Nursery World - In the bag

Bags and boxes seem a simple enough focus for a topic and certainly most of the activities included are cheap to resource and easy to organise as well as being fun. But on a deeper and perhaps less obvious level, such a theme can offer children valuable opportunities to pursue their own learning interests and develop an understanding of crucial concepts. All early years practitioners will recognise the child who repeatedly transports objects around the nursery in bags or the one that likes to climb inside large boxes that have arrived as packaging for a new piece of equipment. After careful observation of children in a range of contexts, it is possible to identify clusters of schemas, simply defined as patterns of repeatable behaviours or actions.

All early years practitioners will recognise the child who repeatedly transports objects around the nursery in bags or the one that likes to climb inside large boxes that have arrived as packaging for a new piece of equipment. After careful observation of children in a range of contexts, it is possible to identify clusters of schemas, simply defined as patterns of repeatable behaviours or actions.

Through some of the activities included in this topic and through planned enhancements to provision, children can further explore schemas such as enveloping, containing and transporting. Of course, it is essential that practitioners liaise closely with parents to build up a whole picture of the child's patterns of behaviour and to explain their planning.

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