This year’s Play Week has the focus ‘My Play, My Way’ – paying tribute to children being in control and having ownership over their own play.
The ways that children use their play to learn is as important as what they are learning. Within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), this is summarised as the ‘characteristics of effective teaching and learning’, and is divided into the following three sections:
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Playing and exploring
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Active learning
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Creating and thinking critically
Playing and exploring
This characteristic is all about children being immersed in their play and the environment around them. You might see them using their curiosity and their senses to investigate new things. For example, a baby reaching for and exploring items from a treasure basket with their hands and mouth.
They may also use what they already know to apply to new situations. You may for example see children trying to build towers with stones in the garden, replicating how they play with their wooden blocks indoors. When children are engaged in their play, they are much more likely to show a ‘can do’ attitude and seek out challenge or take risks. You may notice children trying new things, such as climbing or balancing, and enjoying the feeling of ‘having a go’ - even if they don’t quite succeed first time!
Active learning
This characteristic is all about children’s motivation within their play; their motivation to concentrate on what they are doing, to keep on trying if they find something difficult, or to achieve what they set out to do. The key thing here being, ‘what they set out to do’, not what adults around them want them to do.
The feeling inside that they get when meeting their own goals, not for the approval of someone else, known as intrinsic motivation, helps to build their desire to learn and achieve in future.
Keeping on trying even when things are tricky, such as learning how to hold and control scissors for the first time, will build children’s resilience for situations where they face challenge in the future. As an educator, you can support, praise and encourage their attempts at keeping on trying, as well as model this yourself when you find things tricky.
Creating and thinking critically
This characteristic is all about how children use their thinking skills in their play. You may see children having their own ideas, using their imagination and creativity such as being interested in how the texture of mud changes when mixed with water.
Children make links between different ideas, and use what they already know to make predictions – for example, guessing whether an item is going to float or sink during water play. Children may also be seen to develop their own strategies for doing things, using their problem-solving skills and learning through trial and error. Remember – it is about the process, not the outcome!