planning and observations

[nikkiross1]

i have been childmingind for about a month now with an afterschool girl who is 9, I havent really done much planning for her as i know she is out of the eyfs, so we just sort of play board games and do craft activities, but i have now for the past 2 weeks been looking after a 3 year old boy for 1.5 hours in the morning and he is really quiet and is obsessed with trains and cars so he just plays with them - I have suddently realised that even though i have him for 1.5 hours i need to be doing planning for him. but i'm really struggling, is there a set format for planning? i have decided i want to do fortnightly/monthly themes, so can realte what this boy does to the themes and try and include the areas of the eyfs, but surely i can't cover everything in just 1.5 hours??? im also really stressed with observations - becuase are you meant to observe everything they do? or just note things that are significant and co-incide with the eyfs? and when ofsted do come do they want to look at old planning and observations or are they only interested in recent ones? any tips for observing??? i also have a 4 month old starting next week and how am i meant to plan activities for a 4 month old to fit in with the eyfs??? sorry for all the questions, i just feel so underprepared!?

[sarah707]

Ok... if you want to do themes then great but don't feel under any pressure.

First of all the 9 year old is fine just follow her interests, play games, involve her in crafts if she wants, start off a scrap book if she is interested.

I am sure you will do some Christmas activities with her next month... that's a theme! Then in January you will talk about winter...

For 1.5 hours and a 3 year old I would write up a routine of all the things he usually does - eats, washes hands etc and how that links to the Eyfs.

Then every week write a brief overview (a few sentences) of how you have followed his interests -maybe you have bought a new car or made a train track with him.

Then when the 4 month old starts you need to watch and listen and totally follow interests, learning styles, schemas etc. Write what he does, what you do to support him and talk mostly about his routine.

Your obs can be long or short it's up to you and how much you want to say.

If you choose to follow themes...

December / Christmas / Christingle

Plan it to the 6 areas of the Eyfs very loosely - we might make decorated oranges.

PSEd - learn about and respect religions

Cll - use words to describe the orange how it feels, looks and tastes

Psr&n - talk about the shape and size of the orange. Look at oranges in the shop and compare

Etc...

Then when you evaluate the activity say what went well, what wasn't really interesting, what the child got out of the activities - briefly!

The most important thing is to keep it relevant to the children you look after at the moment - follow them and their interests.

Hth

[nikkiross1]

thankyou so much thats great!!

really helpful

[The Juggler]

agree with Sarah, keep it simple. I had 2 boys who from age 1 and 2 1/2 respectively were obsessed with trains. I did introduce, space, cars, construction but the majority of the time it was trains, cardboard boxes, painted trains, outdoor trains with big blocks, you name it .. went on for best part of 3 years with these 2

but you can introduce ICT or magnetism (depending on your trainset), look at how complex their track building becomes over time etc, etc.

he is with you such a short time just plan what to have out for him