Lots of Play! Lots of Learning! 
Hello! Here we are - Early Years class in EIS West working and learning through play.  
One of the greatest attributes of play, is that it allows children to: 
 learn through trial-and-error, operating with confidence - they do not feel threatened or worry about making mistakes  
make connections with previous learning 
explore new experiences  
transfer knowledge and skills from one area of play to another.  
Our observation and assessment can also take place when our young students are playing, which makes it an ideal way to discover a student’s ability, without putting them in situations where they feel stressed.   
We spend daily sessions in our purpose built play-room. The children join in with board games and puzzles; use construction toys; build with blocks; use our early years library; participate in make-believe using our dressing up clothes and resources and join in with small world play.  
All of these activities contribute to children’s learning and development. For example, when using small world resources such as cars, mats, small people and animals, the children can be in control. For much of the time, young children’s lives are under the control of other people, but when they organise small-scale train/road layouts, dolls, houses, farms, etc., the children are ‘in charge’ for once. 
This gives them the opportunity to: 
make choices 
plan, organise and take charge 
use language to share plans and ideas with one another 
become skilful with their fingers as they manipulate small objects 
form mathematical concepts of sets as they sort the pigs from the horses in the farm, the kitchen furniture from the bedroom furniture in the doll’s house
think about road systems and road safety as they encounter them in miniature. 
Play of this sort gives children the chance to create worlds of their own in which they can act out their present understanding of the real world. 
So the next time you hear, “All I do is play!” rejoice in knowing that your child is developing many skills and extending his/her knowledge in a way which is a perfect for a young learner.

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