This quote from Friedrich Froebel is one of the most well known quotes that highlights just how important play is for children. Froebel was a German educator and is responsible for inventing the term ‘kindergarten’, which translates to ‘children’s garden’ and is a term widely used today.

This message about the importance of play is again echoed in the guidance we follow from the Scottish Government. Their latest guidance is called Realising the Ambition and it was released last year. An electronic copy is available here. Froebel’s teachings are woven throughout this guidance and Inverclyde Council makes a substantial investment each year to have Early Years staff trained in his educational approaches.

Look at this lovely picture of children playing in our wonderful block play area.

More about play

Play encompasses children’s behaviour which is freely chosen, personally directed and intrinsically motivated. It is performed for no external goal or reward and is a fundamental and integral part of healthy development.

Here are some other key aspects of play that are mentioned in Realising the Ambition…

• Play is an intrinsic part of human nature and development.
• Through play a child develops their cognitive, social, emotional and physical capacities.
• Play is often thought of as children’s work and anyone observing children absorbed in play can see how hard they work.
• Through play, the child can learn to answer their own questions, learn new skills and learn to work collaboratively with other children or adults.

For these reasons, we ensure that the environments and resources we offer children help them create rich play situations. We also ensure that our interactions with children help to support and extend their play. Sometimes they become a little stuck and need us to step in and help them develop their play ideas!

Here are some pictures of our children at play…