'Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.'  Fred Rogers

In EYFS we are passionate about the importance and power of play and maximising early childhood experiences. As adults, it is exciting to be able to join in with the children and see how, through the magic of play, their understanding unfolds and the learning that takes place. Designated time within our timetable, called continuous provision, enables us to provide the opportunity for this to happen. The children will develop and follow themes within their play and also complete challenges and explore further questions and ideas. On this page we will add snapshots of what we have been doing. We invite you to join in the magic of play at home. 

Continuous Provision 

What is Continuous Provision? 

Continuous Provision (CP) is play-based provision that gives children the opportunity to revisit, rehearse, consolidate and extend their learning both in terms of their knowledge and their skills.

The importance of play: 

Through play children are able to express themselves in a developmentally appropriate way. Children use play as a mechanism through which they can explore and develop their understanding of the world around them. CP sessions provide the perfect opportunity to do this, allowing children to follow their own interests and build on their own learning and skills development in an engaging and enabling environment.

Areas of learning and development:

CP provides opportunities for children to develop across both the prime and specific areas of learning. Here are some examples from our first week of CP of how the different areas of learning and development are explored: 

Communication and language (prime area)

This prime area runs throughout all the CP on offer. Within the engaging and enabling environment that CP provides children can confidently share their ideas and listen to their friends: 

This in turn provides opportunities to develop conversational skills and extend children’s vocabulary: 

Personal, social and emotional development (prime area) 

This prime area runs throughout all the CP on offer. Through play children develop their ability to self-regulate within a wide range of situations. There are opportunities for them to challenge themselves to set and work towards their own goals, thus developing a sense of independence, resilience and perseverance in the face of a challenge! 

Children are able to build relationships through play: 

They develop their ability to share and respond to the feelings and needs of others. 

They develop their ability to share and respond to the feelings and needs of others. 

Physical development (prime area) 

The range of resources on offer during CP sessions gives plenty of opportunities for manipulating small and large objects during their play: 

There are opportunities to develop strength, balance and coordination when playing:

Children can use their bodies to travel energetically in lots of different ways: 

Mark making in a variety of ways is a crucial part of supporting children to ‘get ready to write’: 

The busy outside environment provides lots of opportunities and chances for children to learn and develop their ability to negotiate spaces safely: 

Mathematics (specific area) 

Opportunities to develop numerical skills can be explored across the CP areas. From counting how many blocks in a tower, how long you can hula-hoop for or creating your own hopscotch: 

As the year progresses, opportunities arise to embed numerals, counting skills, patterns and calculations within our play. 

Understanding the world (specific area)

Engaging in CP within the outside environment gives children the perfect opportunity to explore the world around them. We continually enjoy looking at the seasonal changes as well as exploring the wildlife around us. 

Enhancements can also be provided within the CP sessions to explore the people around us too. For example, within role-play and small world provision. 

Expressive arts and design (specific area)

CP provides opportunities for children to use their imagination, be expressive and develop their creativity within small world imaginative play, construction opportunities and within role-play. 

Literacy (specific area) 

Exploring books with friends helps to develop that passion for reading. As the year progresses opportunities to develop reading skills alongside writing will be built into our CP sessions. 

We look forward to sharing our CP journey with you!