The Importance of play

Throughout the years it has come to mind how important it is for a child to experience play. In addition to them expressing feelings, by playing, children are able to act out being sad, angry, happy through role play. Pretend play allows them to think out loud about their feelings and develop coping strategies to help them in a given situation. 

Physical Development 
Play contributes to a child's fine and gross motor development as well as body awareness as they actively use their bodies. Experimenting with writing tools helps children develop their fine motor skills. Gross motor development, such as hopping and skipping will be developed in a similar sense but for example when children first learn to hop they will experiment by hopping on the same foot or hopping on different feet out of pure enjoyment. As the child will grow older they will use these skills such as hopping in games such as hopscotch and rope jumping games.

                                                                                  Creative Development 

Sigmund Freud (1958) suggested that every child at play "behaves like a creative writer, in that he creates a world of his own, or, rather, rearranges the things of his world in a new way which pleases him.... the creative writer does the same as the child at play. He creates a world of fantasy which he takes very seriously- that is, which he invests with large amounts of emotion"

Social and Emotional Development 

During play, children also increase their social competence and emotional maturity. Smilansky and Shefatya (1990) contend that school success largely depends on children’s ability to interact positively with their peers and adults. Play is vital to children’s social development. It enables children to do the following:

• Practice both verbal and nonverbal communication skills by negotiating roles, trying to gain access to ongoing play, and appreciating the feelings of others (Spodek & Saracho, 1998).
• Respond to their peers’ feelings while waiting for their turn and sharing materials and experiences (Sapon-Shevin, Dobbelgere, Carrigan, Goodman, & Mastin, 1998; Wheeler, 2004).
• Experiment with roles of the people in their home, school, and community by coming into contact with the needs and wishes of others (Creasey, Jarvis, & Berk, 1998; Wheeler, 2004).
• Experience others’ points of view by working through conflicts about space, materials, or rules positively (Smilansky & Shefatya, 1990; Spodek & Saracho, 1998).

Forest Schools

Forest schools provide children with a different approach to learning. An approach to outdoor play and education within a woodland environment.

Forest school teachers believe the 'richness' of education outdoors is much more of that indoors. It is very much a child led process where the children are able to express themselves through play and choose to learn in whatever way they like, whilst the teachers role is not to teach but observe.


Children are able to make loud noises and big noises and experience a different sense of learning through touching, smelling, holding and watching everything outdoors. By the children being able to engage in activities they have chosen to do, it is said that they gain confidence, self esteem, knowledge and love for that environment.


Forest school teachers believe that children learn about the world by 'digging into it', 'cutting into it' and 'rolling into it', children need to learn to manage risks. Children are taught to identify possible hazards for example, a slippery tree. Children learn to think about the potential risks of things if they engage in them.



At forest school all participants are viewed as:

• Equal, unique and valuable
• Competent to explore and discover
• Entitled to experience appropriate risk and challenge
•  Entitled to choose, and to initiate and drive their own learning and development 
• Very willing to develop positive relationships with themselves and other people around them
• Entitled to develop a positive relationship with their own natural world. 

"The Forest School Association is the professional body and UK wide voice for forest school, promoting best practice, cohesion and 'quality forest school for all'. Click here to find out more about the forest school association. 

The Foundation Phase

The Foundation Phase is "the statutory curriculum for all three to seven year old's in Wales, in both maintained and non-maintained settings, it encouraged children to be creative, imaginative and makes learning more enjoyable and more effective" (Gov.wales, 2015).  
The Foundation Phase was published in 2012 by the department for education. 

Within the Foundation phase there are seven statutory areas of learning, these are:

• Personal and Social Development, Well-Being and Cultural Diversity
• Language, Literacy and Communication Skills
• Mathematical Development 
• Welsh Language Development 
• Knowledge and Understanding of the World 
• Physical Development
• Creative Development  

For each of these areas there is are educational studies that set out what is required to be taught, and outcomes that set out expected standards of performance.

Key aspects of effective learning characteristics include children: 

• Being willing to have a go
• Being involved and concentrating
• Having their own ideas
• Choosing ways to do things
• Finding new ways
• Enjoying achieving what they set out to do. 

For each of these areas there is are educational studies that set out what is required to be taught, and outcomes that set out expected standards of performance.

Within the Foundation Phase it is seen as very important to help develop a child's knowledge, skills and understanding through play, experiential learning (learning by doing) and by solving real life problems in both indoor and outdoor environments through these areas of learning.

Registered childminders who are not funded for education by the LEA can still support children’s learning and development by understanding the philosophy and ethos of the Foundation Phase and linking this to the care they provide. This is now a requirement under the National Minimum Standards for Regulated Child Care in Wales as Standard 7 (:10) states:

"The principles of the Foundation Phase and its seven areas of learning are understood and applied in a way appropriate to the age, abilities and stage of development of children in their care and the nature of the provision."

Montessori

Maria Montessori was the first woman to graduate from the University of Rome medical school and become interested in education through her work as a doctor. Maria had a particular interest in treating children who we now know to have special needs. Maria went on to establish schools for children that she saw at a disadvantage. Maria first approached the learning environment as a scientist, observing the children and thinking of ways in which they would be able to achieve their full potential. Dr. Montessori went on to develop a highly effective method of teaching to enable the success of every child regardless of the stage of educational development that they were at. Montessori went on to then travel all over the world establishing schools and sharing her discoveries with others and writing articles. It was found that a child will learn better by doing, and a happy motivated child would be more likely to achieve success than a child who feels unable to do activities within education. 

Montessori's approach to education is holistic and aims to develop the whole child. Birth to six years of age also proved to be a period when a child has the greatest capacity to learn. 

"Montessori teachers are trained facilitators in the classroom, always ready to assist and direct. Their purpose is to stimulate the child's enthusiasm for learning and to guide it, without interfering with the child's natural desire to teach himself and become independent. Each child works through his individual cycle of activities, and learns to truly understand according to his own unique needs and capabilities" (Montessoritraining.net, 2015). 

When being taught in a certain way it was found that children are able to concentrate for a longer period of time, enjoy repetition and order, enjoy purposeful activities, able to self motivate and display a behavior that does not require a punishment or reward and spontaneously self discipline. 

Montessori school children are taught in many areas such as practical life/ daily living, refinement of senses, communication, language, literacy, cultural aspects and understanding of the world, mathematics and creativity.  

The following vidio explains a typical morning at a Montessori school, children learn by doing and being part of basic activities that will enable them to develop life skills that will stay with them for life