Figures of speech

Watch a child playing with small-world toys and it is likely you will hear talk of one kind or another. A very young or inexperienced child may appear to be 'babbling' - making noises as they move the farm animals around. Perhaps you will hear words and phrases as dinosaurs are made to march along in a line. You may hear complex dialogue between a parent and baby as the child is put to sleep in its cot in the doll's house. Or you may chance upon an elaborate retelling of 'The Three Bears', while plastic 'sorting'

bears are moved around in a shoebox.

Where two or more children are playing with the same toys, the possibilities for communication increase - although talk is not inevitable, and not all children will be vocal.

Careful observation of children engaging in small-world play, therefore, frequently provides the practitioner with valuable information about children's developing oracy and language skills.

The term 'small-world play' can be used to describe imaginative or pretend play using miniature objects - such as people, animals, vehicles and dinosaurs - in a setting of the same scale, for example, a doll's house, farmyard or garage.

Learning opportunities

* Small-world play provides powerful opportunities for children to develop language and communication skills, by giving them the chance to imagine and recreate experiences and weave the knowledge, skills and understanding gained in other areas of their lives into their pretend play.

* As they engage with the doll's house, or the dinosaurs, they explore the language of social interaction and conventions of speech, as well as imaginative storylines. Such exploration can be done in the child's first language, and often provides a meaningful opportunity to explore vocabulary in an additional language.

* Children may act as spectators, narrators or commentators on the small-world activities being played out.

* They move through babbling and sound-making, to single words and phrases, to using symbolic or narrative language. From playing and talking alongside others, they progress to associative, co-operative and collaborative play - exploring, practising and consolidating conversation skills.

* They bring their growing awareness of story and narrative - using vocabulary, speech conventions, characterisation and plotlines - acquired from their experiences with rhyme and song, books and storytelling.

* Linking meaningful opportunities for writing and reading to small-world play can provide children with purposeful reasons for recording their storylines or for incorporating print in their play.

Resources and activities

Commercial products

* Playmobil provides a wide range of settings and figures (including different gender, occupation and ethnicity). They are very detailed and sturdy, but often include tiny accessories that are easily lost and unsuitable for very young children.

* Animals can be bought in varying sizes and often come in sets or categories, such as wild animals or sea creatures (see Nursery Equipment, with Nursery World, 2 May 2002).

* Doll's houses and their contents should be designed for imaginative use and need to be sturdy to withstand lots of use. It is possible to buy ranges of fittings and figures, and look out for multi-ethnic 'families'.

* Train sets (for example, by Duplo or Brio), and cars and roadways can be very versatile, particularly when used with other small-world toys.

* Dinosaurs are a very popular focus for small-world play. For some children, using the correct names and terminology is important; for others, the dinosaurs perform the same role as small-world animals or people.

* Story and film characters, similarly, often act as a stimulus for imaginative play (beyond their original storylines) and can often be collected cheaply from fast-food chains.

* Other resources can provide inspiration for children's small-world play, often unintentionally so. Watch how children initiate small-world play using mathematical equipment such as sorting animals, and capitalise on the adaptability of the resources.

Home-made settings

Make your own environments for small-world themes.

* Fill a large sand/water tray with grass, stones, twigs, leaves, sand and water, to create a dinosaur or rain-forest environment.

* Use shoeboxes to make storyboxes for tiny figures. Decorate appropriately and store the figures inside. Provide writing materials and origami books for writing labels, captions and stories to go with the boxes.

* Link small-world toys with the outdoors and construction or block play areas to increase the scope for imaginative play. Similarly, storyboxes and small-world environments can provide powerful settings for scientific and mathematical exploration, where children use talk (to themselves, with each other and with the 'characters') to solve problems and connect with ideas and experiences.

Organisation

* It is important to store and organise small-world resources so they are easily accessible.

* Keep a flexible attitude to the range of resources on offer to ensure their use is not dictated by adult interpretations of what are suitable themes.

* Experiment with ways of storing and labelling, and observe how the children use them.

* Involve the children in decisions about organisation and categories for storage, and encourage them to think of ways that will make tidying up easier and more fun.

* Consider safety issues, particularly for very young children, and ensure equipment can be adapted to suit the needs of children with disabilities or those with special educational needs.

* Make available junk materials so children can design and create their own small-world resources, such as wooden clothes pegs for people and boxes for houses.

Adult role

Developing children's communication, language and literacy through small-world play requires sensitive intervention and observation. To be effective:

* Play with enthusiasm, engaging alongside the children and being guided by them, as opposed to dictating the direction of play.

* Model appropriate vocabulary and language, by responding sensitively to children, demonstrating strategies such as listening, initiating and sustaining conversation and negotiating gently and respectfully.

* Provide an environment rich in meaningful literacy, where stories are told as well as read, and where print is available in a variety of scripts.

* Record and observe children's developing oracy, their speech and language needs, and their use of non-verbal communication.

* Respect children's choice to sometimes be silent.

* Inform parents of the value of small-world play in children's learning and language development, and how they can support it. NW

LOOK AND LEARN

Develop your understanding of children's learning by considering the following scenario

Scenario

Darcy (4 years, 6 months) is playing with the farmyard, the animals and some multi-ethnic figures. 'Nah, you go in there... naughty boy... bad thing. Why you do that thing?' The toy people are handled roughly and the animals and fences are scattered. Darcy makes loud noises and bangs on the roof of the barn. 'I gonna kill you... get my gun and kill you... you dead! I hate you, you bad.'

The child uses aggressive sounds and swear words, then makes lots of shooting noises while knocking all the figures over. Darcy finally falls quiet, rearranging the fences and animals while humming quietly. Then, in a soft voice Darcy says, 'We is hungry... let's make dinner, little cat, little dog. I get you milk and sweeties... you is mine. I like you, here you are... that's nice.'

Another child approaches and begins to play alongside Darcy, who seems oblivious and continues to talk. 'Here comes the baby, what a nice baby you are, you is my bobblybibbly baby... are you hungry? Yes I am. What d'you want for dinner? Want sausages and 'matoes. OK, me gonna cook you nice dinner, then you sleep.' Darcy sings softly, using made up words, while gently stroking the animals.

Observation and assessment

Consider the following questions before reading the assessments of children's learning:

* What observations can you make about Darcy's language skills?

* In what ways is Darcy using imagination?

* How does Darcy calm down and move the play forward?

* What observations can you make about Darcy's concentration?

Points for discussion

How do you respond to pretend 'violence' in your setting? Do you have a policy of zero tolerance or do you acknowledge children's ability to tell the difference between pretend and real life?

* Do you consider some play themes more acceptable than others?

* How do you respond to children swearing?

* How might a practitioner have intervened in Darcy's play?

* Would it have been to Darcy's benefit?

* How do you respond to children whose play might suggest experience of violence? How do you establish if this is so?

* Is Darcy a boy or a girl?

Scenario evidence of learning

Darcy uses the small-world toys confidently and manipulates them well, although sometimes heavy-handedly. She uses her imagination to develop two scenarios involving animals and people, and, in the first, possibly draws on scenes she has witnessed on television or perhaps at home. She uses words and noises elaborately and with dramatic effect, and she is involved in her play to the exclusion of others. She seems not to need to revisit the violence of earlier, and she is confident enough in her use of language to invent words such as 'bobblybibbly', playing with sounds and alliteration. Her use of 'you is' and 'me gonna' shows some immaturity in grammatical construction, but her incorporation of 'what a nice baby you are' appears to show an awareness of song and story structures. She is also able to sustain a role-play dialogue between two characters. She adapts her tone of voice for dramatic purposes and uses music and song in her narrative.

Extending learning

* Continue to support Darcy in her exploration of relationships through imaginative play and story.

* Monitor her emotional well-being and language development.

* Continue to liaise with her family to facilitate a two-way sharing.

* Use circle time to gently explore swearing and aggression.