Examples of activities

Painting and craft: using different techniques and learning about colour, texture and patterns.  The children enjoy experimenting, and it is important that they are allowed to do as much as possible on their own.

Water, sand, clay, soil, shredded paper, pasta and rice, develops fine motor skills and sensory knowledge.

Physical: it is important that children use energy in a positive way.  As well as having an extensive outside play area, including a large sand pit, digging area and built in slide, we also have a variety of large physical equipment e.g. climbing frame, tunnel, trikes, balancing beam, slide, trampoline etc.  With our canopy, the Children can play outside (supervised), even when it’s wet underfoot or raining.

Play dough: develops a sense of touch and children love making different shapes and learn co-ordination through rolling the dough.

Singing and musical instruments: an opportunity to experiment with sound and rhythm.

Home corner: pretend play with home, kitchen, shops, garages, restaurants, schools, doctors, dressing up, dolls and pushchairs, etc.

Books: we have a wide range of books available to the children, and stories are read daily on an informal basis during free play and again towards the end of the session in a structured way.  The books are changed regularly at the library by the Pre-School Staff.

Mark Making: Children have free access to a wide variety of mark making tools, to encourage their Communication, Language and Literacy skills.

Construction, jigsaws, threading, etc. all develop the children’s hand and eye co-ordination.

Other toys: A selection of other toys is put out for each session, e.g. garage and cars, train set, farm animals and mats, etc.

We ensure we offer many non-failure activities, such as playdough, pencils, painting, as young children in particular can often become disheartened and frustrated when they ‘can’t do it!’

With the play being child led, activities are regularly changed, or enhanced by requests from the children for additional resources, different activities etc.