Supporting children & young people’s play & leisure Describe the importance of play & leisure for children & young people. Children learn through play. Every moment that the child is playing they are learning new skills, words and meanings. Play gives children the opportunity to explore, take risks, challenge themselves and have fun whilst learning. It is a natural way for children to learn because it uses all of their senses, they are able to take in information and sort this information out in order to solve problems.
As play is constantly working a child’s brain in a way to help them develop, leisure is also very important to allow the child to de-stress themselves and refresh their minds. Leisure for a child may include things such as sitting down quietly and reading a book, watching the television or sitting down to eat snack and relax. There are 5 different stages of play. Solitary play is when toddlers play completely on their own. They can be totally oblivious to what is going on in their surroundings as they will be caught up in their own little world. Observer is when a child looks at other children playing around them.
They find what other children are doing fascinating and they start to take in what others are doing. Whilst they are watching they are constantly learning through the experiences of the other children. Parallel play is when a child plays amongst a group of children but doesn’t actually interact with the them. They may share their toys, swap colouring pens and be aware of each other, but they are not actually interacting together. Associative play is when children begin to play together. However, although they are playing together they dont have an overall game plan.
For example, you may see them chasing one another around the playground but in an unorganised way. They arent really sure whats going on so if a child was to drop out of the game it would have no effect as there is no actual structure to the children’s play. Cooperative play. This is the final development stage of play which children usually experience between the ages of 3 and 4. Children will play together and start to create make believe games such as doctors or mammy’s and daddy’s. They will all take on different roles and play out different scenarios.
I have attatched 2 different examples of play within my setting to the back of the assignment. Describe how play & leisure contribute to children & young people’s development. Play and leisure are essential parts for a child’s physical, emotional, intellectual and social development. Play contributes to a child’s social development because they are always practising verbal and non verbal skills by having different roles within the play. They appreciate the feelings of others around them and respond to their peers feelings. They learn social skills such as sharing, wether this be sharing materials or taking turns sharing a role within a game.
They experience other’s points of view through light conflict, this could mean conflict over materials or game rules. Play provides opportunities to meet knew friends and sociolize. A childs emotional development is also contributed to through play. Play provides a way for children to cope with and express their feelings. Children can link their own fears into their games. For example if a child was afraid of the dark, they might eliminate darkness or night time from their game. They will learn how to control emotional expression through reenacting frightening experiences, for example a traffic accident.
Play enables children to also express their thoughts, it allows them to have a say and let their ideas and feelings be known. Physical development is helped greatly though play. Activities that include physical movements allow children to use their energy and it enables the children to develop their gross and fine motor skills. Children will naturally develop the skills they need to walk and run, but through play they will be able to practice skills that will help them devlop things like hopping, jumping, throwing and kicking. Play is essential for a child so that they experience healthy intellectual or ‘cognitive’ development.
It provides children with the chance to meet and solve real problems. It develops their language and their literacy skills. Through things such as role play, the children will learn learn and develop understanding of the real world and even begin to have cultural understanding. Children can build on what they already know through playful interactions. They can also link class discussions into their play which helps boost their intellectual development. For example, in my setting we have been learning about spring time. One little girl was in the writing and drawing area where she drew a picture of her daddy cutting the grass.
I asked, ‘when does daddy cut the grass? ‘ Her response was, ‘in the spring time! ‘ This shows that she has learned something and incorporated it into her play. (drawing attached to back of assignment) The early years foundation stage guidance says that, ‘Play and childcare providers must plan, record and report the development and early learning of children in their care’ This has influenced my setting greatly. We make written obervations of the children’s development where we write down who was involved in the obervation, the age of the children and what the obervation was.
We then take photos to go with the written obervations, then both the photo and writing goes into the child’s personal book where we record their development throughout their time in our nursery. Outline the requirements of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in relation to relaxation & play. The UN have agreed on 41 rights that all children have. If a child is under the age of 18 then all of these rights will apply to them. The basic outline of the requirements is that all children have the right to a good standard of living. They have the right to be treated fairly and be given support when needed.
They have thr right to have their own opinion which should always be listened to and taken into consideration. They have the right to rest and engage in play appropriate to the childs age. Also to spend time with their friends playing and relaxing in whichever way suits them. All children have the right to a good education, good health and good medical care. They have the right to be protected from harm. In 1989, world leaders recognised the human rights of all children and created a treaty which helps our country to protect and uphold the rights of children and young people. They signed the UN Convention on the rights of a child.
This treaty states the freedoms, family environments, basic health and welfare, education, lesiure, asctivites and special protections measures for all children. The treaty is there to give families the support and guidence to know what a child’s rights are, so that children have the best standard of living possible. The UN Convention on the rights of a child is the most complete statement of children’s rights that has ever been produced. Describe the characteristics of freely chosen, self directed play & leisure. Freely chosen, self directed play means that the children are in charge.
They chose how to do an activity and why they want to do it. A child can have freely chosen play on their own or along side a group of peers. It gives them the freedom to come up with their own ideas at their own speed. This enables the children to grow in self confidence and creativity. It is important to support and encourage this sort of play but it is also important not to take control or try and direct the children. It may be difficult to stand back and let the child get on with whatever they want to do, you may see the child as doing something ‘wrong’ such as painting a purple banana.
This could just be a child’s way of experimenting and exploring and having fun, so it is important to support and praise their creativity ‘wow, what a lovely purple banana! ‘ rather than telling them they are wrong. My setting is organsised into different sections such as painting, role play, outdoors, writing, maths, sand and computer area so that the children have the freedom to go between each seaction as and when they please enabling them to explore self directed play as and when they want.
Describe own role in supporting children & young people’s play & leisure activities. My role would be to join in with the children’s activities, successfully asking relevant questions which will help the childs development. Questions such as ‘what colour is that? ‘ ‘what is that animal? ‘ ‘how many? ‘ Even though I may join in with the children’s activities it is important that I don’t take a starring role in the play. The children need to remember that it is their turf and that they are free to express their own ideas and imagination.
So my role would be to let the children think up their own games, then join in to bring my ideas together with theirs to support their development as much as possible. Another role of mine is to record the children’s development so that the staff and parents can see if the children are developing at the correct speed for their age. I should be guiding the children through their play to give them the best chance at developing. Outline the value of risk & challenge in young people’s play & leisure. Some dangers clearly have to be avoided to avoid the children from coming to any serious harm or danger.
However, removing all possible risks from children means we could be inhibiting rather than exdending their learning. The aim should be to help children master the skills they need to deal with risk, danger and challenge effectively for themselves. So the value of risk and challenge is ultimately to teach the children and to ensure that the children have the correct skills and knowledge to know how to deal with any real risks and dangers in their future lives. Describe with examples what is meant by unacceptable risk & challenge in children & young people’s play & leisure.
Unacceptable risks and challenge in children and young people’s play would include letting the children be exposed to things such as poisonous chemicals, faulty electrical equipment or food unfit for human consumption. These are hazards that WE have to be aware of in out duty of care for the young children, it is not their responsibility to manage these sort or risks. One example of a major unacceptable risk would be to leave a knife lying around where a child or young person could get hold of it.
Our responsibility is to ensure that children to manage their own risks and challenges but also that we never let the child be exposed to anything that could cause them any serious danger or harm. Describe why it is important for children & young people to manage risk & challenge for themselves. It is important for children and young people to manage risk and challenge for themselves because it gives the children the skills that they need to be able to manage any risks or dangers in the future.
It will help the child to grow in competence and self confidence as they master a wide range of physical and social skills such as working together to figure out how to overcome a challenge that they may be faced with. Facing these problems for themselves will give the children a clear understanding and will contribute greatly to their physical and even their emotional development. It will enable children to display their own abilities, allowing them to flourish. I support children’s managed risk within my setting.
I do this by sitting back and letting the children overcome any challenges and risks they may face on their own. Obviously I will watch the children to ensure they don’t come to any harm and give them praise and guidence when needed. Complete the table to show how you are able to reflect on & improve your own practice. |Area of Practice in supporting |Your |Your |Feedback from others (children, |Training Needed &|Changes implemented by you |How has your practice improved? |play & |strengths |weaknesses |mentor, colleagues |by whom | | | |leisure | | | | | | | |Role play |Can link characters in role |Actually getting the children |Other more experienced colleauges |Other TA’s and |I have taken the advice of |After listening to the advice of | | |play to the real world. Eg, by |to understand how their role |guiding me on ways to teach the |class teachers |colleauges and took time to sit |other TA’s who have been in the | | |using real world names such as |play links to the real world |children how role play links to | |with the children and go through|school longer, I have now taught | | |’Yes chef! ‘ | |real life.
Eg, through books | |books that show characters that |the children, by looking through | | | | | | |they play in role play, such as |books, television programs and | | | | | | |doctors, chefs and shop keepers |trips to local shops that the | | | | | | |are real people in the real |characters in their play are real | | | | | | |world |people from the real world | |Meal/Snack times |Can rolw model good hygeine |Keeping all the children |Dinner ladies guiding me and |Dinner ladies |I have took the adive of the |After listening to guidence from | | |procedures.
Eg, washing hands |settled and concentrated on |telling me that sitting with the | |dinner lady and now sit with the|the dinner lady, I can now | | |before they sit down to eat |eating their food |children and having light | |children while they are eating |encourage children to sit down for| | | | |conversations with the children | |so I can encourage them |a longer period of time and eat | | | | |helps them to sit down and eat | | |their dinner | | | | |their food | | | | |Outside play |Can join in with the children’s|I wouldnt know how to correctly|Mentor explaining to me how to |My mentor or |I have asked for help from my |After listening to tips and | | |games in a enthusiastic and fun|seperate two children who were |deal with two aggressive children |staff at RWP |mentor so I know how to deal |guidence from my mentor, I can now| | |way.
Eg, playing football or |involved in a physical fight |involved in a physical fight | |with this situation |successfully seperate children who| | |tag | | | | |are fighting in a safe and | | | | | | | |effective way. I also know who to | | | | | | |go to if I need assistance | |Stories & songs |I know how to use my voice |Trying to get all the children |Class teacher giving me guidence |Class teacher |I have taken the advice of the |After listening to how the class | | |effectivly for different |to sit still, settle and listen|and tips on how to wind the | |class teacher |teacher settles the children I can| | |characters and situations in |to the story or to join in |children down and get them to | | |now effectively do it myself | | |stories |singing |settle | | | | |Painting |I know how to effectivly praise|Getting the children used to |More experienced teaching |Other teaching |I have taken advice of other |After listening to more | | |the children when they identify|using the aprons without being |assistants giving me guidence on |assistants who |people working in my setting in |experienced teaching assistants I | | |the correct colours of paints |told |how to get the children to listen |have been there |order to teach the children to |have know taught the children to | | | | |to and remember instructions |longer |remember instructions |put on their apron before paiting,| | | | | | | |they now remember to do so | |Construction |I know how to use the bulding |Getting the new children in the|Class teacher explained how to | |I have taken the advice of the |After listening to the class | | |blocks afely so that the |nursery to understand how to |teach new children to read and |Class teacher |class teachers and have taken |teacher I now know how to | | |children don’t come to any harm|put the blocks away in the |identify signs to show where the | |time to sit with the children to|effectively teach new children how| | | |correct places on their own |blocks belong. |show them where things belong so|to recognise signs so they know | | | | | | |that they understand for |where equipment belongs | | | | |Class teacher commented on how the| |themselves | | | | | |blocks looked neat and tidy once I| | | | | | | |had taken time to show the | | | | | | | |children what to do | | | | SHC 23 2. 3 Describe how to challenge discrimination in a way that encourages change. If I heard someone making a discriminatory remark (racial remarks) or not promoting equality, it would be right to challenge them in a calm and professional way and explain that what they have said or done is unacceptable and explain why.
Actively challenging discrimination could encourage change. This is because if a child see’s me being a role model and demonstrating positive and acceptable behaviour it will enable the child to challenge discrimination for themselves. By making them aware of the facts it will educate them and hopefully change their opinions and actions in the future. In my setting, we have a little boy who is of a different race so to ensure that he is never the subject of discrimination we have class activities which the children can all complete together as a team so that the little boy can get involved and show the other children that he is just the same as them no matter what his race may be.
