too many resources?

[sebseb]

hi everyone

Our early years advisor spent a little time with us today and suggested we had too many resources available for the children i'm not sure i agree as everything has its place and the children know where everything is and is easily accessible to them there was a lovely calm atmosphere and the children were playing lovely just wondering if anyone has any thoughts about this and if anyone else has been advised along the same lines.

thanks
sebseb

[butterflies]

Sounds like the Early Years Advisor was a bit picky, maybe she should have given some examples to help you see why she made such a comment!

I am trying to think of some things that may be running through her head;

Did any of the children appear bored? Apparently over and under stimulation can cause this.

I think sometimes too many resources can overcrowd an area, but have already said that everything has it's place! Is there plenty of room to move around - especially outside to run around?

Could we be overindulging the children? Would it be better to rotate some of the resources so that they discover those available more in depth, and also reawakening their interests when old favourites come out?

Are your resources meeting the WANTS instead of the NEEDS of the children? (Overindulging again)

Are resources benefitting the child or the parents (and dare I say ofsted sometimes, certainly I find this is the case in my environment, as a CHildminder always trying to be correct is hard in a smaller space) Of course I have multicultural resources, but I do like getting out into the real world too and actually meeting people from diverse backgrounds.

Just a few ideas, I hope you get to the bottom of the comment!

[sebseb]

Originally Posted by butterflies

Sounds like the Early Years Advisor was a bit picky, maybe she should have given some examples to help you see why she made such a comment!

I am trying to think of some things that may be running through her head;

Did any of the children appear bored? Apparently over and under stimulation can cause this.

I think sometimes too many resources can overcrowd an area, but have already said that everything has it's place! Is there plenty of room to move around - especially outside to run around?

Could we be overindulging the children? Would it be better to rotate some of the resources so that they discover those available more in depth, and also reawakening their interests when old favourites come out?

Are your resources meeting the WANTS instead of the NEEDS of the children? (Overindulging again)

Are resources benefitting the child or the parents (and dare I say ofsted sometimes, certainly I find this is the case in my environment, as a CHildminder always trying to be correct is hard in a smaller space) Of course I have multicultural resources, but I do like getting out into the real world too and actually meeting people from diverse backgrounds.

Just a few ideas, I hope you get to the bottom of the comment!

thanks for replying the children weren't at all bored they were all playing lovely and were really engrossed in their play i had a room full of girls mind only have 2 boys in my group at the moment she seemed to think it would have been a different scene if it was a room of boys rather than girls. interesting thought.

i think your comment about rotating the resources so they discover the ones available in more depth i'm going to do an audit of the room and see how it goes by putting some things away and rotating.

i'll keep you posted

[ray]

LOL to your comment about boys. I have a class of mostly boys and we have actually found that no matter what resources we have they seemed more intent in running around the room making loud noises. I then put all the resources away... and put out a tray of large wooden and foam bricks...... an extra large tool set with nuts and bolts. The peace in the room was blissful. Apart from the industrious banging and drill noises lol. Sometimes the simplest resources are great ways for children to develop their own imagination, sheets, shredded paper, large empty boxes etc

[tutu]

just remember an early years advisor is JUST that, her opinion is worth considering but of course it is also completely acceptable to disagree! As long as you an justify your response then stand by it

[sebseb]

thanks tutu i was beginning to think my whole room was wrong even though it works well for the children we have in

[twinthing]

Originally Posted by ray

LOL to your comment about boys. I have a class of mostly boys and we have actually found that no matter what resources we have they seemed more intent in running around the room making loud noises. I then put all the resources away... and put out a tray of large wooden and foam bricks...... an extra large tool set with nuts and bolts. The peace in the room was blissful. Apart from the industrious banging and drill noises lol. Sometimes the simplest resources are great ways for children to develop their own imagination, sheets, shredded paper, large empty boxes etc

we have the exact same situation at our setting, mostly boys who currently want to rampage around! we rotate our resorces weekly, we ask the children what they want out and even so, we always have the same small group who after an hour or so return to the running and wrestling lol we give the group a wide choice but even that does not always seem to work.......if they are stuck inside due to poor weather its quite a challenge! once outside they are free to let off as much steam as they can . We have had conflicting advice from a varitey of advisors, some say keep the same resources for more than 2 weeks, some say a month, some say weekly ....If we kept the same things out for more than 2 weeks it would be a struggle.