Aspect: Being Imaginative
Introduction
This is the last blog in our series on the 7 areas of learning & development (L&D). So far we have looked at what the 7 areas of L&D are and have discussed why they are important. We also looked at the three prime areas of learning & development: ‘Personal, Social & Emotional development’, ‘Communication & Language’, and ‘Physical Development’. After this we moved on to look at the four specific areas of learning & development. For each area we have suggested activities that promote each of the aspects which sit within the areas.
We have now moved on to look at the fourth specific area of learning & development, Expressive Arts & Design. This area of L&D consists of 2 parts, which are known as ‘Aspects’. Each aspect leads to one of the 17 EYFS early learning goals (the knowledge, skills and understanding children should have at the end of the academic year in which they turn five). The diagram below shows how the Expressive Arts & Design area is made up of two aspects and two early learning goals:
The EYFS framework document describes how “Expressive Arts & Design involves enabling children to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials, as well as providing opportunities and encouragement for sharing their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of activities in art, music, movement, dance, role-play, and design and technology.” The two aspects each support this aim.
Our previous blog introduced the specific area of ‘Expressive Arts & Design’ and discussed its first aspect. This blog completes the series by focusing on the second aspect within this specific area of Expressive Arts & Design: Being imaginative.
Being imaginative
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It is worth noting that the allocation of activities to aspects and areas of L&D is often subjective and many activities cover more than one aspect and more than one area of L&D. Further the activities can cover multiple characteristics of effective learning and can be a mix of adult-led and child-initiated. So these are suggestions for you to adapt and work into your practice in a way that best suits you and your setting across all your planning. Always remember to supervise children and ensure the activity is safe and age and development-appropriate.
I hope these suggested activities have given you some inspiration. You could incorporate them into your planning as ad hoc activities or as part of a wider theme. For example the Bang fun! activity could be part of a month’s theme on senses.
I hope you have found this series of blogs useful – it has taken a while to work through each of the seven areas of learning & development but we did it!
Thanks for reading,
Source used in the document:
Early Years Foundation Stage Framework, DfE 2012
Development Matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage, DfE 2012
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