Activity are planned to extend children learning and development area as they learn new words and able to build on their communication and language by describing and explaining what they are doing and asking question. This also extends their vocabulary example the children enjoy playing with weighing scales so I plan activities using different resources such as lentils instead of sand or dry pasta to learn numbers, sizes, quantities etc.
Again activities are planned around sand and water play as it stimulates creativity, where children are encouraged to explore a range of resources to make something with wet and dry sand using their imaginations and sharing ideas. This helps children come out with all sorts of ideas which is very impressive. They make sand castles, make shapes with moulds and patterns in the sand with fingers and objects like small plastic rakes. They also make learning fun by using their finger to trace letters and numbers in the sand. Sand and water play activities are things I do with children that combine fun, learning, creativity and time together. This makes the children confident as in the early year’s foundation stage learning area talks of expressive art and design as it shows how children explore play with a range of media and materials, page 5.
Children often request and choose to play in the water and sand area and I encourage that by focusing on what they are doing and why they choose what they do. This helps the children to take led in activities and make decisions on their own. They are able to explore a range of resource which would broaden their knowledge as they keep trying and creating their own ideas with it. Water and sand play is also helpful in teaching the children about the environment.
Part 2
The use of technology is ever increasing in early childhood settings. Children at my setting have access to use computers for educational games and software for learning such as e-reading, which they