This morning, I was honoured to be invited to a party in the home corner. A group of children had spent 25 minutes planning their party and organising all the food. The chat was wonderful as they all worked away together.  The boys were told to make the cakes and when I asked one of them how many candles he was putting on it, he shrugged his shoulders and said, “I really don’t know- I haven’t been told yet!”  The girls were the seasoned party planners and firmly in control- he was quickly told to put nine candles on, which he did, very carefully and counting as he did so!

The table was groaning with food and as I sat down, I was handed a box of crackers and told that I could eat ALL of them, if I liked! We were to watch a DVD first and I watched as the remote control was used to “switch it on,”.  The role play was wonderful – it showed that these children had lots of experience of parties- they were very incredibly articulate and one wee person addressed everyone as, “Darling!” They were excited and happy and really enjoyed a play experience that was completely of their own creation.

The home corner is a very important learning environment. It allows children to make sense of things they see and hear at home. The opportunity to practise and extend language, learning from each other and sharing imaginary games, is particularly rich in this area.

It was lovely to be invited in to this special game and be a, very well looked after, guest! If our youngest citizens are an example, Milngavie definitely knows how to party!!!!