Taking a practical approach to the task, the students made a playdough “creation” and then reflected on the skills they had used, which reinforced the idea that play can support a range of areas of development. Then, students chose a range of toys and resources and created table spider diagrams around the room to explain the developmental value of each, with some challenging themselves to evaluate how children of different ages would use the resources differently.

Finally, students used their finished table diagrams to write essay plans on how play supports holistic development, to assist them in writing up this required criteria of their coursework.

Students commented at the end on how much they enjoyed this practical and exploratory approach to learning, and I was very impressed with the level of output produced by the group within a one-hour timeframe! Excellent job, year 12!