Rolling eggs

Two three year olds are at a table outdoors with the practitioner, Felicity. She has set up a tray with paper, paint and some boiled eggs to make patterns by rolling the eggs through the paint. The children have chosen to join in with the activity.

Good for looking at

• Adult led activity
• Effective adult support
• COEL - Creating and thinking critically
• Sustained shared thinking
• Understanding the world
• Messy play

   

Two three year olds are at a table outdoors with the practitioner, Felicity. She has set up a tray with paper, paint and some boiled eggs to make patterns by rolling the eggs through the paint. The children have chosen to join in with the activity.

Notice

• What cues can you see that show what the children are interested in? (Look out for non-verbal and body language as well as spoken language)
• How are the children learning? Which areas of development, engagement and characteristics of learning can you observe?
• How the adult led activity supports the children’s learning?
• What is valuable about the materials provided as learning resources?

Reflect

What are your thoughts about:

• How the two boys were communicating?
• What each boy was interested in?
• What concepts they understand? What are they working towards understanding?
• The role of the adult in this interaction – how did she support the children?
• The value of this type of exploration and investigation for the children?

Respond

What would you do to:

• Support each of the children’s different interests and level of understanding?
• Extend their learning – e.g. going with the child’s interests to take the investigation further?
• Model behaviours of working together for young children and show how useful they are?

What next:

• Do you need to encourage more of this kind of explorative activities in your setting?