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: Reflect on how a planned play opportunity relates to current frameworks
The EYFS lists three prime areas of learning and four specific areas of learning as shown below:
1.4. Three areas are particularly important for building a foundation for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, forming relationships and thriving.
These are the prime areas:
• communication and language
• physical development
• personal, social and emotional development
1.5. Providers must also support children in four specific areas, through which the three prime areas are strengthened and applied. The specific areas are:
• literacy
• mathematics
• understanding the world
• expressive arts and design
EYFS
Following a planned play opportunity, it is useful to reflect on how the activity relates to the learning and development of children in each of these areas.
For example, following a small-world play activity (such as a doll’s house) with a child, a practitioner may consider the following:
- Communication and language – the child showed a good level of vocabulary whilst talking as one of the dolls
- Physical development – the activity did not facilitate physical development
- Personal, social and emotional development – the child showed high levels of empathy towards a doll that had fallen over and hurt her knee
- Literacy – the activity did facilitate any literacy skills
- Mathematics – the child, demonstrated that they could count to five when counting out the doll’s dresses
- Understanding the world – the child demonstrated an understanding of ecological issues when he explained that the doll was wearing fake fur because it didn’t come from animals
- Expressive arts and design – the activity did not facilitate expressive art and design skills