All about E

'E' and her big brother have been with me since January, and they are such a pleasure to have! Over our short time together I have already started noting some patterns in her play, and thinking about potential schemas.

The first observations I had made (unfortunately I didn't get any pictures) were making me think more about collecting. For well over a month 'E' didn't engage in any mark making activities, she would spend the time picking out the pens from the pot, just gathering them in her hands.

I then noticed she was regularly drawn towards a purse of play money. The money would be emptied out, she would put it in her pockets, then move it to my pockets, move it to a pan or other bowls, back to pockets.....  These movements would go on and on, occasionally interrupted by her big brother wanting to play with some too, so we would share it out and carry on. 'E' then started finding bags around the setting, filling them again with the play money, cups, saucers and plates from the play kitchen, she would hook the bags over the dolls pushchair and again move it around the house. All this moving around was making me think much stronger along a transporting or even trajectory schema.

This week; we had a bit of warmer weather and spent lots of time outside;

We spent time rolling balls down a guttering pipe and watching them plop into water at the bottom. The other children played with this for a short while but it held 'E's attention for much longer

As the other children moved onto other activities in the garden 'E' was still captured by rolling balls down pipes. This one she seemed to enjoy much more, she would post a ball and then crouch down and watch the ball roll all the way to the bottom, she would then come round and see it having come out at the far end.

As we carried on with other planned activities you can see 'E' in the background, her attention has been caught this time by moving water around, going back and forth with cups of water pouring them into a bigger bowl.

Later on that afternoon, we had more time in the garden, baby 'M' had woken up by this point and she joined us for some fresh air!

What I observed next, I found really fascinating

 'E' had a watering can in hand, she scooped water up from the big bucket...

 ...walked over to the mud kitchen area, poured her water into the bowl...

 ...She then left the watering can at the mud kitchen, picked up the bowl and headed towards the patio area...

...and tipped the water out.

She then went back, put the bowl down, picked up the watering can, went back to scoop more water from the big green bucket, then back to the bowl. Poured it in, picked up the bowl, went over to the patio area, and poured it out.

Back and forth she went for 10-15 minutes, sometimes then stamping on the floor where the water had been poured over the patio. Buck back and forth over and over. She was utterly absorbed in her activity of moving the water around, pouring it between containers.

Thinking back over activities from the past we can see these schema's emerging;

6th March - Building short towers with blocks, then quickly knocking them down and watching the blocks scatter

 

13th March - Throwing leaves around at the park (well this one was more for fun!)

17th March - Scooping and pouring sand at playbus

February - Playing in Rice Sensory Trays 'E' would gather various containers from the sensory tray, filling them with rice, pouring the rice between containers, emptying them out and then starting again.

Next Steps
- Incorporate sensory trays into planning over the coming months, perhaps some with balls and tubes so 'E' can enjoy her interest indoors as well as outside.
- Ensure there are a few bags, of a variety of sizes, around the setting for 'E' to use in her gathering and transporting
- Introduce new language related to her interest. Words such as "transport" "movement"