Nursery World - From experience

To be meaningful, role play needs to build on children's experiences Role play can be a valuable means for children to explore their feelings and ideas and to revisit experiences. To ensure that these learning opportunities are permanently accessible to children, role-play provision should be available on a continuous basis in the setting.

Role play can be a valuable means for children to explore their feelings and ideas and to revisit experiences. To ensure that these learning opportunities are permanently accessible to children, role-play provision should be available on a continuous basis in the setting.

Many nurseries offer a permanent home corner and change the focus of an additional role-play area to link with a planned topic or in response to their assessments of children's current interests and needs. This arrangement is ideal where space allows as children often make links between the two areas.

You will probably be able to predict children's interests and general experiences, based on the knowledge that you have built up of the children in your care. But you should be extremely cautious when making assumptions about the understanding of individuals. Experience builds up in many contexts, including the home, local community and the nursery setting.

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