Play Time

Playtime Routine

Nursery Class and Reception Class combined as the school is following the foundation phase. The classes name has now changed to ‘the foundation group’. The children are really enjoying learning while playing. Instead of doing structured activity’s the children are allowed to explore and find out for themselves how everything works and how to solve the problem they face when doing an activity. The children have outdoor play mostly as this is a key part to the foundation phase. They have an explorer’s garden, where the children have their own row, where they can dig the soil and plant their own plants. When the children stay into play, there are loads of activities and areas they can explore. The children have a large music centre where they can have a choice of what instruments they can play. They have a creative area where they are allowed to paint pictures and colour, glue and cut things out.
The children then have the sand tray and the water tray. The sand tray has all different toys in and different objects with different textures that the children can play with. Then they have the water tray, which the children really enjoy. In the water tray we sometimes put different coloured water in by adding food colouring; the children really get excited by the different colour water. We also put boats and other objects in so they can play in the water. The class also has a construction area where the children build with Lego and Knex. They have a story and imaginative area where the children play dressing up and read story’s to each other. Having lots of activities to do and to chose from is all part of the foundation phase, giving the children the opportunity to chose what they want to do not to be forced in to something they do not like.
Play routines are important to help the children because they need to know what’s coming next and when to tidy up after play. If the schedule is consistent, children learn the pattern. Once a pattern is