Developmental Play

Part of my philosophy (particularly for juniors) is that it's really important to have time to play. It allows the students to be creative with no pre-determined agenda. The students can choose what they want to play with, in what way and who with. The teachers join in and participate along side the students, offering suggestions at times but mostly allowing the children to lead. It is a great opportunity for building relationships and modelling appropriate social behaviour. In terms 1 and 2 we had Developmental play for at least half an hour most days. This term will be a lot less due to junior show practises, olympics and cross country practises. I truly believe that this time is really positive for our students especially our students who need more positive interactions with their peers and teachers, and more support for dealing with disappointment. Therefore we are finding times to fit this in where we can.

 




This Blog has some similar ideas http://blog.core-ed.org/blog/2014/04/powerful-play-continuity-and-inquiry-for-children-starting-school.html