Trip to the local shop

[mumofone]

To buy baking ingredients...Am I right in thinking this would be "Understanding the world?"
I WILL get the hang of this! ;-)

[moggy]

It could be many things... are you asking for planning ahead, or for retrospective planning, or an obs?

On a trip to the shops to buy baking ingredients a child might...

Walk really nicely for the first time, holding the buggy and paying attention when crossing the road- that could be PSED.

They might help with the money to pay for the shopping- M

They might talk about foods which are healthy that they spot at the shop- PD (H&SC)

etc etc...

Can you give more of a context to why you ask and what you want to achieve by labelling an activity like this with an EYFS Area?

[FloraDora]

Our trips to the local shop always start with me / LO writing a shopping list, which they then look at constantly when we are there, even though they are just squiggles, if they wrote it, they know which squiggle means what - so great example in an obs of how they give meaning to marks...

I don't think the trip is a particular area, it's more what happens on the way and when you are there that might pop up a great observation in a particular area for an individual child.

I love walking to the local shop...a great example of what is good about our job! I never ever went in my local shops when I worked in my other life- a quick supermarket trip for everything!

[mumofone]

I walked to the shop to buy baking ingredients with my mindee. We didnt do a list beforehand we just grabbed what we needed, I paid and we left. Mindee spoke to the shop keeper, so I was just wondering where this fits in with the 7 areas of learning - I had understanding the world, but Ive just thought does it include physical development (eg walking there!) and communication & language too...

[moggy]

I walked to the shop to buy baking ingredients with my mindee. We didnt do a list beforehand we just grabbed what we needed, I paid and we left. Mindee spoke to the shop keeper, so I was just wondering where this fits in with the 7 areas of learning - I had understanding the world, but Ive just thought does it include physical development (eg walking there!) and communication & language too...

Rather than trying to list all the areas something fits I find it is more helpful finding what was most important for the child on that occassion. So, if the fact that they walked there was a 'wow' moment, something you have been working on, or something special then yes it is worth an obs. But if they walk easily then it is not worth mentioning.

Same with talking to the shop keeper- if the talking to the shop keeper was a 'wow' moment, the child is usually too shy to speak or they are using their first words then yes, or what they said was something special for them- that is a great obs.

There is not much value, I feel, in just recording activities/outings and listing all the areas they cover. Look at the individual child and what they are achieving and then obs on that. 2 different children could get 2 very different obs from one activity/outing.

[mumofone]

Rather than trying to list all the areas something fits I find it is more helpful finding what was most important for the child on that occassion. So, if the fact that they walked there was a 'wow' moment, something you have been working on, or something special then yes it is worth an obs. But if they walk easily then it is not worth mentioning. Same with talking to the shop keeper- if the talking to the shop keeper was a 'wow' moment, the child is usually too shy to speak or they are using their first words then yes, or what they said was something special for them- that is a great obs. There is not much value, I feel, in just recording activities/outings and listing all the areas they cover. Look at the individual child and what they are achieving and then obs on that. 2 different children could get 2 very different obs from one activity/outing.

Thanks moggy, good advice (as always) :-)