Its really
nice to meet other childcare practitioners and share practice and ideas. Even
when we come from such diverse settings there is a camaraderie and willingness
to listen and learn from each other.
I'd never
heard of Placing and Arranging before, but while on a course the other day the
ladies on my table got chatting during the lunch break and it came up.
Our conversation
had moved from subject to subject and then someone mentioned Placing and
Arranging. I found out that it is literally placing and arranging small object.
Beads, paperclips, pom poms, buttons etc (in fact any sort of small
embellishment) is placed onto a surface of either card, fabric or cork and once
completed the arrangement can be recorded (photographed) and the child can
start again if they wish. As I'd never heard of it before (although we have
done something similar with sticky-backed-plastic) I wondered how the children
felt about not being able to take their arrangement home, but apparently no-one
had ever had a problem. It sounded like a nice creative activity and said I
would be trying it with the children, which I did as you can see. I have since
learnt that it the term is used when working with a light box too, but as I do
not have the budget for a light box it is something I didn't know about.
Anyway the
subject of Christmas then came up. The general consciences was that doing
crafts over the Christmas period that can then be used as gifts for parents is
quite difficult these days without the old style production line of prepared
activities. You know the type of thing; a Father Christmas cut-out, neatly
painted and stuck on a greetings card perfectly central and upright- allegedly
produced by a 2 year old.
The line of acceptability in craft activities these
days is quite clear; shapes that have been cut-out by an adult and are placed
to produce a recognisable object ie Father Christmas is frowned upon, but
something that a child has created from resources that an adult has
prepared/sourced so the child can create something original is valued. If you
look up the word 'creativity' you will find it means 'originality' and as each
child is as individual as a flake of snow then their creations should be
equally unique and valued. But while some may value the brown splodge because
we know the process of creating it was long and involved and it consisted of
many layers of primary colour paint, others may just see a brown splodge. The
key is ensuring that the child's creativity shines through.
Someone on
the table bemoaned the loss of 'circle time' at her setting. She said it makes
it very difficult to produce the end of year nativity as the children never get
enough time to learn the carols or practice sitting still. Which lead on to
whether or not a pre-school or nursery room should look and sound chaotic, or
should there be some order? Being a childminder without the first hand
knowledge or experience of working in chaos I was interested in this debate but
couldn't really offer my personal opinion....(although I feel nothing worthwhile can
be produced in a chaotic environment)....but I kept quiet because some
practitioners were obviously convinced that free-flow play is always chaotic. One
lady was very adamant that free-flow shouldn't be chaotic and that resources
should be tidied away as they go. I think all settings agree that getting the
balance right is proving tricky.
At another
gathering I was talking to a childminder about planning. She was a teacher
before becoming a childminder so I thought I'd extract some expert opinion on
the subject. It turns out she is just as undecided as the rest of us on how to
approach planning, but admitted she has squirreled away her folder of themes-
just in case one day they become acceptable again.
I'm not
making any particular point other than it is obvious we are all doing the best
we can to implement the EYFS as we understand it, but also as we perceive
Ofsted will view our efforts.
But I do
wonder sometimes if we throw the baby out with the bath water and focus too
much on the froth left behind.
