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Play-based learning encourages self-expression and creativity. A play-based approach gives children the time and space to interact with open-ended, multi-sensory resources, resulting in plenty of opportunities for self-expression and creativity

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When children Play for fun, they are engaging in activities they enjoy without a specific learning objective. Play creates an opportunity for children to explore their world in their own way and helps foster creativity and using their imagination

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We envision a future where play is valued in Wales for being crucial to a healthy and happy childhood. A country where children can freely explore, discover, develop and grow through play.

We campaign for a play-friendly Wales by leading with intention, collaborating with inclusivity, educating with enthusiasm, and supporting with sensitivity.

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We envision a future where play is valued in Wales for being crucial to a healthy and happy childhood. A country where children can freely explore, discover, develop and grow through play. We campaign for a play-friendly Wales by leading with intention, collaborating with inclusivity, educating with enthusiasm, and supporting with sensitivity.

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Role of the adult-support and resist interference.

Bob Hughes developed 16 different play types. The Various Play types attempt to describe the full range of children’s play behaviours and how they might contribute to children’s physical, mental and emotional development.

It is important to be able to recognise the different types of play in order to:

Understand the power of different kinds of play and the benefits of different kinds of play

To monitor the types of play already happening

To ensure to support and extent different kinds of play so all children have wide-ranging high-quality play experiences as engaging in each play type is necessary for a child’s healthy development

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This is a short insightful video explaining the differences between the Montessori approach and Reggio Emilia.

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Montessori vs Reggio Emilia Education (4 Key Differences)

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Role of the adult-To support,facilitate and guide learning

Jean Piaget (1962) was the first psychologist to

make a systematic study of children’s cognitive development.

Piaget's theory of cognitive development viewed play as integral to the development of intelligence in children. His theory of play argues that as the child matures, their environment and play should encourage further cognitive and language development. According to Piaget, children are not passive recipients of information; instead, they actively explore and interact with their surroundings.

This active engagement with the environment is crucial because it allows them to gradually build their understanding of the world.

According to Piaget, children play in 4 ways, functional, constructive, fantasy, and games with rules.

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Article 31 of The United Nations Convention on the rights of the child states that every child has the right to Relax and play.

This emphasises the importance of play in relation to a child’s development. This also links closely to play deprivation and the impacts this can have if children are not exposed to play.

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Role of the adult- co learner and guide for the children.

The Reggio Emilia Play Approach was created after WW2 in Reggio Emilia in northern Italy. Loris Malaguzzi is the founder who is also a teacher, believed that the community of Reggio Emilia needed a new and improved educational system for their children. Malaguzzi believed in an education that would enable critical thinking and teamwork.

Malaguzzi believed in a child-led learning approach and developed his beliefs into “The 100 Languages Approach.” Malaguzzi deemed that children have 100 languages to express themselves. His teachings, therefore, were based on using these languages to support children and their learning as well as understanding the environment around them.

Role

“The 100 Languages” is a metaphor describing how children show their understanding, learning, and thinking.

A key learning practice central to the Reggio Emilia Play Approach is expressive arts. Putting emphasis on many non-verbal “languages” such as gestures, glances, and emotions. It also encourages children to express themselves and improve their knowledge through many expressive activities such as dramatic play, dancing, painting, sculpting, writing, construction, puppetry, and many more.

Parents and the community play a huge role in the Reggio Emilia approach.

Reggio Emilia settings tend to use neutral tones, hessian materials and open ended resources to create a calmer, more aesthetically pleasing learning environment.

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Children seek risk and uncertainty in their play. They are drawn to challenge, novelty, and the unexpected. Self-organised play helps children respond flexibly to difficult or changing situations.

What are the benefits?

Risky play can build confidence as well as providing children with a better understanding of the world around them. It also allows them to navigate obstacles and overcome challenges by taking risks. Risky play has substantial benefits across various aspects of children's health, including their physical, mental, and social-emotional development. Physically, it increases activity levels and reduces sedentary time, contributing to lifelong physical literacy and possibly enhancing the immune system. Mentally, it supports resilience, problem-solving and conflict resolution, while socially, it fosters cooperation, communication and a sense of belonging. (Suzanne Beno, 2024).

Are there any limitations?

Children do not set out to deliberately hurt themselves, but they do not always realise their own limitations or the limitations of the environment that surrounds them. However how will children know wether to test something that is not deemed safe if they have no previous exposure to risky play to allow them to make judgments? (Melanie Pilcher, No date)

Children need to experience bumps and falls to determine the difference between what is safe and what is not.

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“Children are human beings to whom respect is due, superior to us by reason of their innocence and of the greater possibilities of their future.” - Maria Montessori

Role of the adult- Observer and facilitator.

Dr. Maria Montessori an Italian physician, scientist, and anthropologist devoted her life to identifying how children progress socially, cognitively, physically, and emotionally.

Her work looked at the holistic approach to developing children’s emotional, social, physical, and cognitive capabilities through exploring the world around them whilst at the same time using their imagination.

Montessori focuses on child-led learning through hands-on activities. It encourages independence and curiosity by providing a structured yet flexible environment. Kids explore, play, and learn at their own pace, making education natural and engaging.Montessori approach to play is learning skills that have a practical application but in a fun way. Montessori believed that play and activities are a process with no particular end goal. Montessori also allowed children freedom of what they played with and when as a pose to structures set activities that the children may not be particularly interested in.

Montessori favoured﻿ natural, open-ended materials such as wooden blocks, fabric and baskets over plastic toys.

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This a short video detailing the Reggio Emilia approach to education.

Key areas of this video include:

-image of the child

-project based learning

-creativity and experimentation

-promoting creativity

-the role of the teacher

-risk takers and explorers

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Wales was the first country in the world to introduce a Play policy back in 2002. This policy was strengthened by the Children and Families (Wales) measure 2010.

Other countries have since implemented policies that support play such as Sweden, Germany and Scotlands Play strategy for Scotland (2013).

What is the Welsh play policy?

It makes clear the commitment of the Welsh Assembly Government to ensure that

children and their needs are central to policy making and that provision is made to meet those needs.

The policy is a broad statement of principles, rather than a detailed prescription of how play provision should be implemented.

The Welsh Assembly Government, in seeking to ensure the full implementation of Article 31 of the Convention, intends that this statement should contribute to creating an environment that fosters children's play and underpins a national strategy for providing for children's play needs.

The Welsh Assembly Government believes that:

﻿﻿play is the elemental learning process by which humankind has developed. Children exhibit a behavioural imperative and instinctive desire to play. It has contributed significantly to the evolutionary and developmental survival of our species. Children use play in the natural environment to learn of the world they inhabit with others. It is the very process of learning and growth, and as such all that is learnt through it is of benefit to the child.

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What is play deprivation?

' the name given to the idea that not playing may deprive children of experiences that are essential to their development and result in those affected being both biologically and socially disabled.(Play Wales,2024)

What impact can this have on children?

Isolation

Depression

Reduced self control

Poor resilience

Lack of confidence

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Adults who facilitate children's play, are responsible for creating and providing a flexible environment. It compensates for the absence of play opportunities provided by the natural environment or restricted by factors such as parental fears arising from living in a highly populated area, high levels of traffic, anxieties of stranger danger and a perception that allowing children out unsupervised is disapproved of.

Adults play a big role in supporting children’s play. Adults should facilitate a safe and enhancing environment in which children can explore. Adults and practitioners should implement children’s interests into activities to enhance holistic learning and development. The implementation of children’s interests into planning and conducting activities is known as purposeful planning.Purposeful planning can be defined as a structured approach to setting and achieving objectives that aligns with an individual's or organisations values and mission.(Anderson,C 2021)

Appropriate modelling of language and communication should be used as well as question prompts to promote cognitive development.

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This is a table taken from Play Wales in which it provides an insight of the benefits of play and the dangers of play deprivation. Column one states what contributes to play, eg. Fun. Column 2 describes what we can learn from fun such as being playful and funny. Column 3 details the long term impact fun can have on development and finally column 4 states the impact of play deprivation.

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How play has changed in wales and england over the last 10 years?

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How play has changed in wales and england over the last 10 years?

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How play has changed over the last 10 years?

-Play has changed quite dramatically over the last 10 years, particularly as we seen the lasting effects of Covid -19.

Covid -19 placed an importance on outdoor play and social interaction for children as they were deprived of these areas during the pandemic

-More children now are utilising online learning, using devices to interact and enhance their learning. This may be a positive in a developing technological world however this can mean less time spent outdoors doing hands on activities.

-There has also been a shift in the last few years from colourful plastic toys to more neutral beige toys in nurseries and schools. The change in materials is inspired by educational theorists such as Reggio Emilia,Montessori and Steiner.

The use of Beige and wooden toys are simpler and open-ended, meaning children can imagine different uses for objects rather than being limited to the bright coloured single use design.

examples of neutral open ended toys commonly used in educational settings are, wooden blocks fabric pieces, baskets, and natural objects like pinecones as these are thought to enhance problem-solving and creativity.

-Real-life experiences in childcare refer to activities and environments that allow children to engage with the world around them in a meaningful, hands-on way, For example using a china tea set instead of wooden. Real life experiences help develop social, cognitive, physical, and emotional skills while making learning more engaging and relevant.

‘Only one in four children play out regularly on their street compared to almost three quarters on their grandparents generation’(save the children,2022)

This is a quote taken from save the children which demonstrates the changing times in which children are currently living. As I previously mentioned the use of screens are far more prominent within educational settings than they used to be. This can draw children away from outdoor and hands on experiences as well as depriving them from social and emotional interactions.

It is also evident that current child play is seen as more

structured and often technology driven and lacks the need for imagination and creativity. This is seen as set within a

context of society where academic pursuits are prioritised

and where parents feel the need to restrict outside play

because of fears for their children’s safety. A potentially

damaging aspect of video game play is social isolation and a lack of opportunity to learn and practice social skills. (Mquade, L et al,2019).

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Play has many developmental and holistic benefits that allow children to learn and grow. play is inherently language rich and critically important to promote, among other skills, language and literacy development (Herndon et al,2022).

Play helps children understand their own feelings and those of others. In addition, play helps children build resilience through supporting the development and understanding of relationships and through experiencing positive feelings and reactions.( play Scotland,No Date)

Play has many benefits as it:

-builds confidence

-independence

-Self esteem

-Promotes problem solving and critical thinking

-Encourages use of imagination and creativity

-Allows children to develop their fine and gross motor skills.

-helps children make connections and learn about the world around them.

-curiosity

-interaction

-social skills

-understanding risks and challenges

-resilience

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As previously stated, Bob Hughes uncovered 16 different play types as he believed that play can take many forms. These play types consist of:

Communication play- play consisting of body language, mimes etc.

creative play-experimental play with different textures tools and resources.

Deep Play- taking risks or dangerous play such as balancing beams.

Dramatic play - for example recreating characters through role play.

Exploratory play-Play which involves finding out information through manipulation of an object, for example handling or throwing clay,

Fantasy play-Play at pretend in ways that are unlikely to occur in real life.

Locomotor play-Movement for its own sake, for example playing chase, running, jumping.

imaginative play- using imagination to enhance play.

Mastery play-Control of the natural environment, for example making a dam in a stream, building a bonfire etc.

Object play-Hand-eye manipulations of objects, for example examining shells.

Role play -Play that explores trying out roles not normally experienced, for example driving a car.

Recapitulate play-Play which involves engaging in rituals, making and using weapons, building shelters etc.

Rough and tumble -Play that involves play fighting, tumbling, tickling, play with body contact, but no deliberate hurting where children involved are laughing and squealing and from their facial expressions obviously enjoying themselves.

Social play-Playing with others where the rules for social engagement can be explored, for example

conversations, making things together or creating a club.

Symbolic -The recreation of scenes from children's lives for example playing at mothers and fathers or house.

Socio dramatic -The use of objects or signs to represent other things, for example a stick to represent a sword or a piece of fabric to represent a room.

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This is a short video detailing the new Welsh curriculum that was rolled out back in 2022. This replaced the previous national curriculum that had been in place since 1988.

The Welsh curriculum provides a more holistic approach to learning than the previous curriculum. The new curriculum also places focus on life skills like critical thinking and problem solving. Emphasis on Welsh culture and language has also been implemented.

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IPA is an international non-governmental organisation founded in 1961. It provides a forum for exchange and action across disciplines and across sectors. IPA member groups initiate a wide variety of projects that promote the child’s right to play, with members in close to 50 countries. These include seminars, conferences, study tours, research, publications, playground design, playwork training and the organization of play programs and Play Days. National groups often collaborate with other organisations which promote the well-being of children and children’s rights.

The IPA promote and support Article 31 of the UNCRC.

The countries included are:

Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, England/Wales/No.Ireland, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, USA

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Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010

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Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010

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This legislation makes provision for placing a duty on local authorities to secure sufficient play opportunities for children in Wales.

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This a short 5 minute summary of Forest school.

Forest school incorporates play for learning and play for fun as children can explore their senses through the outdoors whilst still learning critical life skills and having fun.

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What is Forest School? (In a 5 minute nutshell)

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England are currently still using the national curriculum which has been in place since 1988. The curriculum follows key stages and has a rigid structure that must be followed.

Comparing Wales and Englands Curriculum.

Flexibility- England has set rigid subjects and content that must be followed, whereas Wales allow schools to design and develop their own curriculum.

Structure - England set out schools in Key Stages where as Wales promotes continuous learning with no key stages.

Assessments and tests-Englands curriculum sets children up for SATs, GCSEs and A-levels with lots of pressure put on children. Whereas Wales removed SATs and now focus on progression and holistic growth.

Language and identity-the curriculum England follow is English-dominated, with Welsh taught only in Wales.

Wales places equal importance on Welsh and English, supporting bilingualism.

Skills versus knowledge- The national curriculum emphasises subject knowledge and academic performance .

However Wales focuses on skills for life, well-being, and a holistic learning approach.

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Incorporating play for learning and fun 

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Incorporating play for learning and fun 

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Balancing play for learning and play for fun can be done by creating environments that support both types of play. The role of the adult, as I previously mentioned plays a huge role in this. Practitioners and adults working with children may base activities and learning on the children’s interest to promote both types of play through hands on experiences.

Loose parts is an example of the incorporation of both play types, for example a child may be initially drawn to them, the child may then stack or count them. In turn allowing the child to learn through doing something they enjoy.

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Play encompasses children's behaviour which is freely chosen, personally directed and intrinsically motivated. It is performed for no external goal or reward, and is a fundamental and integral part of healthy development - not only for individual children, but also for the society in which they live." Welsh Assembly Government Play Policy October 2002

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Are there any limitations to the implementation of neutral toys?

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Are there any limitations to the implementation of neutral toys?

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-Lack of diversity in play materials.

-Children are naturally drawn to bright colours.

-Quality wooden toys can be expensive- The price difference may exclude lower income families from being able to enhance their child’s play through wooden toys.

-Harder to clean- wooden toys may be more aesthetically pleasing however they are much harder to clean than the typical wipe clean plastic toy.