Silkysteps early years forum - planning ideas for play - how are areas linked, outcomes are documented, why its important to plan for childrens individual learning development

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaDDye (Post 60147)

Ladies any ideas?
thank you x

1.2 Explain how the areas of learning and development are co-dependent

1.4 Explain how documented outcomes are assessed and recorded

1.5 Explain the importance of planning activities individual learning and development needs

1.1 Explain the importance of planning activities, play opportunities and educational programmes to meet the age, stage, needs and abilities and interests of children.

It is always important to plan an activity before doing it. The activity which we are planning should cover at least one of the areas of physical development, understanding the world, communication and language, literacy, numeracy, personal, emotional, social development and expressive arts and design need to cover the seven areas of development. This can be achieved by planning activities which will motivate the children to play as well as to learn things through play. The children will enjoy the activity and without knowing they are learning they will understand things quickly through play. When planning activity the practitioner should have in mind about the age and the child’s interest, needs and their abilities Because if a child doesn’t shows interest in performing the activity then it will result in failure so it is better to know the child’s needs and interest when planning activity. Planning help to ensure that the child has provided right opportunities in right time to achieve the positive outcome.

Each and every child is important and they are unique. So for the practitioner it is important to know each individual child interest, ability, needs and target to achieve. The practitioner first needs to identify the child’s interest, their strength and weakness. Then the practitioner needs to plan activities according to the child interest and needs and also to cover the seven areas of development.

Every individual needs should be met in school where they learn. The settings need to adapt the environment, indoor and outdoor to satisfy the individual needs. We have several children in school who have different needs and they are all assessed individually so that they can be allocated right resources and even one to one support when needed to achieve their targets. Some children are given individual education plan to achieve their targets with in the time frame allocated. Some children might require special equipment for their education and development. Some children who are using wheelchair might require more space and ramp/lift facility, etc. so it totally depends upon the needs of the children. Some children may need activity adapted to enable them to take part. Children who are having eye impairment may require large font and pictorial representation when learning. So for each and every child the needs will differ. For literacy and numeracy the children need to be assessed individually so that the children who need more support will be provided and the children who already reached the target will carry on moving to their next goal.

So it is important to plan activities, play opportunities and educational programmes individually to satisfy their need and to reach their target. If we plan it as a whole then some children needs will not be satisfied so it is better to know all the children needs individually and to plan activities so that the activities can be easily adapted to meet their needs.

The practitioner can plan activities in different ways like long term plan, short term planning and one to one planning that is individual planning. The long term planning is planning for long term that is to observe and evaluate the child for a term or throughout the year to find their interest and areas of development and their ability and needs for performing the activity. Short term plan means observing for short term or even for one particular activity. Individual planning is totally depending upon the child’s interest, ability and needs of the child.

The planning is really important while creating play opportunities and educational programmes for children because it will set the goals for children and aims for the practitioners. By creating goals the children needs could be met and their development progress is also recorded accurately. Some children will stay in nursery for the whole day like five days a week. For such children the practitioners need to create a good clean environment and introducing variety of new games every day for their play so that the children won’t get bored and keep on learning through play. By proper planning the children will get more independence and well organised environment will make the children to explore more stuff and to tidy up easily. The practitioners can able to find the child’s interest and can able to create more similar activities depending upon the interest of the children.

The practitioners need to plan activities and then do the observation and evaluate the result and make changes and plan again. This process will need to continue throughout the year.

1.2 Explain the importance of involving the individual child in planning activities, play opportunities and educational programmes to meet their needs and interests.

Each and every child is important and they are unique. So for the practitioner it is important to know each individual child interest, ability, needs and target to achieve. The practitioner first need to identify the child’s interest, their strength and weakness. Then the practitioner needs to plan activities according to the child interest and needs and also to cover the areas of development.

As a practitioner I used to plan activities every day. For example, painting, craft activities, play dough, reading stories, ball games, puzzles, etc. I used to set/arrange the planned activities in the table and allow the children to involve in the activities. Sometimes these planned activities will work out really well and most of the children will show much interest in it. But for some activity the children won’t get attracted and doesn’t show much interest. When this happens I used to observe it for time and if no child is interested then I will ask the children in which they are interested and want to play. Then according to the children interest I will plan the activities and make the children to get involved. When I ask the children what activity to do, the children will show there confidence and self-esteem about the activity and communicate with me by using good communication skills which is a good development.

For example, once I planned an activity with some dinosaurs and some dried grass in a small tub. The children don’t show much interest and none of the child came for playing. Then I asked a child about that activity then he said, ‘I don’t want to play in this small tub with these dinosaurs alone’. Then I changed the dinosaurs to a bigger tub with more sand and plants, king, soldier’s toys in it. I also included a castle in the corner of the tub. Then the children came to play. They played like the king lives in the castle and the soldiers went to defeat the dinosaurs which lives in the forest. In this activity I changed the theme by including the castle, king and soldiers as per the children interest.

So it is important to plan activities, play opportunities and educational programmes individually to satisfy their need and to reach their target. If we plan it as a whole then some children needs will not be satisfied so it is better to know all the children needs individually and to plan activities so that the activities can be easily adapted to meet their needs.