Early Years and Play to learn & grow
The best possible start in life
Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfil their potential. Children develop quickly in the early years and a child’s experiences between birth and age five have a major impact on their future life chances.
A secure, safe and happy childhood is so important. Supportive care/parenting and high quality early learning together, can give children the foundations they need to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up.
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) produced by the Department of Education sets the standards that all early years providers (for example, nurseries and schools) must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe. The EYFS was designed to promote teaching and learning to give children the best possible start and good future progress through school and life.
Whilst baby and toddler classes are not required to adhere to the EYFS, as a former teacher, Rachel felt the Importance of planning all the Munchkin and me® sessions with the Early Years Framework in mind. Especially to help support every child’s learning across all of their developmental stages and demonstrate ways that parents and carers can support their child confidently at home.
Why we do this at Munchkin and Me®? and what else we do ….
At Munchkin and Me® the sessions are designed to encourage child-led play. During the second half of each session a variety of ‘invitations to play’ are set out based on the weekly story. The activities are designed for children to choose what and how they play. In designing the structure in this way there are always lots of opportunities for children to use Play Schemas which are the repeated behaviours that we see children doing as they play such as rotating or transporting. You can read more about play schemas at the bottom of this page., there is also a short video.