He māpuna te tamaiti is a resource designed for kaiako in early learning settings. It promotes proactive, intentional approaches to supporting the development of children's social and emotional competence. The book comes with a set of cards for use in daily practice and during professional learning conversations.

Key ideas, resources and tips for setting up your play-based learning

Children love moving and movement, and being physically active is an important part of everyday life. Finding ways every day for children to use large and small muscles allows them to gain increasing control over their bodies. Physical activity promotes children’s mental and emotional health as well as their physical well-being.

This white paper reviews research which has been conducted in relation to the five types of play proposed by Whitebread (2012), namely physical play, play with objects, symbolic/semiotic play, pretend play and games with rules. 

Delivering ENGAGE involves playing a selection of familiar children’s games for up to 30 minutes a day, to develop the emotional, cognitive and behavioural skills that children need to thrive at school and lead healthy, fulfilling lives.

The ENGAGE PlayTools website is part of this programme, delivering games and resources to help achieve positive long-term self-regulation outcomes for tamariki.

Children love to build their own creations using ‘junk’ materials. Junk resources are cheap and easy to find from the recycled, natural and man-made materials in the world around us. Junk play gives children many opportunities to experiment with the physical properties of objects.

Overview of providing for physical play in education.

This chapter will help you answer these important questions: • Why is the physical environment important for learning and play? • What are some learning environments? • What are the developmental characteristics of play? • How do we distinguish play from other behaviors? • What are the theories on play? • How can teachers use play to help children learn and develop?