Today at the children’s centre the two main sessions I observed and got involved with was ‘Jo jo jingles’ and ‘stay and play’. Before the children and parents arrived at the centre I completed the risk assessment procedure to make sure that each room was safe for the children. I could see how  ‘jo jo jingles’ was important for the interaction skills between the mother and their child and the child’s intellectual development. The practitioner who was performing the session included objects such as bubbles, a feathers. She put calming music on in the background and went around the circle of babies and blew bubbles in the air. As I was watching this I could see that the babies instantly became intrigued by the bubbles, due to their happy facial expressions and making complete eye contact to them. This is the similar reaction the babies had when the mothers used the feathers with them.  As well as this session helping the babies adapt on their intellectual abilities, I could also see how their physical development are able to increase. The practitioner put on a rhythmic background music, as the moves involved the parents to lift the babies and to move their legs and arms in a particular direction and motion. This task indicated to me that this helps the babies muscle and joint development, which can therefore help them to adapt on their gross motor skills. The second part of the day consisted of the stay and play session, where toddlers were able to play with their parents and other peers. In the indoor area there was a space for children to do puzzles, painting, hair dressers on dolls and playing with blocks. One child in particular really enjoyed completing the puzzles, which I instantly figured out as I had to keep giving her new puzzles to complete.  On the other hand the outdoor area entailed a mud kitchen, small apparatus and bikes. I could see that the outdoor play area focused more on the children’s physical development and how they can adapt on their gross motor skills and how they can use their imaginary skills whilst playing with the mud kitchen. Whilst I was observing the children play in the outdoor area, I could see how most kids enjoyed playing with the mud kitchen.

The second day I visited the children’s centre, I observed a baby massage and a play ball session for toddlers. The babies who attended the baby massage with their mothers, were aged between 3-7 months. The woman teaching the session illustrated how baby massaging is generally good for the babies muscle development and she also mentioned how it is good for the babies when they have a cold / bowl irritation. During this session I could clearly see that the massage session was relaxing the babies, which was highlighted through how quiet the babies were and how they were all slowly closing their eyes. After the baby massage session, I observed the toddlers in the play ball session. In this session the male teacher prepared a range of sport activity drills for the 3-4 year olds to take part in, such as an obstacle course, galloping, hockey drills and basketball. All of these tasks enables the children to expand on their coordination skills and gross motor skills, which are two important developments for young children. Today I also had the chance to interact with two mothers and their babies. Before approaching the mothers, I was at a distance speaking to the parents on and off and smiling at the children. As I have an unfamiliar face to the babies, one of the 7 month year olds began to cry, however as soon I sat next to the baby with the mothers she stopped and began to grasp onto my hand. The mothers asked for me to sit with them, which made me feel comfortable and boosted my self- confidence as I could see that particular mothers were used to seeing me at the centre.

On my third visit to the Children’s centre, I observed the Jo jo jingles session and participated in the stay and play session. The Jo jo jingles had a farm theme for the babies, which was shown through the songs the mothers were singing to the children. Instruments such as the rhythm sticks were used with the babies, in order for them to try and use their coordination skills. During the session there were two babies in particular who crawled to one another and began to interact, which was shown through them making eye contact and smiling at each other. In this Jo jo jingles session I also picked up on how the woman who was running the session made sure that the mothers were comfortable with tasks given for them to do with their babies, for example lifting their baby in the air. Mothers were given an alternative move to do with their child if they had a bad back or if the babies were too young to be lifted in this specific way. After Jo jo jingles I prepared the main room for the stay and play session. There were different areas for the children to play in, however I stayed at the play dough area to help the children. One of the girls wanted me to help her make cupcakes with the purple play dough and as we were making them she said “I’m going to put sausage icing on top for decoration”. She specifically said ‘sausage’ icing as she was making the play dough into this shape. A three year old boy decided to join the play dough area and began to take everyone’s play dough and this resulted in two of he girls crying. I said to T “why don’t you share the play dough with the other children?” and he replied “no” and began to grin. I could see that T was taking every other child’s play dough piece as he wanted to make the largest cupcake. The stay and play session allows parents to stay with their children whilst they are playing. In today’s session I could see that there were some children who liked interacting with other children and forgot about their parents, although their were other children who would constantly look around the room to make sure they could either see their mum or dad. This indicated to me that some children feel more confident and comfortable in this setting to others.

On day four at the Children’s Centre I observed the play ball session for 2 year olds, which was delivered by a male teacher. During this session I could see that the children were using their gross motor skills and co-ordination skills. This was shown through them jumping, hitting a ball with a tennis racket and other sport skills. The play ball session was directed at the children only, whilst the parents sat on the side and watched, however I realised how there was one mother who stayed with her child during the session. The reason for this was because of a language barrier and because the child only listened if his mother prompt him into doing the tasks.

On visit five, the Jo Jo jingles session theme was based on body parts for the babies. The rhymes consisted of the mothers showing the babies where their head, eyes, legs and nose were on their body by controlling their arms to show them. During the session bells were given to the babies to use as instruments, which instantly made them all happy. When the stay and play session began with the children and parents, most children decided to play outdoors. The two main areas the children played were with the bikes and the sand pit. I could see how the children used their imagination during their play, for example one child used the apparatus as a road for the tractor and another child drew with chalk inside the tractor bucket to make it look like there was rubbish inside of it. I found this interesting to observe as it was intriguing to see how different children’s mind works when it comes to their own decisions in play.

On visit six I observed the baby massage and the play ball session with the three year olds. In today’s baby massage, one of the main focuses was tummy time, which is an body activity that can help babies neck muscles become stronger. This was fascinating for me to see as I never knew it was important for babies to often have ‘tummy time’ sessions, therefore it was interesting to learn a new aspect about babies physical development. In the play ball session the teacher included a lot of humour during the activities. For example he sang ‘the wheels on the slay…’ and all the children laughed as they knew he was saying the wrong word. He proceeded to say ‘the wheels on the bus go round and round…’ and the children smiled and sang along with him. I think it is important how the teacher uses humour during the activities with the children, as the children show how they are able to understand right from wrong.

On visit seven the children centre had a Christmas party, where an entertainer came in for the children. The entertainer included a lot of toilet jokes, which made the children laugh and she also enabled some children to be involved with her magic tricks. When the entertainer asked the children who would like to volunteer I could see that only 3 children out of 30 put their hands up. I wasn’t surprised by this, as i knew most children would have been nervous and shy to be standing in front of adults.

Visit 8 was the first day back from the Christmas holidays. The first session I observed was Jo jingles and in this particular session i recognised how some babies crawled to other babies to physically interact with each other. This situation between the babies was amusing to watch as they would laugh at one another whilst having this physical interaction (touching each others faces/ hands). Some of the sing along songs during this session was to do with ‘exploring body parts’. This was interesting to me as the babies reactions to particular body movements (such as the parents bending their knees/ kicking their feet) either seemed to create a sense of confusion towards them or they would seem to enjoy it , which was shown through their facial expressions. After the Jo jingles session I observed and joined in with the stay and play session. I played in the sand pit with the children, however one child in particular began to give me instructions during his play. This was intriguing to me as this was the child’s way of getting me to join in with his play. During the stay and play i could see how parents had a big participation with their child’s play and this suggests to me how parent involvement allows children’s development to increase.

On the last day of placement I observed the baby massage and the play ball session. The babies ages ranged between 3 months and 7 months. The 7 month year old was very fidgety compared to the younger babies as he was distracted by the toys and colours around him. This was amusing to watch as the 7 month year old began to receive attention from the 3 month year old babies, which was shown through their eye contact. During the play ball session the children were using their gross motor skills and i could see how they found particular moves tricker than others. For example most of the children found it difficult to gallop, due to the leg coordination needed.