Teacher Liz

May 2019
Lara dramatic and family play have been a big interest for
you. I decided to add to this experience for you by adding
real kitchen tools including an old (but treasured) hand
beater. Which sparked interest and kept a large group of
children very busy for the majority of the morning as they
figured out what to do. It was certainly a challenge, to
hold the beater
upright, still and be able to
turn the handle all at once!

I was able to model for the children how to hold the handle
whilst they turned the beaters. Pretty soon Lara, you
indicated for me to move away and she wanted to do this
task on your own. You were still finding it tricky to hold the
beater at the top so instead you decided to hold it further
down and this worked for you and you were still able to turn
the beaters. You are using dramatic play to make sense of
the world around you by acting out common daily
experiences that you see, you are exploring real tools in a meaningful way. Throughout this
experience it was awesome to watch the negotiations of turn taking as we only had two
egg beaters. The egg beaters did add a challenge didn't they? You learned to be persistent,
independent, focussed. You learned social skills, observing others, helping others, giving
instructions, verbal and non verbal communication. You also used muscles in your hands
and arms in a different way to balance the beater while turn it at the same time, crossing
the midlines, co-ordination, spatial awareness.
Lara, I love how adding the egg beater sparked a special interest to you, and added to your
dramatic play. I will continue to provide opportunities for you to explore real tools within
your of dramatic/family play. we will definitely revisit using the egg beaters. I wonder if
there are more opportunities within our programme to explore using real tools and
learning new skills?
I will be on look out for more resources to add real tools to all areas of our programme.