What are child initiated activities in early years?

What are child initiated activities in early years?

Child-initiated play is a style of play where the activities are directed by children. Like Free Play in Early Years, it gives children the freedom to choose what they play with, as well as how and when they do so.

What are the benefits of child initiated play?

Child-initiated play supports children’s creative and imaginative learning and developmental skills. This also enables them to learn first hand experiences, allowing them to choose how to use their resources.

How do you ensure a balance between child initiated and educator supported learning?

develop an emotional environment where children feel safe to share their thoughts and ideas and try things out without being afraid that they might ‘get things wrong’ manage the routine of the day to make sure that children have time to follow their own ideas and develop their self-initiated play.

What is the adults role in child initiated play?

Adults play an important role in child initiated play. They provide a safe environment for the child to explore and test out their ideas. Adults may use the child’s interests or next steps to develop play through offering a breadth of opportunities or resources for the child to use in a variety of ways.

How do you plan a child-led learning project?

The planning effort needed is to prepare an engaging environment with materials that will excite and interest the children, rather than detailing focus activities. Then it is important to showcase the child-led learning that has taken place to show how learning was further extended in the moment.

What are child-initiated activities?

Child-initiated activities require the adult to: 1 carefully plan the environment 2 think about and organize the resources that will be available to the children 3 plan the session so children have sufficient time to become immersed in their play.

Why is child initiated play important for children’s learning?

Why is child initiated play important for children’s learning? Child-initiated play supports children in having ideas and being in control of their learning. It enables them to learn through first-hand experiences, allowing them to choose how to use the resources to do so.

How do you use in the moment planning in childcare?

This can be used to engage the child and create curiosity and conversation about other shapes. One of the greatest hesitations practitioners have about in the moment planning is the question of exactly what and how to plan, in addition to how to reflect on what the children have achieved in a formalised way.