I’m Siân, a primary teacher and mum to three boys aged 9, 7 and 4. We’ve created a collection of activities that document how we discover, learn, and have fun through play.
Given the freedom to explore and imagine, children discover the world around them, develop physically and intellectually, and gain confidence. This is why I don’t heavily plan the activities on the website, and the majority are play ideas devised by the boys.
Open-ended play allows children to express their creativity. Unlike closed-ended games, there is no “right” answer or way to complete and finish the project. This kind of play allows your child endless possibilities to make their own decisions and engage their creativity and imagination during playtime.
Whilst children are seemingly ‘just’ having fun, they are busy learning. To support this, I’ve included the National Curriculum Objectives at the end of each Key Stage 1 activity, and for the younger ages, I have included the Early Learning Goals.
Update (September 2022)
As the pandemic impacted almost every area of our lives, many of us encountered unfamiliar positions. For us, home educating was not something we’d ever considered.
During lockdown, our boys thrived learning through play and exploring their own interests. They loved having an input in their learning. They woke up eager to explore and were keen to continue at weekends and school holidays.
Having witnessed the anxiety and reluctance they felt about returning to ‘school learning’, I’m more convinced than ever that it’s vital to give children daily opportunities for free play, offering them security and a chance to relax.
We wanted to give them time to see whether they would settle after the disruption of the last couple of years.
Seeing as they didn’t, we decided to go back to when they were at their happiest. We now home educate.
This may mean more of the content has a curriculum focus, but the boys will still devise their own activities and we will focus on doing things practically, rather than filling in worksheets.
