So if the adult provides stimulating activities for the children, they can extend their learning and development. The practitioners have also provided multicultural dolls to promote equal opportunities within the setting, looking at Maria Montessori(ST3,P.56) it states ‘the role of the adult, or ‘directress’, was to observe, support and guide if necessary.’ Within my own setting, we very much let the children explore and investigate the new activity and resources themselves so they can use their own imagination, ‘ICT toys are good for imaginative play’, e.g. mobile phones, laptops etc. This enables us to observe each child individually and see what they can do when left to their own devices. Pens are supplied so that the children can mark make. One child writes on a blood specimen bottle E100 DVD ‘Hospital Play’ at 05.50-07.30.The Practice Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage states ‘sometimes give meaning to marks as they draw and paint’.(DCSF 2008,P.57) The child here is using Piaget’s theory of schemas. Taking the pen to the blood specimen bottle and writing on it. He has ‘… built increasingly elaborate mental representations of the environment, based on their explorations of it.’(ST4, p.88)
The play that the children are participating in is mimicking what they have seen before e.g. when the child puts a plaster on the doll, E100 DVD ‘Hospital Play’ at 02.23-02.40. The child must have seen this done before, either on himself or on somebody else. ‘ …imitation and ‘modelling’ are in the early play and learning of very young children and how carefully infants engage in ‘people-watching’ activities.(ST3,P.68)
You can get a lot from this activity the children are playing, the practitioners can observe what they see and make notes for the children’s records and for future planning. ‘Observations will provide you with evidence from which you can learn about what the child has experienced or achieved.’(ST3, P.73)
There have been many ways, either past and present ideas or theories of how children learn. These ideas have come from researches, professionals and parents. Not necessarily being right or wrong. However within recent times, there has been scientific studies on the development of children and it has now been documented and this gives us a rough guide of where an average child should be at for their age. E.g. The Practice Guidance for the Early Foundation Stage.
The second DVD sequence takes place at the ‘Lark Children’s Centre. This is because, like my provision it caters for the birth to 3 year old range. The Bud room follows a similar routine to what my team do, starting off with greeting parents, breakfast and then going onto supporting the babies with arrange of activities E100 DVD block 1, Lark Children Centre at 00.00-1.30, the babies are exploring the properties of paint, its texture and colour and learning how their actions bring about effect. Their behaviour has developed beyond the early simple reflexes into learned patterns of sequences which Piaget called schemes. This presents new knowledge and how to do things in the world and it can be stored and used again on new situations,(ST4,P86) Later on in the video sequence at 14.10-15.24 baby Faria is looking at herself in the mirror playing peek-a-boo with Kirsty, Faria is mimicking what she has observed kirsty do. It is shown that kirsty has got a good strong positive nurturing relationship with Faria and will help with her learning and development. Faria is gaining a positive sense of belief in people that are a source of comfort to her. This scene supports Stern’s view that the fostering of positive and nurturing relationships in the early years practice is a priority in working with young children. (ST4, P98)
Statutory requirements for the welfare and provision
The chosen sequences demonstrate legislation on welfare and provision by showing the children in an outside environment and Bud room. The children have access to the outside area where they can play in the ‘Hospital’ and the babies are supported with a nurturing attitude. They have suitable clothing on and all seem very content. They look physically and emotionally well, Faria is giggling out loud when she gets a response, one boy in ‘hospital play’, who I will refer to as child A, appears happy with a smile on his face and interacts with another little boy.(00.12). Child A at (00.40-00.43) gives the doll an injection this shows me he is caring for the doll and making her better. He demonstrates to another child giving an injection to the doll, at (01.08-01.11). The boy puts a plaster on the doll at (02.24-02.36). Foley (cited in E100, ST5, P-136) supports child A by saying ‘children become actively engaged in what is understood in their culture as health and illness’. Child A and his friends are exploring their ‘hospital environment, he is engaging with others and investigating the resources. He has demonstrated his involvement by showing facial expressions, energy and verbal expression.(00.49-01.14). By having real life resources in the hospital play, it shows the children the types of equipment that is used in a hospital and what procedures may be carried out within a hospital.
Parents, carers and practitioners all help children to develop to their full emotional, social and physical potential. It is they who liaise with primary healthcare teams and other specialist services, in the community or in hospital, and they who are the child’s first educators.
Part 2
- Supporting children’s learning
Outside area-Watching the dvd clip has promoted me to think about changing the outside environment and encouraging a role-play into it. We currently have a wooden house in the garden which is not really used to its full potential so I will take this opportunity to do something with this blank canvas .Having this sort of play outside, would make an impact on the children’s development. This is because children will be playing in a natural area, being able to express themselves, getting fresh air and exercise to develop their brains. The kindergarten movement emphasised the significance of combining indoor and outdoor exploration…(ST4,P83)
Resources-by providing resource boxes with different things in, the children will use their imagination amongst other areas of their development, e.g. containers with natural objects in, wood pine cones, stones, sand, garden materials. The children can talk about these objects whilst in that environment; you could encourage the children to find their own objects as this will give them a challenge and become more independent.
Bud Room-seeing these babies enjoy themselves so much in the paint and having objects in the paint, this would be something I would incorporate into our activities so the babies can explore and investigate further and to make it more interesting for them. Babies should be given the opportunity to use all their sense through play. You should be providing appropriate experiences, activities and resources to develop the children’s ability to play and learn…(ST3,P68)
- Statutory requirements for children’s welfare and provision
Promoting health-after seeing the dvd, it encouraged me to think about the way in which we can encourage health in the setting. Encouraging children to be healthy, looking at how we can do this and why we need to do this. This can be done by looking at pictures and asking the school nurse to talk to the children. This will support the children’s learning by extending their knowledge. In chapter 15 in reader 1(Albon and Mukherji 2010, p.162) it emphasises ‘..recent evidence has identified early years setting as having a key role to play in laying the foundations for healthy eating in young children.’(Mooney et al.2008)
Inclusion-within my setting, there are many different cultures. Sharing these cultures with all our children will give them an outlook on other’s views, e.g. in the dvd clip they provide multi-cultural dolls. This is a great way to show children that everybody is equal and should be given the same opportunities no matter what their skin colour or beliefs. ‘Children need to learn from a young age to value other people and respect difference.’(ST6, P.159)
Part 3
I have found the dvd sequences very time consuming but also interesting, looking at what the other setting do and how they work with the children. I have found the ‘statutory requirements for welfare and provisions’ difficult, as I didn’t really understand what it was asking for. Having personal family matters going on in my life at the moment it has distracted me away from this assignment, therefore I feel I have not given 100%.
Reference List
Department for Children Schools and Families (DCSF) (2008) “Practice Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage”.
DVD 1, Block 1, Hospital Play, The Open University (2010)E100, Milton Keynes, The Open University.
Miller, L.; Devereux, J.; Paige-Smith, A. and Soler, J. (2010) “Approaches to curricula in the early years” in Cable, C.; Miller, L. and Goodliff, G. (eds)
“Working with Children in the Early Years” 2nd edition, Abingdon, Routledge, in association with the Open University.
The Open University (2010) E100 Early year’s practices, study topic 3, Milton Keynes, Open University
The Open University (2010) E100 Early year’s practices, study topic 4, Milton Keynes, The Open University.
The Open University (2010) E100 Early year’s practices, study topic 5, Milton Keynes, The Open University.
The Open University (2010) E100 Early year’s practices, study topic 6, Milton Keynes, The Open University.