How many activities in one day?

[misssunshine]

Hi there,

I've been adviced by my childminding officer that I need to use an activity planning sheet for every week which shows the links to EYFS. The problem is the sheet is divided into two sections am and pm activities and I am thinking how many activities I am suppose to plan for a day? I am looking after a 8 months old baby and from next week a 2 year old boy as well. Any ideas for activities that could fit in both? Also I am very nervous as my inspection will probably by next week and I am thinking what activity would work on the day of inspection? Please help.

Many thanks

[Tunja]

You can meet all the elements of the new EYFS for children under 2.5 years through your daily routines, outings and continuous provision. Don't panic it is yet another attempt at making you more paperwork.

[Maza]

It could be a very basic outline of what will happen in the morning and the afternoon in your setting. For example, Morning - Library, Afternoon - treasure basket of shiny materials.

[moggy]

Nod and smile.
Honest, if you feel it is helpful then do one. It might be useful to do one for a 'typical week' to prove to yourself and any inspector that you do cover all areas. For that age group there is little point planning any major activities as they are too young- they may not fancy painting that day or may sleep all afternoon when you planned for them to be doing water play.. etc!
Another way is to fill a plan in after the even and then cross ref with areas of learning. Many areas are covered in everyday things like greeting in the morning (PSED), eating lunch (PD), singing to baby during nappy change (CL).
As for am and pm activities- my pm is taken up with naps until 2.30pm, 3pm out to school run, back for snack time, cook dinner and they go home so not much planned activities there (but lots if EYFS areas of learning still going on, of course).
A morning plan might just say 'out to Toddler Group' or 'play in the garden', nothing else needed if you are flexible and follow child's interests (they are enjoying hand washing so get out a washing up bowl and bubbles... there, you could not have planned that- it was spontaneous, followed child's interests and covers many areas of learning- perfect! But what you could do is note it afterwards and remind yourself just how many areas it did cover and how you might like to do it again one day, maybe introduce some food colouring etc etc).

On the day of the inspection I would go for something easy and non-messy! A treasure basket for the little one, some cars and tubes/slopes for the 2 year old is easy if you know he likes that kind of thing. Have a few fav books ready. You will need something you know they will like and that allows you time to collect your thoughts and speak while interacting/watching their play.

[mrs robbie williams]

i try and do an activity each day but it doesnt always work out, sometimes mindee's are tired, not interested so i just carry it forward to the next day or scrap it, today i have three lo's 2 and under so our activity will be making salt dough handprint tealight holders for xmas then we will take the dog for a walk by the river, then they will have lunch, then they will sleep, and i will do my paperwork (and not get distracted by watching loose women ) then we will do school pick ups and 2 of them go home - i have my playroom set up all the time so inbetween time they will do free play. with these planning sheets im doing for each lo im finding it even more paperwork tbh, but cant think of any other way round it - any ideas would be welcome xx

[FussyElmo]

I would be putting it in the "things to do file" and never look at it again.

I have never sat and planned activites for the morning and evening. I start with a basic plan in my head but then the children come and they choose what they want.

[pinkellifun]

I had a planning sheet for each child when I first started and my Improvement Officer told me that was too much paperwork. She worked with me and we designed an A4 sheet which has 4 columns in it. The first two are for each child I am planning for (you can have as many as you need). The second column is for adult led activities that I want to try and fit in (just something like cutting out which a child needs help with) and the third column is my evaluation of how the activities went. I complete this sheet for every week but if I don't get time to do something, I just make a note in the evaluation column and put it into a plan for another week. At the bottom is a small 'comment's section where I write things I need to get ready, for example, print off tiger pictures.

It has worked brilliantly for me.

[eddie]

I have a basic idea of what I would like to do each week but it often gets shelved if the LOs are not interested or if they have other ideas, some times I carry them forward, sometimes they get forgotten and sometimes we will do a planned activity from weeks back because it fits into the flow of play for that day.

[DickDock]

If your DO wants one then invite her round to do one for you.
If you don't want one then don't. Will it benefit you/your children? What purpose will it serve, do you really need one?

How many activities in one day, depend on the day, the children present, what else is going on. For us Mondays are 'messy mondays' and we do what it says on he tin - messy play. BUT if there is something on at the library, the children don't want to then we don't!

[lilac_dragon]

I would be putting it in the "things to do file" and never look at it again.

I have never sat and planned activites for the morning and evening. I start with a basic plan in my head but then the children come and they choose what they want.

Me neither. Then I had an Inspection and was asked what planning I had in place for the day, I said, "whatever the children decide they want to do, I'll just work round their ideas".

Inspector said I HAD to have a written plan. I said " When they tell me what they want to do, I'll write it down"

She said, That's not the way it works, you have to plan before the child comes."
I wrote "Paining with glittery paint" on a piece of paper, showed it to her and said to child "Shall we do some painting"?
Child said "NO".
I said to Inspector "how many pieces of paper do I have to write on before I get it right? This child is 3 years old and knows better than I do how she feels today and what she would like to do. I'm NOT a school, I don't dictate what they have to do on a given day, I work with their feelings and ideas." Inspector was not amused. This was about 8 years ago, and the attitude has changed a little, as we now have "child led" in our vocabulary.

But I still don't plan, until after the child speaks. I'm not an idiot, and after 28 years in the job i have resources and imaginative ideas overflowing from every fibre of my being. There is very little I'm not capable of doing.

[toddlers896]

Today is the first day in ages that I have planned an activity for the children and we are going to make cookies.
Ime out at groups every day and by the time we get home, they have had a nap and had lunch they dont want to sit
and do something that I have organised. They are happy to just play with the resources that i rotate each day for them.
I dont write any of this down either, why waste paper. Who is going to see it and who is it benefiting. The only thing i have
started to write down is a planned activity sheet for things like feeding the ducks, making palydough and making cakes and this is because it
helps me to see what areas i am covering during the activity. It also has a risk assessment attached to it and i keep all this in an activity folder.
I got this idea from one of Sarahs pages.

I dont worry about writing down planning etc because I know what i am doing with the kids is good and would be able to explain to Ofsted what I do. Somebody has to blow my trumpet

[misssunshine]

Thanks a lot everyone really appreciate that.xxxx