﻿Hello everybody, my name's Emma, and welcome to today's lesson. I'm really looking forward to today's session, and I hope you are too. But before we get started, just a quick reminder, we hear at Oak are trying to support any approaches, you might already be using, and any work that you might have already been set. We know this lesson is going out to so many, different children and families. So if you're not sure or have questions, then please contact your usual, speech and language therapy team or your child's school. Together we'll do some thinking, about the types of early play. And then, I'll be setting you and your adults, some play time activities. Through these activities, I'll be asking your adults, to think about doing a few things, to really help you get the most out of your play together. So for today's session, all you'll need, are some of your favourite toys. Adults, you'll need the downloadable resource, that's available on the Oak website, with this lesson and some writing equipment. But before we begin, find a quiet place where you won't be disturbed, for the lesson. Turn off any distractions or notifications, that you might have running on your device, and make sure that both you and your adult, are seated comfortably. Okay, now you're ready. Let's begin. The development of play is closely linked, to the development of language and communication. Play is really important for those reasons. In early play, children learn to actively explore people and objects. This exploration means that children start to learn, about their world and this prepares their mind, for more learning and more cognitive development. Children develop their play skills in the early stages, through two types of play. The first is people play. When we think of people play games, things like peek-a-boo or nursery rhymes, where we're singing and perhaps involving in action, are really good examples of people play, because in this type of play, it's one-on-one typically between the child and the adult, and there's lots of face watching and opportunities, for the child listen to, and watch and observe, how their primary caregivers facial expression changes, and it gives the, it gives the opportunity to start working on looking. Because it's a very natural one-on-one, usually without a toy, people-based play. Early object exploration is where, a child would engage with an object. Look at an object and explore it by using their senses. And so we can help to develop early play by providing, lots of frequent natural and fun-filled people, and object play with our children and young people. We're going to start today's lesson, with a short people play activity. Children it's time for five minutes of play with your adult. Let's have a go playing one of these games, or you could do both. The first option is a face watching game. This is peek-a-boo. You and your adult can play peek-a-boo for a few minutes. The other option is to play a movement game, for example, singing and moving to the nursery rhyme, row, row, row, your boat. It's up to you and your adult, which when you choose to do, or whether you choose to do both. When you've finished, come back to the video, and press play to continue the lesson. Before we carry on, I'd like you to take a moment to just reflect. Adults, have a think about the signals or messages, that your child gave you, when you changed your facial expression or voice, during either one of those people play activities. When you've had a moment to gather your thoughts on this, press play to continue. In order to get the most out of our play time together. The adults need to try to remember these four headings. The first heading is stop, Look and listen. If you and your adult took part in module one, you'll remember that this is a strategy. When the adult takes the time to stop, look and listen, to what the child is focused on or interested in, during their play, they'll be able to interpret the messages, that the child is trying to give. Whether they like something, maybe whether they want to see more of it. The next thing to try and remember, is to provide lots of waiting time. Children can take 10 or more seconds to form a response, to an object or a change in their environment. So it's important that we give them time to react, to changes around them. And that when they do, we are listening, to any messages that they're trying to convey. It's important in early play, that the adult is responsive to these signals. And responds to any messages, that the child is trying to make. This will help them to follow their child's lead three play, and really join in, in a playful and meaningful way. In early play, It can help if the adult tries to copy, whatever the child does or is looking at. And then, wait and observe how the child responds, to the adult copying them. This is the very early stages of building turn taking. Now it's time for another bit of people play. This time we're going to sing the song, round and round the garden. It's one of my favourites. Adults, while you're singing this song with your child, take a couple of tries, varying the tickle or the pausing that you leave, between saying one step, two step. You could even try introducing a puppet, or an interesting object into the nursery rhyme, to see how your child responds to this. All of these variations will create a great opportunity, for you to observe, wait, and then respond, to what your child likes. When you've had a couple of goes with this nursery rhyme, come back to the video and press play and we'll continue. So now it's time for a little bit more play. Children, gather up your favourite toys. You and your adult are going to have five minutes of play. During early play, the child may or may not use language. And this play opportunities might not last very long. But that's the thing about them, short and sweet is better. when the adult is observing and responding consistently, to the child's actions during play, and interpreting them as meaningful messages, the child learns to understand that if they do X, Y will happen. This is early communication. It's important that though these steps might be small, the adults persevere with this over time, and enjoy each and every fun-filled interaction, with the child. By exploring new objects and situations, through their senses, children have more opportunities to respond and therefore, more opportunities to begin this early communication, with their adults. Just to refresh your memory, Children can explore situations, objects, or people, by using these senses. Looking, touching, smelling, hearing, and in some cases tasting. When an adult is trying to introduce people, or early object play, there are a few golden rules that they need to bear in mind. The first thing, is that whether it's an object or a person, that we're introducing into our play, we place it where the child can see it and reach for it. If it's an object, it can be helpful to have two of them. So that the child can have one, and the adult can have another. And the adult can model exploring with their own object. Whenever we're making any changes to play, or introducing a new object or movement, it's important to stop and wait, as we know, this gives the, this gives the children the opportunity to form a response. If a child doesn't show interest, or perhaps doesn't register a new object, or a change in their play, we can show them what exploring that object might look like. Looking at it, moving it, or making an action or output. And then observe and respond to any messages, that are communicated to us the adults, as a result. If the message is positive, I like it. It's really important that we give the people, more time with the object or help them to explore it, in more ways. We can also make play even more enriching, by adding simple language into it. By saying something in just one or two key words, about the activity. This could be labelling the object, or commenting on what is happening. And you're going to be the leader. Adults while the child is playing, get down on their level, observe, listen to what they're communicating to you, and then maybe have a go introducing, a new or exciting object into that play. This doesn't have to be a new object as such. It could just be showing them how to use an existing object, that they already have in a different way, or exploring it in a different way. Observe, wait, and respond to what your child likes, through their play. So before we continue, just take a few moments to reflect. What signals or messages did your child give you, during that playtime? What did they really enjoy? And you were following their lead. This lesson has a downloadable resource, that contains more ideas for how you can develop, early play at home. I've also included, an adult communication strategies checklist, which will help you to promote your child's attention, during your play sessions with them. There are also resources in the pack to help you record, and reflect on how your child engages with you, and any new activities or objects that you add into play. Well that brings us to the end of today's lesson. A really big well done on all the fantastic play, that you've experienced today. I've just got two final things I'd like to you to do now. First adults, if you could look back on your notes, and identify three important things, that you're going to take away, that would be great. Second, if you're able to, please take a picture of some of the toys, that you've been using during special time, and record this in your special time diary, in the downloadable resources attached. Ask a parent or caregiver to share this, with your teacher at school, so that they can see the fantastic progress, that you're making with your early play. And if you'd like, you could also ask your parent or carer, to send a picture of your record book to, @OakNational on Twitter, so I can see your wonderful progress too. Well that's all for me today. So thank you very much. Take care and enjoy the rest of your learning today. Bye bye.

Development of play is closely linked with the development of language and communication skills

In this lesson, we will focus on play. The development of play is closely linked with the development of language and communication skills. In early play, children actively explore people and objects. Resources provided by University of Gloucestershire (CC BY-NC-SA: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0)

Lesson overview:Early Play

Core Content

Equipment Required

Interaction and communication: