Hi, as already well said an objective is an outcome or a goal - it can be a reason for doing something - planned and sometimes not.
Objective from wikipedia and from
Dictionary.com ..
Have you ever looked at an activity and asked what the Children, yourself and others gain from getting it ready, presenting it and playing / possibly learning from it ?
If a tower of 6 or more blocks was built - were the blocks numbered and was unassisted / unguided learning opportunity at a good or high level - would an objective be to freely play with balancing, construction, building up and out, on and above so that positioning & positional, time to plan and later evaluate, skill, sense of attainment / achievement etc could be acqcuired.. or possibly to count in order &/or by rote with and without guidance be part of the activity objectives... or maybe both .. or maybe none.
A step further might be to question and ask what are the objectives and who has jurisdiction over them and in what capacity .. staff, children another party - and in some circumstances it could be good practice to challenge the motives for objectives ..
Different groups have different ways of presenting their objectives:
A Toy Library in Guernsey objectives:
Preschool Toy Library
from Surestart
their Programme objectives
And written for an audience Wakefield Parent Partnership objectives translate to this excellent information:
Wakefieldparentpartnerships.co.uk
Objectives of and for a Treasure Basket - Heuristic play ..
Gone on a bit sorry .. hope it all helps
xx