ABSTRACT
How fascinating and challenging it is to observe children at play. How rewarding it is to see children play together, sharing ideas and using their imaginations to build their very own scenarios that express the things they like to do. How gratifying it is to be sure that children are gaining in confidence and fostering all aspects of their development, physical/ motor, intellectual, social and emotional as they play. Yet how difficult it is to observe ‘the shifting sands’ of play activities, for individual children bring different perceptions, preferences and preconceptions based on their previous cultural and home experiences combined with their personality and temperamental traits. This is the ‘nature / nurture’
Chapter 1 sets the scene, explaining how this book complements and elaborates on the general advice given in regional documents such as the Curriculum for Excellence in Scotland and The Early Years Foundation Stage guidance in England and Wales. It details the myriad of benefits children gain from play and so justifies play as the cornerstone of learning. It highlights the importance of staff observing, analysing and recording children’s spontaneous and supported play as a basis for planning the best way forward. Some new suggestions include studying children initiating play activities and how learning to pretend can stimulate the development of a theory of mind, a critical facet of social communication. It considers the conflict that can arise if children’s parents have different expectations, perhaps preferring only skill based input such as teaching the children to write and explains the concept of ‘readiness’ so that the children’s learning opportunities match their ability to succeed and so they become confident and competent learners. It shows how practitioners strive to have a balanced curriculum, which has some directed teaching while promoting children’s imaginative work so that the children have the intrinsic experience of pleasure in having achieved something of their own. This ‘something’ involves them in planning, sequencing and problem solving, key aspects of learning.
