The witch’s den

Five year old Lilly has an idea. She talks to the teacher about it and she helps her to make it happen. The other children in the class get involved.

Good for looking at

• COEL - playing and exploring
• Imagination
• Pretend play
• Den building
• Co-operative play
• Physical development
• Communication
• Socialising

Five year old Lilly has an idea. She talks to the teacher about it and she helps her to make it happen. The other children in the class get involved.

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 does the adult support the children’s learning?
• How do the environment and materials support the children’s learning?

Reflect

What are your thoughts about:

• The areas of learning and development that were covered through this play activity?
• How the adult supported the children?
• The importance of the environment and the materials for supporting the play?

Respond

What would you do to:

• Further support the children’s ideas?
• Use their pretend play to support the children to develop co-operative play as a group?
• Encourage the children to use their pretend play ideas to develop stories and narratives?

What next:

• What could you do to encourage this kind of imaginative play in your setting?
• Do you give enough time for older children to develop complex stories in their play?