PLAY LEADERSHIP VRE101

Study at Home - Play Leadership Course - Expand Your Career Options

  • Develop skills for any play leadership situation
  • Work in after-school and vacation care programs
  • Understand the importance of play in a child's development
  • Graduate with confidence
  • Highly experienced tutors have been training play leaders for 30 years
  • Play leadership is a unique and rewarding profession and is a job which is very important.

 

"A truly cohesive course. Excellent in fact! Absolutely essential for anyone working in child-care, a play leader at a children's vacation camp or even parents who want to understand more about the importance of play in child development. This course gives a very in-depth look at a variety of topics which carry tremendous value in understanding children" Jade Pollock, former Youth Leader and Teacher (ACS Tutor).

 

Open Learning - Play Leadership - Affordable Study

Play is one of the most important things a child can do! It is shown to increase academic ability, to stimulate their imagination, to increase their sense of wellbeing.

 

Learn to facilitate and provide opportunities for children you are involved with to play in a safe and creative manner.

  • learn to help children play
  • revised regularly, you will receive the most recent industry information
  • learn about the real importance of play in a child's development
  • understand and practice principles of leadership
  • learn about the importance of safety in play
  • work as a play leader in youth groups with young children, teenagers or pre-school children
  • know how to communicate effectively with colleagues and other management staff

COURSE STRUCTURE AND CONTENTS

There are ten lessons in this course, plus one special project, as follows:
  1. Understanding Play
    To explain the purpose of play in the cognitive, physical and social development of a child.
  2. Leadership Skills
    To determine the skills required to carry out a play leadership role in different situations.
  3. Planning Play Programs
    To develop a plan for a supervised children's play program.
  4. Child Development through Play
    To develop a basic understanding of the impact of play upon the psychological development of a child.
  5. Play Safety
    To determine appropriate measures to take to protect a child's safety when at play, while minimising any interference which might diminish the quality of the play experience.
  6. Physical Play
    To develop an understanding of options for physical play activities, including games and sports, in a supervised play program.
  7. Social Play
    To develop an understanding of options for social play activities, in a supervised play program.
  8. Adventure Play
    To develop a basic ability to plan, establish and manage a supervised adventure playground.
  9. Play Apparatus
    To develop an ability to evaluate a range of different play apparatus, including playground structures, toys, sports equipment, commenting on quality, safety features, appropriate applications and cost benefit.
  10. Activities
    To broaden your scope of opportunities that can be offered for children to play, appropriate to a wide range of different situations.
  11. Special Project

Duration: 100 hours

AIMS FOR LEARNING

  • To explain the purpose of play in the cognitive, physical and social development of a child.
  • To determine the skills required to carry out a play leadership role in different situations
  • To develop a plan for a supervised children's play program.
  • To develop a basic understanding of the impact of play upon the psychological development of a child.
  • To determine appropriate measures to take to protect a child's safety when at play, while minimising any interference which might diminish the quality of the play experience.
  • To develop an understanding of options for physical play activities, including games and sports, in a supervised play program.
  • To develop an understanding of options for social play activities, in a supervised play program.
  • To develop a basic ability to plan, establish and manage a supervised adventure
  • To develop an ability to evaluate a range of different play apparatus, including playground structures, toys, sports equipment, commenting on quality, safety features, appropriate applications and cost benefit.
  • To broaden your scope of opportunities that can be offered for children to play, appropriate to a wide range of different situations.

 

TIPS FOR CAREER PROGRESSION

  • Ensure procedures (for safety etc) are in place and follow them rigidly.
  • Be professional - parents want to know their children are being looked after by competent individuals.
  • Remain aware of trends and interests of young people. 
  • Have values which you can instill in the children and young people you work with.


CONTROLLING NAUGHTY CHILDREN

 Tips from our Tutors

 

Strategies:

1. Redirection
When a child is engaged in an undesirable activity, it is sometimes possible to direct them to a more desirable alternative. For example, if a child is playing an active game like throwing a ball and is starting to get a bit “rowdy”, it may be possible to redirect them to a quieter game, such as reading a book, or doing a puzzle. Another more desirable alternative for throwing a ball inside, might be to take the ball outside to throw around. The child can be given options to choose from, but there should only be 2 or 3 options, stated clearly, so as not to confuse or overwhelm the child. This is a gentle way of bringing behaviour back into control, without triggering power struggles or oppositional behaviour in children that don’t like to be told “no” or being told what to do. It also demonstrates to children appropriate activities for different settings. Redirection is generally most effective when behaviour is “getting out of hand” rather than when the child is completely out of control. This is a good strategy to try first.

2. Counting strategies
If the child needs to be brought back into control more quickly, an effective tool is using counting strategies. To use these strategies effectively, the parent should state clearly their expectation of the child’s behaviour – usually the behaviour they want the child to stop, or start (for example stop kicking the wall, start brushing your teeth), then explain they will count to a certain number (usually three) and if the child has not complied, a defined consequence will occur. For example, if a child is hitting their sibling, the parent might say “sally, you need to stop hitting your sister. I am going to count to three and if you haven’t stopped kicking the wall when I get to three you will have to go into time out for five minutes”. The parent would then count to three in a firm, controlled voice. If the child has not complied by the time they reach three, the child will received the consequence. For this strategy to work, the parent’s approach must be consistent over time, and must always deliver the consequence when required. This approach may not work the first time, but over time, the child will learn to comply in order to avoid the consequence.

3. Time out
Time out can be an effective method to allow a child that is misbehaving to calm down and reflect on their behaviour. To use time out effectively the parent must be consistent and leave the child alone for the allocated time. The time out area needs to be in an easily accessible place that the child can not entertain themselves, but can preferably be easily monitored, such as on a chair in the corner, or on the stairs. When the child is misbehaving, give them a warning that if they continue the behaviour they will get a time out. Specify the behaviour, be clear, firm, and to the point. If the behaviour continues, take the child to the time out area. Give the child a short explanation of why they are there, then walk away. The child will have a specified length of time to stay in time out (generally speaking, approximately as many minutes as their age, for example a 3 year old will have 3 minutes in time out, a 5 year old will have 5 minutes and so on). It may help to provide the child with a timer so they know when their time is up. Initially the child will probably resist being put in time out and their behaviour might worsen. The parent must remain strong and consistent at this point and continue to put the child in time out until they have served their allocated time. When putting the child back into timeout, it will help for the parent to remain calm, and avoid eye contact with the child and walk away from them. It is important that the parent does not give in to the child at any stage. Over time, the child will learn that the parent is serious and the time out method will become more effective and easier to deliver.

4. How can behaviour be modified
Behaviour modification takes time, patience, consistency and clear boundaries. In the past behaviour modification was achieved through physical, or harsh punishments or rewards and bribery. As we learn to understand children better, more appropriate ways to discipline children have been developed. As mentioned earlier in this chapter, the most effective methods of discipline over time is to ignore undesirable behaviour, and positively reinforce desirable behaviour.

Before discussing some strategies for modifying behaviour, psychological theories of behaviour modification will be discussed.

 

B.F. Skinner was a behaviourist psychologist who developed a form of behaviour modification that he termed operant conditioning. Operant conditioning refers to behavioural learning where an association between a behaviour and a consequence for that behaviour is established. Operant conditioning identifies an increase in behaviour for which the consequence is positive and a decrease in behaviours for which the consequence is negative. He used the terms reinforcers and punishments, where reinforces result in an increase in a particular behaviour and punishments result in a decrease of a particular behaviour. Reinforcers and punishments can be both positive and negative. In this instance, positive refers to the application of something (either something “good” or something “bad”), and negative refers to taking something away (again, either something “good” or something “bad”).

To give some examples:

  • Positive reinforcers – When something desirable is added to increase a behaviour. For example, if a child eats their vegetables they are allowed dessert. By adding dessert, the “vegetable eating” behaviour is (probably) increased.
  • Negative reinforcers – When something undesirable is taken away to increase a behaviour. For example, if a child does their homework they don’t have to do the dishes. By taking away the dishes chore, the “completing homework” behaviour increases.
  • Positive punishment – When something undesirable is added to decrease a behaviour. For example, a child having to go into time out after hitting the child’s sibling. By adding a time out consequence, the “hitting sibling” behaviour is decreased.
  • Negative punishment – When something desirable is taken away to decrease a behaviour. For example, if a child doesn’t eat their vegetables they don’t get dessert. By taking away dessert, the “vegetable eating” behaviour is increased.

 

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