Question

Based on the program example provided, designed for a two to three year old age group in a day care centre, answer the questions:

Sensory	Art/ craft/ creative	Play	Language	Fine motor	Movement/ music	Gross motor
Sand tray	Painting with primary colours	Pots, pans, plates and spoons	Toy telephones	Threading large beads	Moving to the beat of the music	Climbing on jungle gym

1. Describe the kinds of information that might have been provided to others to inform program planning and to support children’s play.
2. Explain how information might be used to evaluate the program.
3. Describe a set of records of observations of a child that could be used to provide feedback to the child about their skills and competence and to promote remembering.

Answer 1

1. Child care involve a large amount of planning to guide and teach children about numerous activities. The program planning for child care involve a large amount of activities that strives to promote sensory, fine motor, play, movement, language and gross motor skills in the children. The activities and tools used to teach skills to the children must be informed effectively to others. For example: the parents of the children would be informed about the process of using the activities and the type of impact they will have on the children. Sand tray activity enhance the sensory skills of the children and painting with primary colors will help the children enhance their art and craft skills. Primary colors will be used for the activity because children within the age group of 2-3 years are less aware about colors. It will not only teach them art and crafts but will also enhance their creative skills. Toy telephones will be used to enhance language skills of the children and the children will be asked to move along the bet of the music. This will help the children to understand music and enhance their movement and motor skills.
2. Evaluation of the program require proper comparison of the activities. The abilities of the children to perform the task effectively will be used to evaluate the program. Proper ability to paint with primary color will inform about their creative skills, threading large beads will inform about their fine motor skills and climbing on jungle gym will inform about their gross motor skills. Failure to do so will thus require modifications and activity change in the program.
3. A record of observation is necessary to provide feedback to the children. Proper observation to the activities and skills of the children can help them gain competence and promote remembering. Helping the children in case of confusion with colors and teaching them about the primary colors will help them with their creative skills. Observing that the children are choosing proper colors and providing relevant feedback to them can certainly help them grow and learn. Similarly, their motor skills can be developed by proper observation, demonstration and feedback.