The children at my setting have a typical daily routine, rather than a rigid timetable that has to be followed. With children every day is different. It is important that I am totally flexible and that our activities can be easily adapted. These will depend on the children’s levels of tiredness, their interests, weather, toddler groups and outings. Part of each day will be spent outdoors, as not only is this a requirement of the EYFS but it is also beneficial for the children to enjoy fresh air and participate in a variety of outdoor activities. When the weather is good, we go out on walks, picnics and visits in the local community, when it is raining we splash in the puddles, when it is windy we fly kites, and when it is snowing we make snowmen and watch ice melt!
Typical Daily Activities include:
- Dressing up & Books and Story tapes
- Small world play & Construction toys (Lego, Duplo etc)
- Pretend play (toy kitchen etc)
- Water play & Sand Play
- Arts and Crafts & Messy Play
- Cooking & Gardening
- Outdoor play & Music making and singing
During our day, I will plan some activities, and also let the children choose some of their own activities – this is called Free Play. This is a time when children can pick what they would like to play with from the wide variety of toys available - using the pictures on the Choice Board, from the dark den to the building blocks, the children are encouraged to play together, share and look after their toys. Free play is playtime that is unstructured and child-driven. This is important in encouraging children’s independence and decision-making skills, and allows them an opportunity to interact with the world around them. An example of a daily routine...
- 07:30
- 08:30
- 09:30
- 10:15
- 11:00
- 11:30
- 12:00
- 13:00
- 14:00
- 15:00
- 16:00
- Children Arrive, Breakfast Time, Free Play
- School drop off
- Free Play, Imaginary Play, Tidy Up Time
- Snack Time, Song Time, Story Time
- Free Play, Outdoor Play, Soft Play
- Construction Play
- Lunch Time
- Rest/Sleep Time, Quiet Play, Cooking
- Snack Time, Table & Craft Time, Outdoor Play
- School Run, Music & Dance Time
- Tea Time, Quiet Time, Free Play, Home Time
I also have a range of persona and empathy dolls that regularly visit and play alongside the children at my setting. The persona dolls are used in storytelling and circle time and are designed to be life like and help to raise challenging questions and scenarios to encourage children to respond positively to real life situations. The dolls give children the opportunity to understand and share feelings or stories, identify and recognise a range of feelings and emotions in themselves and others, encourage a positive self attitude, help them to value themselves and others and also to develop respect for themselves and others. The empathy dolls are mainly used with younger children as part of their daily routine, and assist in improving and developing babies’ and young children’s well-being, learning, achievement and behaviour.
