Planning learning experiences

Have you heard the word 'experience' used in the child care industry before? It’s a word used a lot when talking about the activities planned for children in child care.

An experience is something a child is involved in. This could be playing a game (for example Peek-a-Boo with a baby), or something the child is playing with (for example blocks) or listening to a story, chatting with a carer, setting the table for lunch or pretty much anything occurring during the day that has meaning or is of value to the child. Remember the five P’s of thinking ahead:

Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance

Read more about Planning enjoyable experiences.

When presenting an experience, whether it's a routine experience or a play one, you need to consider many aspects. How you set up the environment and prepare the materials and equipment is crucial.

You can use a resource file to store all of your learning experience ideas for future use.

Storing your ideas in a Resource File

A Resource File is a place where you can keep a record of experiences and ideas that you come across or develop, so you can find them easily when you need them. You can find a blank template for planning a learning activity in Programming in the Forms section of the Cybertots Intranet.

You can find out more about creating your Resource file in Support children’s development, one of the other sections in this Play, development and learning project.