The treasure map

A group of four year olds have been making treasure maps. The practitioner supports a quieter girl in the group to make sure they stay on track and follow her map to find the golden bones.

Good for looking at

• Engaging with play
• Effective practice
• Supporting quiet child
• Imagination
• Pretend play

A group of four year olds have been making treasure maps. The practitioner supports a quieter child in the group.

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?
• In what ways do the adults support the children’s learning? Specifically Silvie (the quieter child)
• How do the environment and materials support the children’s learning?

Recognising

What did you recognise about:

• The areas of learning and development that were covered through their play activity?
• The adult’s role – how was the play supported for the group and individuals?
• The importance of the environment and the materials?

Responding

What would you do next?

• How could you extend Slivie’s social learning, particularly her confidence in group situations?
• Did watching the clip help you notice any particular strengths or weaknesses that you might have when trying to support children during their play? How could you use this? Could you support others with something you are particularly good at? Or find some one to support you with an area you find difficult?
• Could you suggest a way of using play to support a quiet or less dominant child in your setting?
• How could you support children if they often seem to dominate the play?