Orson’s ball game Scroll to learning area

Five year old Orson is playing in the garden at his childminder’s house with three year old Tom. He wants to build a game with some tubes and a ball. How will it work?

Good for looking at

• COEL – Active learning, Creating and thinking critically
• Object play
• Learning outdoors
• Games with rules
• Creativity
• Problem solving
• Self talk
• Metacognition

Five year old Orson is playing in the garden at his childminder’s house with three year old Tom. He wants to build a game with some tubes and a ball.

Notice

• How are the children learning? Which areas of development, engagement and characteristics of learning can you observe?
• Can you see any evidence of self-regulated learning?
• In what ways do the adults support the children’s learning?
• How does the environment support the children’s learning?
• What is valuable about the materials provided as learning resources?

Reflect

What are your thoughts about:

• The way the he’s learning – what evidence did you see of effective learning?
• The areas of learning and development that were covered?
• The adult’s role – how did she support the children?
• The importance of the environment and the materials?

Responding

• What would you do next? How could you extend his learning?
• How could you encourage the child to discuss and understand what and how he is learning?
• Could you suggest a way of encouraging this kind of play in your own setting?