Qualification: NCFE CACHE Level 3 Diploma for the Early Years Educator
Unit: Unit 3.2: Plan, lead and review play opportunities which support children’s learning and development in relation to current frameworks
Learning outcome: Be able to review how planned play opportunities contribute to own practice
Assessment criteria: Evaluate how a planned play opportunity meets the play, learning and developmental needs of children
Following a planned play opportunity, it is essential to take the time to evaluate how it met the play, learning and development needs of the children. By doing this, practitioners can develop their own practice as well as gain important insights into how similar activities should be planned and implemented in the future.
To assess whether the play opportunity was successful, it is important to consider a variety of factors.
Firstly, it is necessary to review how well the children engaged with the activity and whether they played independently or required additional support. Additionally, it is also beneficial to consider if any further modifications were needed in order to meet the individual needs of each child – this information will be useful when planning similar activities in future.
Practitioners should review if the activity contributed to increasing children’s knowledge and skills in certain areas (such as language or mathematics) in line with the framework provided by the EYFS.
Practitioners may want to also take note of a child’s behavioural responses during the activity, for example, whether they seemed engaged, excited, bored or frustrated.
Finally, practitioners should also bear in mind that play is an important opportunity to promote positive social relationships among peers and adults. Therefore, it is beneficial to take note of any interactions which took place as part of the activity and evaluate how successful the session was in building relationships and fostering positive behaviour.