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 practice and also to give to children bi-monthly to reflect on their play sessions and share with their parents.
June Play Diary
Thursday 29th June
Matilda whittled. Lucy, Beth, George played with clay outside. Indra painted her clay sugar pot. Arti played the key board. Indra and Rachel made flapjacks. Robbie, Luca, Auguy had a tennis tournament. Robbie: we're playing "Winner stays on. Robbie has a record of most wins - 3 in a row, Auguy is trying to beat it, Luca just holding him back". Lucy and Ya-Ya brushed Maya (dog) and gave her her medecine, then planted petunia and geraniums, and then picked broad beans. Some children were swinging in the hammock, others pushing them. Best bits: Lucy - picking the beans and ripping them open and giving them to Arty; Hannah - everything; Luca - winning against Robbie; Auguy - playing catching with Edward with a hard ball.
Wednesday 28th June
In the black hole William, Will, Charlie and Oscar making 'spears' and pokey things. Lydia, Hannah and Josie are practising fancy handstands. We had a joke-telling session during tea - puzzles too. The fox and the chicken. Tobias thought it would be good to sell the farmer a broken chicken to trick him. Zinny showed me her special 'side flip'. I tried one but couldn't do it. Zinny is the undefeated 'side flip' queen! She invented the 'overflip'. We had a monkey swinging contest. Will K got 56 seconds - the winner! Luc - 5 secs. Hannah - 13 secs. How long can you hang from a branch? The second Monkey Challenge results: Luc 9, Matilda 8, Will K - 24, William M 64, Hannah 8 secs. Luc and Arty were lions in the undergrowth. Best bits: Luc (in lionspeak) - climbing the tree and monkey swinging; Josie - handstands; William M - probably making these (daggers and spears); Zinny - finding this (the piece of coke); Matilda - I was playing a fun game and doing handstands; Will K - doing the first monkey challenge; Oscar - making little posts that I call light poles; Hannah - Handstands; Charlie - I stabbed myself; Lydia - learning how to go into a bridge from a handstand; George - me too...same as Lydia.
Tuesday 26th June
Margaret and Robbie played lots of tennis - racket to racket - no bounces. And some played cricket - a proper game. Auguy - catching practice; Luca - playing tennis against Robbie & winning; Will - me and Alex were playing in trees; Robbie - played tennis the whole time with Mrs Warne; Beth - (What did you discover?) I learnt a little bit more about whittling; Thea - not sure; Alex - (What did you discover?) - an ant's nest - red ants (best bit) me and Will jumped out of trees; George - ant's nest and playing cricket with a hard ball - a real cricket ball; Emerson - I liked the mini tape recorder.
Thursday 22nd June
11 guest children, 3 adults. Hot and sunny. Kai mowed with Joe. Arram, Oscar and Josh chatted and whittled under the yew trees. A large group of children played cricket - their rules were: Hit and run, 1 hand - 1 bounce, retire at 50. Will watched from high in the walnut tree. Some children set up the sliddy slide, "Go as far as you can", "Slide down casually - calm and peaceful." Arti played in the bushes. Will, Robbie, Joe, Luca had a game of badmington, as did Auguy and Edward. Josh and Arram had an extended sliddy slide play giving the audience a dazzling display impersonating: 1. Pirate having a heart attack AHHA, ME HEARTY!, 2. DJ Spinner, 3. DJ Spinner 2, 4. Jogger shot with a mini gun, 5. Penguin, 6. A man flying otu of a cannon while he does a fart, 7. Spider Penguin. Best bits: Hannah - probably slidy sliding - it's just fun; Auguy - cricket, badmington, just hitting 64 runs with William (M); Beth - playing cards with Matilda and a jungle game thing; Robbie - nothing; Josh - sliddy slide; Arram - getting my mum wet; Oscar - slippy slide cos it was the only thing I did; Will - cricket, badmington.
Thursday 15th June
10 guest children, 4 adults. We made things with clay and ate popcorn with chopsticks. Others went to the farmer's field to bash mares tails (growing up around and spoiling the bases of Christmas trees). Indra and Matilda went on to paint on paper with acrylic paints. George and Beth played a very loud fighting game. Story of the outing: "We got to the place. We couldn't drive up the hill cos is was too slippy. Went up the hill, heard the banger. Edward told us what to do. We bashed down loads. We went off to the woods to have a look. Lucy and Joe went to sit in the Landrover. We all came back home.". Best bits: Matilda - eating popcorn with chopsticks (and Indra's), doing the flowers and painting; Will - bashing - I made a path right through to the road; Beth - doing clay; Hannah - smashing down the mare's tails, so they don't choke the trees; Oscar - bashing down things.
Wednesday 14th June
8 children, 3 adults. Hannah, George, Arthur, Mia, Josie did clay with Charlotte. It was a clay day. Mia made a flower waterfall out of clay. George made a bud and pumpkin. Charlie and Oscar helped strip newspaper and magazines to put into the compost. Luc and Tobias were on the treehouse (that Luc has rebuilt). Matilda and Lydia hid in the window in the library, looking out of the window seeing what Edward was doing in the courtyard. William M and Will hammered, making stakes in the woodworking room. Best bits/play today: Matilda - playing with Lydia up by the window and playing a fun game; Q - "What have you made?" Will - a sort of spear crossed with a gothic nail club; Best bit - making this and playing with it down in the garden with Will; Luc - going in the woodworking room and sawing, drilling and hammering; William M - I was making this machete type thing and then I decided to make another one cos this one was broken a bit. Next week I'm going to drill through the middle of the handles and put a wooden peg through it"; Hannah and Oscar - making a huge coil pot.
Tuesday 13th June
10 guest children, 4 adults. Robbie, Auguy, Arram, Johi, George and Margaret played a badmington tournament, taking turns at refereeing. When others came to join in they made up their own rules of how to pick teams fairly. Louise, Xavier and George squeezed lemons for elderflower cordial. Xavier collected 12 more elderflowers from the garden. Emerson told jokes. Louise made popcorn for those in the house and garden. Later the older children sat in the kitchen chatting, eating and talking about cricket with Edward. Best bits - Emerson - I liked listening to music.
Wednesday 8th June
10 guest children, 3 adults. Gorgeous sunshine. We had tea outside - very civilised! Sliddey slide fun - Josie was in charge of the hose. Luc was climbing trees. Charlie, Tobias and Edward playing cricket. Rachel and Oscar, Josh lit the small bonfire. Sliddy slide games: When you go "ladyheigh or kamazarze heigh or nuder heigh" on the slide. Josh was a crazy motorist. "Let's go for a morning jog." Some went backwards. "Put, Put, Put." Luc joined in the cricket. Best bits - Will - badmington with Will M; Matilda - sliddy slide with Lydia; Hannah - doing neidy heigh, Lydia - just doing sliddy slide; Josie - I don't know, I didn't really have one; Luc - making the bonfire; Josh - getting wet; Will M - playing on the waterslide; Oscar - slippy slide cos it was fun; Charlie - playing cricket.