1. FREE FLOW PLAY
© Laser Learning Ltd 2014

2. Play
The Oxford English Dictionary definition of play is: “Engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose.”

3. What is play?
Play can be running, jumping, cooking, doing almost anything the child wants to for no particular reason other than they like it. However, although it is not for serious gain or intellectual achievement, it so often is!

4. What is play?
When children play they often mimic what they have seen in real life; in doing so they process and develop an understanding of life and the world around them.
When just playing there are no rules; there is no right or wrong.
Play can be with others or it can be solitary; it’s whatever the child wants it to be.

5. What is free flow play?
Play begins in the imagination and continues and develops using sounds, props, people and spaces, as and when it feels right. Having the opportunity to move freely, for example from the play house to the garden to the book corner, means the play or flow of play is not interrupted but generally enhanced.

6. What is free flow play?
Free flow play allows a child to drift through their ideas, thoughts and feelings, sorting out their understanding, opinions and so on, as they go.

7. Free flow play and adults
The ability of free flow play to allow a child to drift from one environment to another including the outdoors gives great scope to what they are doing and how far they can extend their play and experiences. Adults can structure rooms to encourage free flow or to actively hinder it.

8. Adult involvement
Adults can be involved in free flow play but only following the child’s lead and whilst being acutely sensitive to where the child is taking his journey. The adult can support with language or props, but not organising or structuring.

9. Supervision
During free flow play, children can still become disruptive and behave in a way we would not like, so they still need to be supervised.
It is important that your staff levels are adequate and well planned to allow a truly free-flow environment for the children.

10. Activity Think about the room in which you work.
Can children truly flow freely from area to area or do they just charge around?
Does daily planning allow time for drifting, dreaming, creating and playing?