1. CACHE Level 3 Early Years Educator CACHE LEVEL 3 CHILDCARE & EDUCATION Unit 5 Play and learning © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

2. CACHE Level 3 Early Years Educator LO5 Understand types of play for children. AC 5.1 Explain: Child-initiated play Adult-led play. AC 5.2 Describe characteristics and benefits of: physical play creative play imaginative play sensory play heuristic play. © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

3. CACHE Level 3 Early Years Educator Starter activity LO5 Understand types of play for children [AC 5.1, 5.2] Time: 5 mins Talk to the person beside you and together write a short paragraph that summarises everything that you have learnt about play so far. Share your paragraph with the rest of the group. © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

4. CACHE Level 3 Early Years Educator Child-initiated play is an essential part of play that young children need to experience in order to explore the world around them and experiment with new experiences. Child-initiated play is instigated by the child, this means that they chose what they want to do and what they want to play with. It is important that we allow children this opportunity so that they can try out new things and a variety of different resources, developing their understanding in the process. Child-initiated play © Hodder & Stoughton Limited LO5 Understand types of play for children [AC 5.1]

5. CACHE Level 3 Early Years Educator The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) encourages child- initiated play to be taking place as it helps the child’s confidence. It allows children to try new things in an environment that is safe and secure yet also challenging. Opportunities for child-initiated play should be both indoors and outdoors so that the child can move freely between the two areas. Child-initiated play and the EYFS © Hodder & Stoughton Limited LO5 Understand types of play for children [AC 5.1]

6. CACHE Level 3 Early Years Educator Although as the adult in the setting we do not want to interfere with children making their choices and playing with what they chose, we need to be there to interact with the child in the way that they would like us to. This interaction with the child has to be led by the child and you must listen carefully to their guidance. For example, a child playing in the home corner may appreciate you joining in but you must wait to be told what role in the play that you are taking. If the child does not offer you a role then you must listen carefully so that you can offer an appropriate role. For example a child playing with the dolls in the home corner may appreciate you offering to be the cook or another family member in the play scenario. Child-initiated play and the adult © Hodder & Stoughton Limited LO5 Understand types of play for children [AC 5.1]

7. CACHE Level 3 Early Years Educator Pairs activity Time: 15 mins Think about the role of the adult in child-initiated play. What would you have to do to support this type of play taking place? Key things to think about: What would you need to do before the day begins? What would you need to do during the day? What would you need to do at the end of the day? Use examples from your own placements to support you to complete this question. © Hodder & Stoughton Limited LO5 Understand types of play for children [AC 5.1]

8. CACHE Level 3 Early Years Educator As the adult in the setting it is our role to: Ensure that the areas in the setting are clearly defined. Clearly label the resources and store them at child's height so that they can be accessed with ease. Keep the resources clean and up to date and replace them when necessary. Have discussions with the children to see what they would like to have available. Consider health and safety, such as signs if areas are limited to how many children can use them at once. Monitor and observe the play taking place so that areas can be changed regularly when they are no longer being used. Child-initiated play and the adult © Hodder & Stoughton Limited LO5 Understand types of play for children [AC 5.1]

9. CACHE Level 3 Early Years Educator Reflection activity Time: 10 mins Think back to your last day in placement. Did you support child-initiated play so that it could take place? Did you do the things that have been discussed? If so, what did you do? Is there anything that you did not do that you think you would do next time? © Hodder & Stoughton Limited LO5 Understand types of play for children [AC 5.1]

10. CACHE Level 3 Early Years Educator Adult-led play is also an essential part of play and holds a very important place within the child's day. The difference with adult-led play is that there is an adult present who is offering support and direction to the children. Although this type of play is often carried out so as to achieve a specific outcome it can still accommodate children’s independent thinking. For example, the children may be creating cards for an occasion. The adult would lead by explaining that they will be making a card and showing them how to do this, but the children can choose the colours and how they decorate the card. Adult-led play © Hodder & Stoughton Limited LO5 Understand types of play for children [AC 5.1]

11. CACHE Level 3 Early Years Educator Adult-led play should be planned and the resources should be ready for the children to use. Careful consideration should have gone into health and safety and the risks involved in the activity, and appropriate provision put into place so as to ensure that the activity is safe. Adult-led play © Hodder & Stoughton Limited LO5 Understand types of play for children [AC 5.1]

12. CACHE Level 3 Early Years Educator There are many benefits to children playing: Play allows children time to explore the world around them and allows them to engage in new and different activities. Play helps children to develop in other areas such as their physical and fine motor skills. Play allows children to take risks that they may not take normally. Play takes on many forms but can be categorised into 5 main types. The benefits of play © Hodder & Stoughton Limited LO5 Understand types of play for children [AC 5.2]

13. CACHE Level 3 Early Years Educator Physical play is when we use movement to be active and use energy. Benefits include: Physical play allows children the opportunity to socialise with other children and develop their fine and gross motor skills. There are many health benefits that come from children taking part in physical play. Examples include a game of football, riding the bikes or playing on an activity mat. Physical play © Hodder & Stoughton Limited LO5 Understand types of play for children [AC 5.2]

14. CACHE Level 3 Early Years Educator Creative play is when we use familiar or unfamiliar materials to explore the world around us. Quite often this involves getting messy and can include paint, glue etc. It can also be carried out through creative movement. Creative play allows children to express their feelings in artistic or physical ways. Benefits include: Development of fine motor skills as children learn control with paint or felt pens. Development of critical thinking skills as children question their own thought processes such as ‘what colour should I paint the car?’ Emotional development – as children can express themselves freely in creative play. Examples include painting, collage activities, dance and early mark-making activities. Creative play © Hodder & Stoughton Limited LO5 Understand types of play for children [AC 5.2]

15. CACHE Level 3 Early Years Educator Group activity Time: 15 mins Describe the physical and creative play provision in your setting. Consider: Are these types of play readily available? Are they varied and exciting? Do any activities mix the two types of play? What one thing would you change about the creative play provision in your setting? © Hodder & Stoughton Limited LO5 Understand types of play for children [AC 5.2]

16. CACHE Level 3 Early Years Educator Imaginative play can sometimes be referred to as pretend play. This type of play develops the child's imagination and quite often they will re-enact familiar scenarios that they have experienced recently. Benefits include: Social and emotional development that takes place as children play together and experiment at being in other people’s shoes as they act out different situations. Children also have the opportunity to develop their language skills as they imitate words that they have heard throughout the day. Quite often you will hear things that you say being imitated by the children that you look after! Examples include role play corners or playing with large cardboard boxes. Imaginative play © Hodder & Stoughton Limited LO5 Understand types of play for children [AC 5.2]

17. CACHE Level 3 Early Years Educator Sensory play is when we provide the children with new experiences, textures, materials and stimulate their senses. Sensory play is a fantastic way of engaging all children and it can often appeal to children who are not academic as they have the opportunity to excel in the kinaesthetic play. Benefits to imaginative play include: Developing fine and gross motor skills along with language skills as they learn new words such as wet, dry, sticky, soft etc. Sensory play is often good for calming down an anxious child. It can support the cognitive development of the child as connections are made in the brain between new ideas and feelings. Examples include play dough, shaving foam and water trays with new things in (glitter in the water). Sensory play © Hodder & Stoughton Limited LO5 Understand types of play for children [AC 5.2]

18. CACHE Level 3 Early Years Educator Heuristic play is when children are given the opportunity to explore everyday objects and items in a safe, secure and supportive environment. Settings often have a ‘Treasure Basket’ that contains a number of items that are available for children to play with in an heuristic way. Benefits include: Heuristic play allows children to make choices and get excited about discovering new ways of using items along with the properties of different objects. Heuristic play © Hodder & Stoughton Limited LO5 Understand types of play for children [AC 5.2]

19. CACHE Level 3 Early Years Educator Classroom discussion activity Time: 15 mins This, to us, is simply a set of kitchen utensils. What could a child use these for during a heuristic play session? What would they learn from playing with them? © Hodder & Stoughton Limited LO5 Understand types of play for children [AC 5.2]

20. CACHE Level 3 Early Years Educator Extension activity Time: 15 mins Design your own treasure box for heuristic play. Consider: What items would you put in it for the children to explore? How will the treasure box support the other types of play discussed in this lesson: Physical play Creative play Imaginative play Sensory play. © Hodder & Stoughton Limited LO5 Understand types of play for children [AC 5.2]

21. CACHE Level 3 Early Years Educator In this lesson we: Have explored the characteristics of child-initiated play and adult-led play. Have described the benefits of physical, creative, imaginative, sensory and heuristic play. © Hodder & Stoughton Limited

22. CACHE Level 3 Early Years Educator 1.Complete the sentences: a.Child-initiated play is… b.Adult-led play is… 2.List the benefits of physical play. 3.Identify two different resources that could be used in creative play. 4.Define heuristic play in 20 words or less. © Hodder & Stoughton Limited