In the Big Bee room, children are aged between two and half and 3 and a half years. Our room supervisor ensures the planning of each week will have activities that will push the children to start wanting to learn. We do work within the "six areas of learning" as laid down by the department of education (Early Years Foundation). Our main aim though, is to provide any child with the following assets: self-confidence, good social skills, care and understanding of others and to make sure they are cared for in a safe, caring and happy enviroment.

All the ages stated above are a rough guide, as each child is an individual and reaches goals at different stages. A record of progress system ensures that moving up into the next room occurs when the individual child is ready. We also assess children on a regular basis and this information will be shared with yourselves.

Learning through play in Big Bees

Play is one of the main ways in which children learn. It helps children to build self worth by giving them a sense of his or her own abilities to feel good about themselves. Because it’s fun, children often become very absorbed in what they are doing. In turn, this helps them develop the ability to concentrate. Providing children with a range of toys and activities will help them learn in a number of ways:

•  
  Sand and water play can be an early introduction to science and maths, e.g. learning that water is fluid, not solid, and that it can be measured in different sized containers.
•  
  Playing with play dough, drawing and painting pictures, dressing up, playing with dolls can encourage creativity, imagination and expression of feelings.
•  
  Building blocks, puzzles and shape sorters can help with recognising different shapes and sizes, putting things in order and developing logic.
•  
  Playing ball games, dancing, running, climbing all help to develop body movement, strength, flexibility and co-ordination skills. 
•  
  Games help with turn taking, sharing and mixing with others.
•  
  Singing, playing simple music instruments help to develop rhythm, listening and hearing.

It's important that learning is fun at this age. It needs to be about doing things with them that they like, so in Big Bees we have our keyworkers that will bond with their key child and find out what their interests are and preferences. From this we can provide resources and activities for the children to develop further with their learning.

We also keep an eye on areas that a child may not have a high interest in such as Mathamatics, we can then simplify an activity or make it more of a game to slowly gain their interest, this is so when they enter school they are prepared for their more structured play that will progress into more formal education.

What is the importance of play for our Big Bees?

Play provides so much more than a few minutes or hours of ‘fun’. Play also allows children to relax, let off steam, develop social skills such as concentration and co-operation, encourages the development of the imagination, develops motor skills and teaches self expression.’ These are all key aspects that your child will need before going to school.