 2 of 8
bond and create a trust for that child, as children need to be able to trust others in a setting in order to be able to feel confident and independent enough to discover and explore their environment. “Staff are the most important resource in any setting.” (Maureen Lee & Kati Alcock, 2016, PG 14)
In order to have a child creatively and critically think of new skills, another method to do this would be to introduce the ‘Scaffolding’ technique. This is the procedure of the child learning new skills by being reinforced with a more educated individual, whether it be another child or an adult. This technique involves a very careful intervention through a child-initiated activity, or an adult-led session. This method encourages the child to listen and support one another.
I have seen the ‘Scaffolding’ method during my time in placement, there was a little girl who is two years old and she struggled on an activity that we gave her. The activity was for the children to make a tower out of blocks without it falling over.
This two-year-old girl only made a single line of blocks going up, thus making the tower very unstable, so we asked another 4-year-old girl to help the two-year-old out. The four-year-old came up with the idea of building ‘supports’ for the tower, having the object not fall over as easily, and I believe that this method was effective as from then on the two-year-old girl would build towers with supports and if she got stuck, she would find the four-year-old girl and ask for her to help.
Your role as a practitioner can help a child’s well-being by helping that distinct child to develop and enhance their social skills and learn on how to control and manage their thoughts and feelings. “Supporting children with their emotional wellbeing will lead to children having a positive impact on their social interactions with others and the ability to make friendships. If left unsupported children may display behavioural difficulties which may lead to further issues later on in the future.” (Kelly, 2015, PG 1)
When it comes to supporting a child’s well-being, it is important to make the environment comfortable for that said child, in order to render them to feel at ease with both their emotions and being physically comfortable as well, this allows them to work and learn effectively and be able to learn to the best of their abilities. “Enabling a child to become confident and establish positive self-esteem gives them the foundations to move forward and develop their potential.” (The Highland Council Comhairle Na Gaidhealtachd, 2013, PG 80)
In pretty much all childcare settings, at least one child has been abused, whether it be sexual, physical or emotional. This includes having the child not receiving affection from their parent/carer, this results in children becoming isolated. In my practice, unfortunately, I have witnessed a few children not receiving affection as well as love and the results are frequent crying, separation anxiety and lack of motivation to have fun, or in fact do anything. “Research shows that children who do not get enough love and attention in early childhood are less likely to become well-adjusted adults.” (Carolyn Meggitt & Tina Bruce, 2014, PG 67)
Page 3 of 8
To further help with helping a child’s well-being, in the process of increasing a child’s confidence within their self’s, is to show them love and great affection. It is greatly important to show affection and love to a child, verbally and physically.
At my placement I show affection by giving the children hugs and always telling them that they are being really good with their play and school work, as well as always praising them when they have done a task that they have been asked to do. “Strong emotional bonds or attachments are necessary for healthy development.” (Ainsworth and others, 1971, PG 60)
When there is an affection given to children, it is also important add policies to a childcare setting as to ensure that every child is receiving the same treatment and are receiving equal opportunities when it comes to play and their learning and development.
Using the St. Luke’s Pre-Schools play policy it clearly states that they want to provide a secure and exciting atmosphere within their pre-school, as the children can meet their emotional, physical, intellectual and social needs. Through play, children learn to make important life choices and are able to grow up confidently and up to their full potential.
With learning through play, it is important to support a child’s legal right to play as it helps to promote learning in a variety of ways for children and young adults. Play can help to nurture a child’s development and fulfils their innate drive and need to learn.
Play can take on many forms, from riding bikes in the garden, painting or drawing pictures or even reading picture books.” As play is vital to all areas of children’s learning and development, these will be affected by the lack of stimulation and ability to play.” (Carolyn Meggitt & Tina Bruce, 2014, PG 236)
In practice I have seen older children, around four and five, wanting to learn more about the world and wanting to be challenge. There is a five-year-old girl in my placement, where I have noticed that she has start to become bored very easily with play, and actually looks forward to doing her school work. She can write her name clearly and is able to recognise numbers up to 15 and is able to understand and remember primary and secondary colours. By this behaviour change I would say that she is ready to go in reception with the older children.
The EYFS Learning and Development policy, section 1 PG 7, states that it is required to have early learning goals for the children in an early years setting and several learning areas that are in the curriculum as stated (literacy, language & communication, physical development, social, personal and emotional development, mathematics, expressive arts and design, and understanding the world).
The EYFS believes that it is essential for children to have their own individual plans and methods of teaching in how they learn and are able to meet their milestones. “Practitioners must consider the individual needs, interests, and stage of development of each child in their care, and must use this information to plan a challenging and enjoyable experience for each child in all of the areas of learning and development.” (Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage, 2014, PG 6)
Page 4 of 8
By adding policies, there is also a chance to add routines for children in relation to play. Learning through play can be the most effective way to teach a child about the world around them, but it is easily the most overlooked necessity within child development. Play can be carried out with the child in a solitary environment, with another child or adult and in a group of people.
The benefits of learning through play can be that the child can express their own ideas and feelings, letting the child understand that learning does not have to be a boring chore and that it can be interesting and fun. Play holds their attention to the activity at hand and with play, that child can easily develop a bond with other adults and children.
Having routines for children is highly important because, they give children a sense of control and safety over their environment. With a routine, children will quickly grasp that at a certain time of day something regular will happen, e.g. at 7:00pm the child will become sleepy and realise it’s time for bed. A routine can also be very helpful when managing children’s behaviours, especially when comes to transitioning the child in new tasks, as children do not particularly like change. “Routines provide a context for learning to take place. Routines help children learn how their world is organized and what they need to do in order to interact successfully in that world.” (Sussmen, 2011)
One of the most important life skill that a child can learn from with a routine is self-control, as well as positive behaviour and an increase in social skills. It has also been know that routines can help the parents/carers relationship with that child, as there is no need for a power struggle anymore.
I have seen a clear power struggle when it comes to my placement. Some children are able to get away with any behaviour at home, so when they come into our setting there are usually angry or upset that their usual routine of being the one in charge is broken, as we not accept and bad behaviour a we expect every child to have the same routine in order to have a calmer and peaceful environment.
Not only does routine help with children learning about their day, it can also help to develop their gross and fine motor skills as they constantly practice the same task every day at the same time. This will result in the child’s confidence to soar and will become much more successful in complete these said tasks in the future. “Routines also teach children specific skills involved in the routine as well as skills that can be used in other circumstances” (Rodriguez-Gil, 2010)
Going back to policies, there are legislation pieces that give guideline in to informing a setting on how children should be give equal opportunities when it comes to play. The EYFS states that it is very important the children being given the choice and opportunity to play indoors and outdoors. “All early years providers must have access to an outdoor play area which can benefit the children. If a setting does not have direct access to an outdoor play area then they must arrange for daily opportunities for outdoor play in an appropriate nearby location.” (Practice Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage, 2008, PG 7)
Page 5 of 8
During my time in practice, I have seen how children crave to play outdoors and that they can become irritable and upset if not given the opportunity, e.g. it raining. The children will constantly ask are they going to go out outside, and they become very dishearten when and if you say no not today.
The EYFS also states that providers of a childcare setting need to ensure that there is a balance of child initiated play, adult led play and sustained shared thinking. All activities should be planned out on these guides, around 1/3 of each type of play throughout the day. Another issue that childcare practitioners need to be aware of is to help promote spontaneous play whenever it arises. “Providing well-planned experiences based on children’s spontaneous play, both indoors and outdoors, is an important way in which practitioners support young children to learn with enjoyment and challenge.” (Practice Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage, 2008, PG 7)
When it comes to play, it is important to be inclusive as inclusive play gives children equal of opportunities including children that are disabled and those of a different race or culture.
Inclusion is the process of allowing every child to join in on activities while also making adjustment for those children, e.g. adding as ramp for a wheel chair user.
In my childcare setting, they have made adaptions to help children with special needs, including wheelchair ramps and disabled toilets. We have also include resources that can be used on the table for a child in a wheelchair and they cannot walk or go on the floor as there is a risk the child being knocked over.
Past research has shown that when done correctly, inclusion can be an incredibly positive experience for young children. Inclusion can be beneficial as it can:
• Able to build relationships
• Practice social skills
• The child being able to work at their own comfortable pace
In addition, children that will mix with other children with different abilities or cultural backgrounds are known to be more accepting of other and fell more empathy. “Compassion is strongly correlated with secure attachment. A range of 21st century evidence shows that people with a secure attachment style are more affectionate, forgiving, benevolent and humanitarian.” (Dr Geoff Taggart, 2013)
With inclusion, as treating children as individuals is not the same as treating all children in the same way. This is impossible to do so. The role of a childcare practitioner is to ensure that they understand and have the knowledge to treat all children and their families with equal respect and kindness. “It is a requirement of registration for anyone who offers home-based childcare that they comply with the Children Act (2004) and its guidance. The Act has the requirement ‘to treat all children as individuals and with equal concern’ and links to Articles 2, 12 and 13 of the UNCRC.” (Providing Play and Activities to Support Equality and Inclusion, 2005, PG 144)
Page 6 of 7
In my childcare setting, we treat all children and families with the equal amount of respect. When it comes to inclusion of children with disabilities, we have a four-year-old girl who has Down’s syndrome. This Child, we will call her child ‘M’, has the opportunity to go where ever the other children are and play with all the same toys.
But the difference is being that she has one to one lessons with the same teacher every week to insure child ‘M’ does not hurt herself, as children with Down’s syndrome have weak joint meaning that if you pull her arm, it will dislocate and she would have to be sent to hospital.
With children, it is important to have an enabling environment as it plays and significant role in a child’s learning and development. It is well known that a child will learn better in a supportive environment, which means that in this environment the practitioners are able to work with the children specific needs, thus allowing them to discover and play. “Children learn and develop well in enabling environments, in which their experiences respond to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and/or carers.” (Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage, 2014, PG 7)
To create and enabling environment, you need to add these characteristics:
• Creative play
• Indoor play
• Outdoor play
• Messy play
• Heuristic play
• Child-led play and adult-led play
• And telling Stories
When children feel emotionally and physically safe and secure, there are able to discover and understand new places, as well as new sounds, smells and touches. It states in the EYFS that the environment is categorised into three aspects, emotional environment, outdoor environment and indoor environment. “Maintaining positive feelings is important for staff, children and parents, but equally if they feel safe in the emotional environment children can express their feelings safely, knowing that their parents or staff are nearby to help them if they feel overwhelmed by these.” (Early Years Matters, 2007)