Overview

At Sneakers we use the approach of 'in the moment planning' to support and extend children's development. Young children have a natural desire to learn, explore and question. We offer an environment that enables child initiated play in order to capture the moment of engagement. Careful observation by practitioners is key to utilising the approach. Opportunities to seize the moment when a child shows interest in an activity which can be built upon, this is recognised by the practitioner, and we call it a 'teachable moment'. There will be hundreds of teachable moments a day for children. It is called 'In the moment' because the staff in settings will be seizing that moment and therefore, supporting the child immediately. On top of this we do termly targets for each child which are shared which are discussed with parents and reviewed regularly. When children are deeply engaged brain development is enabled with new synapses forming and this means they are making progress. Deep involvement indicates brain activity, and this happens most during high quality child initiated play. Genuine child initiated play is spontaneous and belongs to the child, it is not imposed by adults with any kind of agenda of what they feel the child should be doing and learning. True child initiated play cannot be pre planned because we don't know what the children will initiate. That means that staff will plan as they go, plan spontaneously - plan in the moment and respond as appropriate.