The play diary is an observation of what kind of play takes place during a session. As much as possible we use the words the children have used to describe their own play. We use it to reflect on our own practise and also to share with parents.
April Play Diary
Thursday 21st April
11 children, 4 adults. It was warm and sunny, very green. Some children sat up the tree-house playing a game. "We're playing a game, this is a special camp place. We have secret names and identities. It's night time now and we go hunting. When I do the howling it means come. Now I'm chucking the bones down so everyone knows there's fierce animals." Joe did playfighting with Tobias, Beth and William. William and Rachel washed the windows and insides of the small house as it was muddy. Hannah swung on the hammock until she was called back to join 'the tribe'. Some children were in the woodworking room with Edward, hammering and using the draw knife to peel bark off a stick. William mopped the garage floor sitting on a skateboard. Some children had a water fight with Joe - Arram used the hose to make a big waterbomb. Best bits: Arram - chipping away at bark on sticks to make small wands for attacking and going wawcha!; Hannah - playing on the platform with Matilda and Kai; Oscar - I dunno - smashing my bottlecaps; Johi - making my den - Arthur's cars were broken so I took them all up and fixed them; William - hitting the metal spiky thing into the ground with the wooden mallet, I did a bit of likeabiking; Luca - cracking the coconut; Beth - riding the bike and eating golden syrup; Kai - basically when I went in the den and played rugby.
Wednesday 20th April
10 children, 3 adults. William and Alex rode likabikes down the slope. Indra, Josie and Lydia made bread with Edward. Rachel did a fire with Charlie, Josh, Oliver. Lydia banged stakes into the ground with a mallet. We attempted to make popcorn with a chestnut pan - it wasn't very successfull. Charlie, Josh and Alex sat down and whittled poles. Josh, Alex, William and Tobias fought with their sticks. Oliver made a den out of scafolding, an old door, rope and a pole. Towards the end Indra and Josie knocked back the risen dough and made roles - some children ate them at the end of the session. Best bits: Alex - playing on the likeabikes; Oliver - building the den that isn't finished; Matilda - popcorn and fire; Josh - sword fights with Alex; Lydia - probably making the bread; William - making fires.
Tuesday 19th April
6 children, 3 adults. Some children played cricket and rounders. Mud play at the end of the session.
Tuesday 12th April
6 children, 3 adults. Xavier, Augee, George, Tobias, Luca dug out more of a pit in the bonfire area and filled it with layers of earth and water and then did a sort of long jump into it. Very muddy people.
Wednesday 13th April
4 adults, 12 children. Josie, Indra and Rachel made bread rolls and flap jack in the kitchen. Alex made a club - he found a stick, Joe sawed it, Alex sawed it in half and tied string about one end for a handle. Matilda, Hannah, Thea and Charlotte played kick the can with others. Oscar and Josh got the fire going and did some whittling. Some boys were going down the slope on their likeabikes and others were marking them out of 10 for their skills. Willliam K made a sword. Best bits: Oscar - making the 1 match fire; Indra - enjoyed all of it - looking at the fire.
Thursday 14th April
4 adults, 12 children. Joe and Robbie had a water fight and Robbie got soaked. Oscar whittled. We had a fire and made popcorn. Edward played touch rugby. Hannah and Matilda played in the house. Kai and Rachel and Arthur did some chopping wood in the courtyard. Kai - Well, first I went to play with the sticks, then came up to chop some wood, then I went down to sharpen sticks then kit a fire and made a stick; Johi - doing the war; Arram - I just went on the likeabikes and made bread.