Enhancing children's development

Organise experiences to facilitate and enhance children's development CHCPR502D

This unit is about defining activities, environment and resources that are developmentally appropriate to enhance children's leisure and play. Aspects of children's development include:

  • physical fitness and fundamental movement skills
  • cognitive development
  • social development
  • emotional development
  • creative and aesthetic development
  • language development
  • moral development
  • spiritual development.

 

Requirements

1. Establish an environment that fosters children's development

  1. Give children opportunities to plan and/or modify their environment
  2. Design the environment to accommodate all aspects of children's development and curiosity
  3. Design environment to provide children with a choice of experiences
  4. Implement strategies to engage children in activities, especially those who have difficulty entering or exiting situations
  5. Provide materials that capture attention, stimulate response and engage children

 

2. Give children creative and challenging opportunities that stimulate learning and development of the child

  1. Arrange and implement appropriate experiences and activities for all principal areas of development according to your organization's guidelines. These need to include a range of creative experiences, play areas and materials (including natural and recycled materials) to encourage children to explore and make choices
  2. Give children opportunities to practice developing skills and encourage them to gain skill and competence by persevering with a developmentally significant activity
  3. Make opportunities for active free play and independent play
  4. Vary experience depending on child's age, abilities, development, culture and need

 

3. Plan, implement and evaluate developmentally appropriate experiences for children

  1. Use observations of children's behaviour and views to guide the program planning
  2. Develop program in consultation with others
  3. Use stories, visual materials and activities that show diversity among children and adults
  4. Plan program to reflect the range of children's needs, abilities and interests
  5. Help children to participate in a wide range of leisure activities
  6. Ensure program responds to children's interests that arise spontaneously as they participate
  7. Use program to introduce children to new ideas and experiences as well as to provide familiar experiences
  8. Ensure program provides opportunity for children to follow up activities of high interest
  9. Ensure program is inclusive and allows for full participation of all children
  10. Implement strategies to deal with contingencies that may arise
  11. Review program according to organization procedures to ensure ongoing relevance and quality

 

4. Encourage children's involvement in experiences

  1. Consult children about activities to be made available
  2. Acknowledge and value children's work
  3. Encourage child to choose activities to support aspects of their development
  4. Encourage child to participate in a variety of experiences
  5. Adapt activity to cater to a child's response to the activity
  6. Demonstrate respect for a child's choice not to participate.

 

5. Other required skills

  1. Manage contingencies
  2. Interpersonal skills
  3. Active listening
  4. Treat all parents and children equitably, including Indigenous people
  5. Work with cultural diversity.

Your creative and challenging experiences will vary according to the age of the child (see chart).