Aprons and In the Moment Planning
IN THE MOMENT PLANNING AND MESSY PLAY
IN THE MOMENT PLANNING (ITMP)
At The Jays, we follow an ‘In the moment planning’ ethos which, despite the word ‘planning’ in the title, means that there are no ‘formal’ plans and we are led by the children’s interests ‘in the moment’.
First of all, children are not storing up their questions for tomorrow. Being in the moment means you are more likely to be ready with answers when and where they are relevant.
On top of this, many of their interests will be changing from week to week. By being ‘in the moment’, you can observe and work on a child’s interests as they arrive, rather than turning towards a pre-planned task when their interest might already have disappeared.
What’s more, the longer term cycle you find with traditional planning can often miss the target.
MESSY PLAY AND APRONS
ITMP can often mean spontaneous activities occur along with access to messy/sensory resources.
From experience, many children refuse to wear an apron and could possibly never engage in messy activities. When a child comes to a messy activity and starts to become engrossed with the resources. As educators, we might notice they haven’t got an apron on.
This little learner is totally engrossed in his play using their imagination and freely expressing themselves using their whole body; deep-level thinking is happening at this moment in time. He is curious about the marks made in the tray/puddle/on paper etc. Curious to investigate and find out what happens.
The synapse in his brain is on fire; brain development is happening at this very moment! ⭐️
Sadly this type of messy activity is viewed with negativity
Look at the mess?
It’s going to take ages to clean up!!
The parents will go crazy about his clothes.
As Early Years Educators, it’s our job to understand the importance of messy play and to place the child at the forefront of everything ❤️
We need to be mindful about insisting a child put to on an apron – or giving those ultimatums . “if you don’t put an apron on, you CANNOT play!”
Imagine being a child turned away from an exciting activity because they have to stop now what they are doing to put on a stiff, plastic often wet paint-splattered apron!
HOW WILL THIS IMPACT THE CHILD?
The child will walk away! The opportunity to be curious, discover, investigate LEARN, to have FUN, to become deeply engaged MISSED! We will have interrupted their thought process, a learning opportunity and brain development! REMEMBER, in the early years, children have short attention spans and are distracted easily so can’t easily pick up from where they left off. Think of it this way, if you are having a moment of quiet for yourself reading a book and someone keeps interrupting you, you can't concentrate can you?
Precious clothes may make children look cute, but sadly, they often make their wearers worried in case they get into trouble.
What message is this giving a child? My clothes are more important than my learning, fun & enjoyment!
Clothes will wash or maybe get a little ‘personally re-designed’ but Memories & learning opportunities last a lifetime.
PARENT PARTNERSHIP
The child will walk away! The opportunity to be curious, discover, investigate LEARN, to have FUN, to become deeply engaged MISSED! We will have interrupted their thought process, a learning opportunity and brain development! REMEMBER, in the early years, children have short attention spans and are distracted easily so can’t easily pick up from where they left off. Think of it this way, if you are having a moment of quiet for yourself reading a book and someone keeps interrupting you, you can't concentrate can you?
Precious clothes may make children look cute, but sadly, they often make their wearers worried in case they get into trouble.
What message is this giving a child? My clothes are more important than my learning, fun & enjoyment!
Clothes will wash or maybe get a little ‘personally re-designed’ but Memories & learning opportunities last a lifetime.
A LITTLE BIT OF RESEARCH
From Nursery World
The survey of 2,000 parents reveals that almost two-thirds discourage their children from messy activities such as baking and sport.
Parents use excuses such as ‘You can do it tomorrow’, ‘It’s dirty’ or ‘There’s not enough time’ to dissuade their children.
More than two-fifths would prefer their children to play with an iPad overpainting.
The poll of mothers and fathers of seven- to 11-year-olds, commissioned by Persil, also reveals that parents’ dislike of messy play activities is rubbing off on their children.
A third of children, whose parents took part in the survey, admitted they don’t like dirt and mess, with close to half stating that looking ‘cool’ was more important than having fun outside.
For more than half of the children (61 per cent) watching TV is their favourite activity, followed by playing computer games (48 per cent).
A fifth of the children surveyed had never heard of a mud pie and of those that had, more than half had never made one.
Steven Chown, programme development manager for Play England, said, ‘The Persil survey confirms our own research that many parents are becoming more risk averse. Getting messy is part of a happy, healthy childhood and such play is linked with a range of cognitive and developmental benefits. Given the opportunity, today’s children would do exactly the same things as we did when we were children –climbing trees, making mud pies and splashing around in puddles – so it is important parents encourage this form of play and don’t worry too much about the mess.’
Give it a go at home. Let your children be free with some paint outside and really watch what they are doing and how they are learning! Maybe by sitting back and watching you might notice your children are following a type of schema (lots of advice online) and then you will know how to help their development ❤️
Then repeat the activity and interrupt them to put an apron on and evaluate how differently they interacted.
