Workshop 5: Planning follow up activities

Element 1.2.2 Educators respond to childrens ideas and play and use intentional
teaching to scaffold and extend each childs learning. (National Quality Standard)

Planning follow up activities for children is important because it:

helps to promote the childrens learning and development.

is a means of documenting the service your centre provides.
encourages educators to think about what they offer the children and why.
is a way of sharing childrens experiences with families and highlights the role of

educators.
it offers the opportunities for educators to reflect on and develop their own

practice.
It is a legal requirement (under the NQF).

Expanding interests
We know that children learn best when they are interested and engaged. Using
childrens interests as the basis for our follow up activities helps to ensure that learning
is meaningful, interesting and relevant to children. As the Early Years Learning
Framework (EYLF) notes, being responsive to childrens strengths, abilities and
interests helps to ensure motivation and engagement in learning (DEEWR, 2009,
p.14).

When we develop each follow up activity, it must have learning objective (goal), and
learning outcome based on the EYLF, have to give a reason of why that particular
activity is being provided. Also, the activity has to be play based learning, which it can
be a Sensory Play (learning through senses), an Exploratory Play (learning by finding
out), Manipulative Play (learning by touch/feel/manipulating), Dramatic Play (learning by
role-taking/pretending) or Creative Play (learning by creating). In addition, we may be
adding materials, suggesting new possibilities, making the activity more challenging,
asking questions or offering a new related activity. Furthermore, we can extend learning

which encompasses areas such as independence, negotiating, teamwork, leadership

skills, and ability to work with others.

Effective interest-based activities involve more than simply allowing children to do as

they wish. As the EYLF state childrens ideas and interests form an important basis for
follow up activities. Therefore, we should use childrens interests to extend their learning
rather than highlighting childrens interests.
Children can only be interested in what they already know about. If our focus is only on
what children are already interested in, we will have a limited pool of ideas and interests
to draw on. This limited pool will interfere with creating a rich and engaging program.
Making use of childrens interests to provide engaging and meaningful learning
experiences is important, but it is our role as educators to introduce new ideas and
interests. Sometimes these will be things that we know are important for children to
learn, but that may never come up as an interestfor example, road safety,
sustainability or nutrition. There are many topics that we know children will be interested
in once they are introduced to them, such as cooking or gardening. If we wait for
children to show interest before introducing topics, we may miss the opportunity to
introduce them at all.
Being selective
Using childrens interests effectively requires us to be selective. It is impossible to plan
for everyones interests at once. Rather than extending every passing interest, we need
to develop skills to identify and select interests that are worth extending. In addition,
interests are not all equally interesting. As they may not offer the same possibilities for
learning. By thinking carefully about how we respond to each interest, we can ensure
that we make the best use of our time and effort and maximise childrens opportunities
for meaningful and interesting learning.
When selecting interests to follow up in more detail, consider which ones:

have the most potential to be extended.

might have a wider appeal to other children or to the whole group.

link to other learning opportunities you have offered and consolidate or extend
childrens current learning.

link to the EYLF Learning.

Features of good follow up activities:

Balancing spontaneity with a sense of purpose and predictability.

Happy and actively engaged children.
Evidence of children making decisions about their own learning and

development.
Evidence of learning towards the five core principles of the EYLF (1. Secure,
respectful and reciprocal relationships; 2. Partnerships; 3. High expectations and

equity; 4. Respect for diversity; 5. Ongoing learning and reflective practice).

Family involvement.

Example:
Date: 1/11/2016

Time: 9:15am

Activity Area: Indoor zoo animal play area

Child/Children: Kelly (3 years)
Anecdotal Observation:
Kelly was playing at the zoo animal table. She explained to me: I am building a zoo. I
replied: A zoo sounds interesting, What might go in a zoo? Animals, Kelly said
firmly as she got up and brought over a bin of small animals Oh, animals. What kind? I
asked. Tigers, Kelly said, and she placed two toy tigers into one of the toy cages.
Then, she explained: And lions, and bears, and gorillas and lots of animals in the zoo.
While Kelly finished adding the toy animals into the toy cages, I asked her: Hows your
zoo going? Kelly replied: Finished. What are you going to add next? I asked. I dont
know. Kelly answered. Well, what else do zoos have besides animals? I asked. I
dont know, she said again.
Analyzing childrens Learning:
Within the play experience, Kelly interacted with me to explore ideas and concept, and
share her understanding through answering my questions (Outcome 5.1, p.40). By
explaining the animals in the zoo and building a zoo, Kelly seemed to make connections
between her previous experience of visiting a zoo and the play activity (Outcome 4.3,
p.36). Kelly also used the play to investigate new ideas, and as she carefully placed the

toy animals into the cages, Kelly seemed to explore relationships with other living
things, and more than likely, she is going to develop an increased understanding of the
interdependence between people and animals (Outcome 2.4, p.29).
A number of options for the follow up activities:
When you think about childrens interests you think first about where the learning might
go and what you can add. With this observation, there are a number of options for the
follow up activities. You could suggest getting a book and consulting the pictures to learn
more. You could suggest that Kelly tell a story about her zoo, or you could change the
approach and suggest counting the animals or writing/drawing signs for the zoo.
Deciding which follow up activities you are going to apply relies on thinking back through
what you know about Kelly and the learning objectives you have for her.
After you have chosen an approach and then, try it out!

Example of a follow up activity

Learning objectives of the activity:
For Kelly to learn the names of different animals, and zoo keepers jobs by reading and
discussing the content of the childrens book I explore the zoo with the educator.
For Kelly to link her previous experience of visiting the zoo to the book reading activity
by asking Kelly open ended questions: (Using what, how, who, why to ask questions).
EYLF learning outcomes of the activity:
Outcome 5.2: Children view and listen to printed texts and respond with relevant
gestures, actions, comments and questions (EYLF, p.41).
Outcome 4.3: Children make connections between experiences and concepts (EYLF,
p.36).
Activity:
Book reading of I explore the zoo by Emma Dods.