Role Play - Mud Kitchen by Natalie-Jane Taylor

I have decided to create a role play area outside in the garden, as during observation trackers with two different key groups it was noticed that they spent the most time in the role play area. The tracker observation was a good way to track the length of time they spent in each area which identified the area of interest.

Mud kitchen

 Outside a mud kitchen was created, it is made from household objects and scraps of wood we found at the nursery so it didn’t cost a lot for the materials to make. Our nursery handy man created the mud kitchen with suggestions of all staff members.

Picture of the Mud Kitchen

I had to make sure that it was suitable for 2 years and upwards so I made sure that the height of the kitchen was appropriate so all the children can have access. 

Mud kitchen in action using mud and natural objects that were found around the nursery such as stones and  leaves.Parents were asked to pick leaves with their children to help parent involvement

Areas of the EYFS this activity met

The mud kitchen met different areas of learning in the Early Years Foundation stage such as: 

"Personal, Social and Emotional Development (Self-confidence and self awareness) - 16-26months - Gradually able to engage in pretend playwith toys (supports child to understand their own thinking may be different from others)” (BAECE, 2012:10).

“22-36 months Physical development (moving and handling) Shows control in holding and using jugs to pour, hammers, books and mark-making tools” (BAECE, 2012:23).

“30-50 months Communication and Language (Understanding) - Shows understanding of prepositions such as ‘under’, ‘on top’, ‘behind’ by carrying out an action or selecting correct picture” (BAECE,2012:18).

“Expressive arts and design (being imaginative) 

• 16-26 months - Pretends that one object represents another 
• 22-36 months - Beginning to make-believe by pretending
•  30-50months - Uses available resources to create props to support role-play” (BAECE,2012:46)"

Adapting the mud kitchen

To extend the mud kitchen I have included dolls and table and chairs to create a home corner.

For the older children they were interested in making dens under the table in the mud kitchen area so I can again adapt the mud kitchen area by putting a tent there turning it into a campsite and the mud kitchen can be a BBQ.

Reflection on activity

The tracker observation was a good way to see the length of time the children spent at the home corner, but it did not show what the children were doing in the home corner. Next time I will choose a time sample observation as I would be able to track the time and what they were exploring as well as, what they were actually doing in the areas of the room.

The younger two year olds were putting the smaller stones in their mouths while exploring the mud kitchen so I will provide them with larger stones so this cannot happen again.

Over all the children were engaged with the mud kitchen creating food with mud, stones and leaves that they collected at home and at nursery.

Reference

 British Association Early Childhood Education.,2012. Development Matters in the Early years Foundation Stage (EYFS).[Online] Available at :http://www.early-education.org.uk/publication_search?title=&field_resource_isbn_value=&field_resource_author_value=&field_resource_publication_year_value[value][year]=&field_resource_type_tid[]=18this [Accessed on 7/4/16].