I find that the children I care for all get on so well together that they play much better on their own than when I try to do “activities” with them. When I read childminding magazines I feel bad that I don’t do more challenging activities with them (and I worry there is less to write in their diaries/bring home) but they have a lot of fun just playing in an unstructured way. What % of time do people spend on “adult-led” crafts and story time etc based activities?
Start a discussion
Welcome to SHARE&INSPIRE, a forum for early years practitioners, where you can share and learn more about the key topics involved in your work.
Join a discussion
May 2012 M T W T F S S « Jul 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
I think that the trick is to observe and use their play interests to find an activity that they can see the fun and the meaning in, rather than having them feel that they have been torn away from play that they were enjoying to do something meaningless to them. For instance, if they love cars, then help them make one out of a big cardboard box, using their own ideas, so enabling them, rather than telling them what to do.