Christmas Week

Laura and I use half termly topic themes to inspire us to design highly motivating activities that inspire play. Learning about the topic is not important for the pupils. As educators, we follow the learning lead of each pupil and use the resources creatively to follow their interests. Our planning does not include learning objectives, we respond to each unique pupil in the moment of a playful activity in order to build on their current level of learning. During Carousel Play, pupils may show evidence of learning in any of The Springboard Curriculum’s core curriculum areas of cognition, communication, physical and sensory and personal, social and emotional development.

All of the activities that we plan are open-ended and we set up the same activities for 5 days a week. This empowers pupils to become confident using and interacting with the resources, to show preferences and to engage in a range of experiences. Educators have the ability to adapt and add to the activities throughout the week in response to the pupils’ learning and development. We have however made some suggestions below of how to use the resources and how this promotes learning. This is not an exhaustive list so observe how your pupils are engaging and respond in a way that offers them the just-right challenge to move beyond their current level of learning.

*The titles we have used to describe the activities are entirely for educator imagination!

Unwrapped

Melting Snowman

Jingle Bells

Hot Chocolate Sensory Tray

All educators (your teachers, teaching assistants, therapists, volunteers) have to use the resources creatively to support each pupil to learn and develop through playful interactions and by following their lead. Educators must observe, respond, play and interact themselves to make the resources and activities meaningful, motivating and fun for each pupil.

You will likely see similar activities reappear in future planning posts. This is because pupils benefit from repetition. If pupils really enjoyed and showed active participation in a particular activity, do not be afraid to incorporate it into planning the following week to extend their learning.

Team Meeting

Introduce the idea of learning through play and following each pupils’ lead to your team of educators. Pick an activity you set up in your classroom and ask them:

1. What could you do with these resources?

2. What could the pupils learn and how could they develop?

3. Think of a pupil you work closely with, what they enjoy and their strengths and challenges. How could you make this activity fun, motivating and meaningful to them?

If you are enjoying our content, The Springboard Curriculum is available to buy here as an immediate digital download. You can follow the link to view sample pages before you buy. The reason we decided to share our work? To allow educators to use their time creatively to maximise play and tailor the learning activities to the strengths and challenges of each pupil.

£1 of every sale goes to the school’s charity to give back to the educators and pupils who inspired the curriculum.