Play and physical development

Children are playing outdoors and accessing the large physical equipment and climbing frame.

Good for looking at

• The range of gross motor movements used during play
• Social communication during play
• Independent skills
• Including children with SEND in opportunities for outdoor physical play

Notice

• How the different types of equipment encourage the children to play in different ways, thinking about which gross motor skills are developed by the different play equipment.
• How the children communicate with each other during their play, and how they support each other.
• A moment in the video when the child demonstrates independent skills and her persistence at getting this right, without any adult support.
• How these physical play resources support children who have special needs and disabilities.

Reflect

• What did you notice about the range of movements that the children were using in their play? List the range of movements that you noticed, for instance swinging and rocking.
• In which parts of their bodies were the children building strength through physical outdoor play? What did you notice about the main child in the video? Do you think she is disabled? Why is it not obvious at first that she seems to struggle to use her legs?
• What is it about the resources for play here, which makes them especially accessible for children with SEND?
• The children have clearly been encouraged to put on the vests independently when they want to go on the climbing frame. Notice how the child persists with dressing herself even though she struggles at first. Where do children have opportunities to persist and be independent during physical play in your setting?
• Think about how the children interact and what they say to each other during the clip. Which interactions, gestures, words or phrases would you pick out? How is the physical play supporting their social communication?
• Which of the resources in the clip do you think offer high quality opportunities for open-ended play? Do you have similar resources in your setting and what are these?

What’s next – planning

• Do an audit of the resources for gross motor play in your setting, thinking about the kinds of movements that children would use while playing with them.
• Do you notice any gaps in your provision? What might you add to support the full range of gross motor development during outdoor play?
• Thinking about any children in your setting with special needs and disabilities, are they supported to access resources for gross motor play and how do you do this?