1. Unit 7: Support children’s play in early years
This unit provides the learner with skills, knowledge and understanding of the value of play in early years.

2. Learning Outcomes
1.1. Explain why play is necessary for the development of children Identify the rights of children in relation to play, as detailed in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child’.
2.2. Explain how settings meet the right for children to play.
3.1. Explain:
child-initiated play
adult-led play.
3.2. Identify how children’s play needs and preferences change in relation to their stage of development.
4.1. Describe benefits of:
physical play
creative play
imaginative play
sensory play
heuristic play.

3. Unit 7: Support children’s play in early years
Reflect on what you have learnt so far
In groups discuss why play is necessary for the development of children?

4. SPICE and PILES
Can you give examples of SPICE

5. The meaning of SPICE and PILES
S - Social
P - Physical
I - Intellectual
C – Creative
E - Emotional
S – Spiritual
L - Language

6. Why play is necessary for the development of children
Physical development refers to building motor skills, from the gross (basic movements such as walking and running) to the fine (such as holding a writing implement). Intellectual development is achieved through structured play, and of course means development of language and math skills as well as the child's innate sense of curiosity and wonder; Intellectual development is central to success in school later on. Creative development addresses artistic talents in visual arts, music, storytelling and even theatrics. Although it is popular in American culture to dismiss creativity and the arts as unnecessary, creativity is the foundation self-expression and problem solving. It is arguable that without creativity, there would be no innovation nor entrepreneurship. (It was Einstein himself who said "Creativity is more important than knowledge.") Emotional development is also frequently overlooked, even by the most devoted parents. Yet, without a sense of self, including self confidence and the discipline to deal with one's own emotional responses, a child will have difficulty functioning in society later in life.

7. Holistic Development Falls over frequently when walking.
PHYSICAL
INTELLECTUAL
LANGUAGE
EMOTIONAL
SOCIAL
Falls over frequently when walking.
Likes to stand and watch goings on outside window.
Will scream to get something.
Loves to throw toys away in fun.
Curious with new people.
Manages stairs up, and sometimes down.
Plays with bricks and can build tower of two.
If wants something, will point at it.
Shows a lot of affection to family.
When dressing, will help more.
Kneels.
Uses a very precise pincer grasp to pick up small things.
Now says a few words.
Still needs constant reassurance from parent/carer.
Short attention span.
Gets up from sitting, alone.
Uses both hands to hold pencil/crayon using the palmar grasp. Will scribble to and fro.
Sounds as though trying to hold a conversation although won't be understandable.
Really loves books now and will pat the pages while looking at the pictures.
Knows how to use lots of common objects. If toy is hidden, will search for it.
Sits down with a bump. May walk unaided but with uneven wide steps, and uses arms for balance.
Understands many words. Obeys simple instructions like 'give me your cup!'
Likes dolls, but does not treat them as a baby, instead just carries them round roughly.
Chews larger pieces of food now. Better at using a cup and spoon.
Points to named people or toys.
Loves to play with walk along toys.
Is always getting up to mischief, needs continuous attention.

8. Can you discuss examples of holistic development

9. Holistic development in children focuses on addressing all of the needs of a child’s life: emotional, physical, relational, intellectual, creative and spiritual. This perspective to development encourages caregivers and teachers to look at the child as a whole and not focus on the individual parts.

10. Holistic Development
Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) can define as the holistic development of children including physical, cognitive, language, social and emotional development from conception to age five. Early Childhood.30 Jun 2008

11. Child-initiated play
Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework emphasises that it is the responsibility of providers to make judgements about the mix of play and more formal teaching, as well as the balance between adult-led and child-initiated activities.
Adult-led play
– play opportunities and activities which are organised and led by an adult
Adult-initiated play
– play opportunities set up by adults for children to discover. Child-initiated play
– play in which children choose what and how to play and who to play with.

12. Child-initiated play Child-initiated play
Child-initiated play is sometimes called ‘free play’. This is because children are free
to choose resources and toys and decide how to play with them. Early years settings
encourage this type of play by making it easy for children to help themselves to
resources or ‘ self-serve’
What children choose to do during child-initiated play varies according to their age and stage of development, but also according to what is available. It is common to see children mix resources, for example, putting grass into a bucket of water and pretending to cook with it or taking dough into a home corner.
This means that it is not always a very tidy way of playing! In child-initiated play adults
can join in with children, but they have to do what children ask of them.

13. Benefits of child-initiated play
There are many advantages to child-initiated play. Children’s emotional development is
particularly supported because children are able to make their own choices. They also
gain independence skills as they can help themselves to resources. This type of play
helps children to be creative as they have to develop their own ideas of how to play.
Concentration.
Many adults notice that children concentrate for quite long periods
during child-initiated play. It is not uncommon for 3 and 4 year olds to focus for an
hour or so on making models, creating dens or just playing with sensory materials.
Children often have a clear purpose and idea of what they are doing and why. Being
able to concentrate for long periods is good for children’s cognitive development.
Social skills.
By playing independently of adults, children have the chance to
practise their social skills. They might squabble or raise their voices at times, but
most children from 3 years or so are able to work things out themselves. Learning to
take turns and cooperate helps children’s social skill

14. Adult-led play
This is the type of play where the adult plans, organises and shows or tells the children what they need to do. Examples of adult-led play include playing picture lotto or a musical game such as ‘Hokey Cokey’.
The adult tells children what to do and how to play.
Adults might also do some cooking or gardening with children. With babies, adult-led play is very important. Adults might play peek-a-boo or stack up some beakers for the child to knock
Benefits of adult-led play
There are many reasons why early years
settings provide adult-led play.
Allows higher-risk activities.
Adult-led play allows children to carry out
activities that otherwise they would not
be able to manage by themselves. A
good example of this would be cooking
or some types of art and crafts where
equipment such as knives or scissors
would not be safe for children to use
alone. In these types of activities adults
also will teach children how to use the
equipment.

15. Disadvantages Potential disadvantages of adult-led play
There are some disadvantages to adult-led play too. This is why adult-led play is not used all the time and why adults have to carefully choose activities that are right for the age and stage of the children.
Learning is not always effective.
Disadvantages of adult-led play include the
fact that sometimes learning is not very effective. It may be that children have not had enough time to solve problems, practise skills or develop their own ideas. This can be the case when adult-led play is taking place with large groups. Other
children might shout out or use the equipment before a child has the chance to get
involved. Some children may also lack concentration because they are not interested
in the activity
Potential disadvantages of child-initiated play
There are some disadvantages to only providing child-initiated play opportunities.
Limiting development of skills.
Children often have strong play preferences and so may not choose from the whole range of play opportunities. This means that their development may be affected as they will not be gaining a wide range of skills. In some settings not enough equipment or resources are put out and so children’s play is repetitive or quite limited.
Learning may be limited.
The main disadvantage of child-initiated play is that learning may be limited because children may not want adults to be involved in their play. As we have seen, adults can help children learn concepts such as numbers or
problem solving. Adults also help children complete complex tasks such as building a den.

16. Starter Activity
Using your phones look up the word Malleable and Heuristic
Discuss your understanding with your group – write it down on your paper

17. heuristic play definition
[hyo͞oˈristik]
ADJECTIVE
enabling a person to discover or learn something for themselves:
"a “hands-on” or interactive heuristic approach to learning"

18. Malleable - definition
adjective
adjective: malleable
(of a metal or other material) able to be hammered or pressed into shape without breaking or cracking.
"a malleable metal can be beaten into a sheet"
synonyms: pliable, ductile, plastic, pliant, soft, workable, shapable, mouldable, tractile, tensile
"a malleable substance“
easily influenced; pliable
"they are as malleable and easily led as sheep"
easily influenced, suggestible, susceptible, impressionable, amenable, cooperative, adaptable, compliant, pliable, tractable, accommodating; More

19. The Benefits of Malleable And Sensory Play
We all know that play dough is fun and popular with young children, but apart from making a mess what is it really good for? Here are the fabulous benefits of allowing kids to play with play dough and the many learning opportunities that happen along the way!
Using play dough (or in fact any type of dough) with young children is beneficial in so many ways.
Fine motor development: The malleable properties of play dough make it fun for investigation and exploration as well as secretly building up strength in all the tiny hand muscles and tendons,  making them ready for pencil and scissor control later on.

20. Poking in objects and pulling them out of play dough strengthens hand muscles and co-ordination
As part of simple, tactile play it can be squashed, squeezed, rolled, flattened, chopped, cut, scored, raked, punctured, poked and shredded! Each one of these different actions aids fine motor development in a different way, not to mention hand-eye co ordination and general concentration. And as soon as you add another element to it, the list of benefits and creative play possibilities continues to grow!

21. These are the materials that are to hand ready for any play dough free-play session. They should be kept in jam jars in a cupboard and the children can request any or all of them to added to the dough. Having a wide range of additional extras to use while playing extends the investigation and play possibilities endlessly. Poking in sticks provides a challenge and a new physical skill. Squeezing through a garlic press leads to wonder and amazement at seeing it change shape, as well as using a gross motor movement to accomplish it. Sticking in spaghetti requires a delicate hand and can lead to threading and stacking pasta shapes or beads over the top.
Providing boxes and containers with various shaped compartments can lead to cooking play, sorting, matching, ordering and counting, all naturally and without pressure to learn.
By providing objects from nature with a wide range of textures, colours and shapes, children can have multi-sensory experiences and engage with the world around them in a whole new way.

22. Sticking in spaghetti requires a delicate hand and can lead to threading and stacking pasta shapes or beads over the top.
Providing boxes and containers with various shaped compartments can lead to cooking play, sorting, matching, ordering and counting, all naturally and without pressure to learn.

23. Imagination and Creativity: As soon as you introduce open ended play items to add to the mix, play dough becomes the perfect medium for numerous types of imaginative play and can represent so many things in a child’s eyes.
A jar of candles and cupcakes cases leads naturally to birthday party role-play, counting out candles and singing! Glass pebbles can lead to sea-side imaginative small world play with story telling about sea creatures and mermaids!  It can be chocolates and sweets in a sweet shop, cakes and bread in a bakery, grass and mud in a garden centre, sand or ice cream in a beach scene, soil, pebbles, ice or snow at the zoo/ jungle/ farm/ ocean and so on! The list is as endless as a child’s imagination!

24. Play dough sweet shop imaginative play with chocolate, strawberry and vanilla scented play dough!
scents and colours cocoa powder ginger cinnamon turmeric fruit juices food colouring food flavouring essential oils kool aid paint
Textures rice cous cous coriander seeds poppy seeds sesame seeds sawdust sand pebbles rock salt tiny pasta glitter glitter glue sequins

25. Calming and soothing: As any adult who has played with dough can tell you, the effects of all that squeezing and pummelling are great for stress relief and can feel extremely therapeutic! Little children can struggle to express their emotions and using dough while talking and singing can really help that process

26. Maths and Literacy development:
In more focused play, play dough can be used as a fantastic way to practise letter and number work. Children can form letters of the alphabet, spell out their own name, make numbers, form 2D and 3D shapes, compare lengths/ thicknesses/ weights, count out rolled balls to match numeral cards, match and sort by colour and SO many more ideas too!

27. What an incredible substance play dough is
What an incredible substance play dough is! Let’s all start using it as part of our daily play and learning times with the young children in our care!

28. The Benefits of Sensory Play
Sensory play utilizes all 5 senses, but the sense of touch is often the most frequent - and fun - focus of "messy play."
Sensory play encourages children to manipulate and mould materials on their own.
Sensory play is process-driven, not product-oriented; it is the purest sense of exploratory learning.
Why "messy play"?
While we all process information through our five senses, babies and toddlers rely on their sense of touch - and often taste - to gain insight into the world around them. Lacking the kind of language skills that allow for questioning aspects of our environment, young children learn about things not by asking, but by exploring.

29. What are the benefits of play
Emotional-behavioural benefits of play
Physical benefits
Social benefits of play
Play reduces fear, anxiety, stress, irritability
Creates joy, intimacy, self-esteem and mastery not based on other’s loss of esteem
Improves emotional flexibility and openness
Increases calmness, resilience and adaptability and ability to deal with surprise and change
Play can heal emotional pain
Positive emotions increase the efficiency
of immune, endocrine, and cardiovascular
systems •
Decreases stress, fatigue, injury, and
depression
Increases range of motion, agility,
coordination, balance, flexibility, and fine
and gross motor exploration
Increases empathy, compassion, and sharing
Creates options and choices
Models relationships based on inclusion rather than exclusion
Improves nonverbal skills
Increases attention and attachment

30. Pre-math concepts:
investigation skills:
Self-esteem:
Self-expression:
When children explore materials they can manipulate on their own, often they are also exploring shapes, spatial relationships and sequences. For example making a "cake" out of play dough and cutting it into slices is a precursor to fractions; pouring sand into a funnel deals with volume.
Children hone basic problem-solving skills each time they are allowed to manipulate materials and objects freely. Kids gain a greater understanding of cause and effect - why doesn't the bubble pop when it lands gently on my hand? Why does the ice-cube melt faster if I shake it?
Since messy play is not about a finished product, children who may be sensitive about "failure" or performance can build confidence in this process-focused activity.
Messy play offers Children a chance for real self-expression because there is no "right" answer. Materials can be worked and reworked endlessly, meaning a child can create something and recreate it over and over. Unlike painting a picture - which requires a new blank page if you change your mind- sensory play is malleable and ripe for reinvention.