Pop Up Play Village has been created to excite children and give them the desire to learn in their own way and at their own pace. Using my knowledge as a teacher, this was how Pop Up Play Village was designed. When designing each play area, I looked at what resources were needed in order to maximise the learning opportunities for the children. Every resource in our village has a purpose and has been chosen to inspire and promote high quality learning through play.
I’ve found that the best way for children to learn is when they are in the driving seat. They can make their own decisions and make their own discoveries. Our village has been set up to promote this way of learning through open plan play areas and free flow play right from the very start of a session until the very end. As our village is open plan, children can make connections between one play area and another and move resources around the village as they wish. We often find that at the end of a play session, the village looks very different and that’s great as the children have owned their play and been inspired by the resources that they have had available to play with.
Our village is a very sociable place to play and this naturally inspires children’s learning. By observing others, playing alongside and with other children, children get ideas and learn from each other which in turn inspires and develops their learning further.
Our play areas are large and open plan which means adults can play in them too. We absolutely love seeing families all playing together and having fun! Children absolutely love to play with their special grown ups that bring them to our village. This naturally inspires their play and develops their learning so much.
I think it is so important that the environment is right for optimum high quality learning to take place. The environment needs to be a relaxing and stress free place to start with. By being open plan, we have created a wonderfully relaxed environment where grown ups can relax as they can see their children at all times and children can gain confidence to explore as they can also see their grown ups too. The environment also needs to wow children as they walk through the door. This then sparks their interest, their imaginations and ultimately inspires learning! We take great care in setting up our village for every session and one of the huge perks of running Pop Up Play Village sessions is when I get to see the look of excitement on the children’s faces when they walk in and see the village all ready for the play to begin. Truly amazing!
Written by Becky Hoare, Creator and Franchisor of Pop Up Play Village
