Freedom of choice

As part of our development plan for the nursery this year we have made our Preschool free-flow and self-choice, which means the children are able to select the activities they want to do, when they want to do it. This allows them the freedom of choice, but has also had a dramatic effect on the calmness of the nursery as a whole, the children are more engaged and focused because they are doing what they want to do.
We have also moved away from ‘pre-cut’ adult shapes for craft. in the past when learning about Chinese new year we would have printed out a picture for the children to colour in or paint. But when you actually stop and think about the learning behind it, the children will paint it, most likely without much thought behind what they are painting and move on. Instead, we have ‘deconstructed the art’ so the children are designing everything for themselves. For Chinese new year this year we looked at different photos of Chinese dragons, which prompted deep thinking and conversations about the shape and colours of the dragon, this encouraged the children to have a to go at painting their own. It is clear to see from just a few of the paintings here how amazing they are and how much thought has gone into each one. We are inspiring our children to be deep-thinkers, being creative through the use of art will develop their cognitive ability. Although you may not always see a ‘perfect clear end product’ we take pride in knowing the learning involved in the process is far more valuable to a child.