Children in the Blackbirds room at Redcliffe Nursery School have been exploring their interests through responsive play this month, with rockets and block construction taking centre stage.
Following a child’s keen interest in rockets, the team set up a dedicated rocket area with appropriate books to further explore this fascination. The children have been immersed in space-themed play and singing Zoom Zoom Zoom, their favourite rocket song, whilst developing their understanding of space travel and building their imaginations through creative play.
Block play has become a very important part of the provision this month. It all began when a small group of children repeatedly enjoyed sitting, standing on and moving large wooden blocks in the room. The team observed the children’s patterns of play and reflected that they were craving more space to expand their designs. One morning, the team recreated the children’s block design from the previous day across most of the room, adding planks of wood, chalk and smaller blocks as options for children to use. A photo of the original design was included in the set up for the children to see. This sparked the interest of many other children, creating beautiful collaborative block play and shared learning experiences. The children have been developing their confidence, creativity and early problem-solving skills through building and construction whilst learning to work together and share ideas.
These responsive approaches show how closely the team observe and listen to children’s interests, creating opportunities for sustained exploration, creative thinking and collaborative play that help children feel valued and inspired in their learning.