Quality Play – The sea saw

This observational video captures young children engaging with a self-constructed seesaw in an outdoor natural play environment. Through this footage, the children’s exploration, problem-solving, and physical coordination are showcased as they interact with the equipment. The clip emphasises the significance of unstructured play in fostering cognitive and physical development, highlighting how such experiences contribute to a child’s learning and development.

Good for looking at

• Play outdoors
• Physical play
• Co-operating

To fully appreciate the developmental aspects illustrated in the video, consider focusing on the following:

• Physical Coordination: Observe how the children balance, climbs, and manoeuvre themselves together on and off the seesaw.
• Problem-Solving Skills: Note any moments where the children work out how to use the seesaw independently or seeks assistance from others.
• Emotional Responses: Pay attention to the expressions of joy, frustration, or determination during play.
• Interaction with Others: Observe the nature of the interactions and any collaborative play. How do they communicate ideas between each other?

Reflect:

• Growth and development: What physical or cognitive skills did the child demonstrate through play?
• Learning: How do the children’s actions illustrate learning or mastery of a new skill?
• Role of the Environment: In what ways did the outdoor setting and equipment facilitate the children’s exploration and support communication and problem solving?
• Supportive Interactions: How would you as an adult support this play. Think about interacting, interfering and the environment as the third teacher.

Planning: What’s next?

Immediate Actions:

• Enhance Play Environments: Ensure that outdoor play areas are equipped with diverse, open ended, sustainable safe equipment that encourages exploration.
• Enhance resources: How can you ensure that all children are appropriately dressed to spend time outdoors?
• Observe and Document: Regularly observe children’s play to identify developmental progress, working theories, funds of knowledge and areas potentially needing support.

Short-Term Goals (Next Few Weeks):

• Professional Development: Engage in training focused on the pedagogy of play in early childhood development.
• Parental Engagement: Share observations with parents to highlight the value of play in learning.

Long-Term Objectives (Next Month and Beyond):

• Curriculum Integration: Incorporate an emphasis on child led play into daily routines, recognising its role in holistic development.
• Continuous Assessment: Develop appropriate methods to assess and support children’s child led play that demonstrates a depth of understanding of types of play and key pedagogy.

• Hughes, B. (2013). Evolutionary playwork and reflective analytic practice. Routledge.
• Thompson, P. (2024) Play In Early Childhood. In Fitzgerald, D., & Maconochie, E. (eds) Early Childhood Studies: A student’s guide (second edition). London: Sage, pp.121-133.
• Thompson, P. (2022) Tina Bruce. In Bradbury, A. and Swailes, R. (eds) Early Childhood Theories Today. London: Sage, pp 99-111.