Play
Here at Little VIP’s we acknowledge that play is central to young children’s learning and development as they interact with, explore and make sense of the world. We plan and support a wide variety of types of play, including creative play, language play, physical play, imaginative play, socio-dramatic play and construction play. Through this broad range of quality play experiences, we carefully observe children’s high levels of engagement and motivation in purposefully directing their own learning. We support children to plan for, talk about and think about their play experiences while carefully documenting their narratives in order to validate their experiences and support them to become confident and competent learners.
As a team we understand that our role is to effectively facilitate play and at times carefully lead and direct play while also joining in as play partners. In this way, we skilfully support children’s learning and development.
Outdoor Play
In little VIPs we place particular importance on outdoor play. Playing outdoors enhances learning and is fundamental for children to thrive in health, wellbeing and development. The benefits of outdoor play are grounded in well-documented research. Some of these benefits are highlighted below:
- It helps to improve the physical health of children by increasing physical activity and helping to support the development of their fundamental movement skills such as running, jumping, kicking, balance, throwing, catching etc
- It promotes mental, social and emotional wellbeing by helping to reduce stress, increase self-esteem and confidence.
- It supports the development of emotional resilience and helps to build children’s confidence in their own capabilities, their ability to manage risks and deal with uncertainty.
- Through the fun that children experience while playing outdoors they develop essential social skills, nurture compassion and empathy and build lasting and loving friendships.
- It supports wider learning by helping to boost creativity, imagination and understanding.
With all of the benefits to be gained from outdoor play Little VIPs places special importance on outdoor provision in the learning experiences that we provide.
