Activity ideas for assessment
 

I am being assessed in placement soon with babies (under 12 months) and I have to plan an activity to do with cognitive. I know this involves anything but I am struggling for ideas due to the age of the children. There will only be 5 babies maximum between 8 months and 12 months. I was going to sing songs to them but the EYP said they won't sit and listen. I want to do something different though rather than just singing. I only need to plan one activity but the assessor stays for an hour so I will probably need to do a few things!
I decided against a messy activity eg. Cornflour gloop, because if they lost interest and went onto another activity, it would take time to clean them up when I am meant to be getting assessed.
I thought about a treasure basket, not necessarily with all natural items in, but with various small toys from the baby room and toddler room. But with treasure baskets aren't you supposed to sit back and let them explore? Apart from commenting on what they are doing it would look like I'm not doing much.
Any ideas on what I can do that will last an hour?

Hi, a warm welcome to the site. Activity planning helps to demonstrate what you know about child development and planning for individual and group needs.

If you looked at the hour between 10am and 11am each morning that you're in the setting what happens? how many activities would you say a child engages in during that time?

Consider what you know about the children you'll be planning the activity for eg. their stage of development and any specific interests - walking, language, food. Does play happen inside and outside?

What resources/toys do you have available?

The development matters guidance can be helpful - download on this page

Sensory activities for exploration could be a bowl of balls, basket of books, a floor tray of dried pasta, cups and spoons. A box of fruit and veg.

Remember interaction is as important as you being there observing and supporting the children when necessary.

Activities for problem solving could be match & slot/shape sorting, tower building/block stacking, hat wearing - all manner of items that can sit safely on a head! noise toys such as button pressing and rattles, pop up and peek-a-boo type toys

What does it mean to be one by Jennie Lindon

The 8-10 month old development checklist on USA fisher price.com may be useful to see how you might plan an activity around expected stages.

Hope this helps a little xx

Thank you for your help ☺ xx