Planning, Setting Up & Delivering a Focused Activity

A focused activity is adult-led: you choose it, you plan it, and you are with the children all the way through. It is for a small group — small enough that every child gets their hands on it and you can hear each one — and it is planned for particular children, because of something you know about them.

• It has a reason. A next step from an observation, an interest you want to build on, or something a child is nearly doing. “We haven’t done painting for a while” is not a reason.
• It has a learning intention — usually one Development Matters statement, written word for word.
• It happens inside the day, not instead of it. The daily timetable has adult-led focused activity windows — one in the morning and one in the afternoon (at Croydon, 09:10–11:30 and 14:00–17:00; check your own nursery’s timetable). They are windows, not slots: you take your group while everything else carries on around you.
• It sits alongside play, not above it. Most learning still happens in child-led play and the continuous provision. A focused activity is the bit where an adult deliberately teaches or extends.

It is not: the whole room doing the same craft; a product the adult finishes so it looks right on the wall; or ten minutes of you talking while children wait for a turn.

• I can explain what makes an activity “focused”: adult-led, small group, particular children, a clear reason
• I know where the focused activity windows sit in the daily timetable
• I know a focused activity is part of the day, alongside play — not a replacement for it

Start with the children, not the activity.

1. Who is it for? Look at your key children’s recent observations and next steps in Ovivio. Who is nearly doing something? Who has an interest you can use?
2. What is the learning intention? Find the statement in EYFS moments — by area and age band, or by search. Copy it exactly; never reword a statement. Quicker: press 📋 Plan an activity for this on the statement (or 📋 Plan this on one of its activities), and the plan opens with the area, the statement as your learning intention and the age group already filled in.
3. What will you do? The idea can come from anywhere: your own, one you have seen work, something the children started themselves, or one from Activities. Activities is not only a list to pick from. Use it to gather ideas and adapt them. Each one has you need, before you start, your job, what to say, questions to ask, words to use, younger / older, what tells you, a note might say and what usually goes wrong. Change the resources, the size of the group or the challenge to fit your children. If the idea is your own, look up an activity for the same statement anyway: its your job, usually goes wrong and safety lines still help.

Then write it on the New activity plan:

• Title, date, site and room.
• Age brackets covered — tick each one, and write the short adaptation for each: what a younger child does differently, and how you stretch an older one.
• EYFS areas — pick the area and its statement.
• Focused children — who the activity is for. Other children may join; these are the ones you are planning around.
• Activity — what happens, in order, in plain words someone else could follow.
• Resources / preparation — everything you need, ready before you start.
• Key questions — two or three open questions (“What do you think will happen if…?”, “How did you…?”).
• Key vocabulary — the few words you will say again and again.
• Impact · Evaluation · Next Steps — leave this blank. It is filled in after the activity.

Send for approval. The plan goes to your manager. It shows as pending; your manager approves it or sends it back with changes requested. Run it once it is approved. Plan my week lets you sketch the week’s activities in one go and add the detail later.

• I start a plan from my children’s next steps and interests. The activity can be my own idea, or one from Activities that I adapt for them
• I copy the statement word for word from EYFS moments
• I write an adaptation for each age group I tick
• I send the plan for approval and run it once it is approved

Before the children come over:

• Everything ready and within reach — the Activities page’s you need and before you start. Leaving the group to fetch something is when it falls apart.
• Read the activity’s safety lines. If an activity says “Change this before you run it”, do what it says — it is there because one of our policies requires it. Every safety flag links to the policy it comes from.
• Allergies and dietary needs for anything with food or food-based materials — flour, pasta, cereals, dough. Check every child in the group (Allergies policy).
• Small objects and younger children. Our Food Play policy says small objects such as dried pasta and pulses are not used with younger children. Check what you are putting out against who is sitting there.
• A good place — out of the main walkway, with as little background noise as you can manage, at the children’s height.
• Tell your room leader you are taking a group, so the rest of the room stays properly staffed and supervised. A focused activity never leaves the room short (Supervision of Children policy).
• Know your timing — inside the window, and not running into lunch, sleep or home time.

• I have everything ready before I gather the children
• I read the safety lines, and I always do a “Change this before you run it”
• I check allergies and small objects against the children in my group
• I tell my room leader before I take a group

• Get down to their level and start with them doing, not you talking. Show briefly, then hand it over.
• Use your key questions — then wait. Count to five in your head before you say anything else. The thinking happens in the pause.
• Say your key words again and again, in context: “You’ve got more. Now it’s the same.”
• Follow their lead. If a child takes it somewhere you didn’t plan but it is still learning, go with them. The plan is a starting point, not a script.
• Adapt in the moment using your younger / older notes — make it easier for one child and harder for another in the same group.
• Every child gets their hands on it. Nobody waits a long time for a turn.
• Stop while they still want more. A short activity that ends on interest beats a long one that ends in wandering off.
• Notice as you go: what each focused child does and says, in their exact words if you can. That is your observation. Know beforehand what you are looking for. The activity’s what tells you line says what shows the statement, and a note might say shows a short example. For your own idea, open the statement in EYFS moments: it lists the moments to look for and what doesn’t count.

What usually goes wrong: the adult doing it for them so it “looks right” · too many children, so most of them wait · too long · the adult talking more than the children · every child making the same thing, which shows the adult’s plan, not the children’s learning.

• I ask open questions and wait for the answer
• I let children take it somewhere new when it is still learning
• I make sure every child has a go, and I stop while they are still interested
• I know what I am looking for before I start (what tells you, or the statement in EYFS moments), and I notice what each focused child does and says

1. Tidy it away and leave the space ready for the next thing.
2. Write it up while it is fresh. Use Write an observation, or 📝 Use for an observation from the statement in EYFS moments, for each focused child who showed you something. Write what your child did, in your own words. “A note might say” is a guide, not something to copy. Then copy it into Ovivio, which is the record.
3. Fill in Impact · Evaluation · Next Steps on the plan, about the whole activity: what the group showed you, what worked and what didn’t, and what you will do next. The examples below show how.
4. Let it lead to the next plan. The next steps you write today are where your next focused activity starts.

Evaluating the whole activity

Impact · Evaluation · Next Steps is about the activity, not one child: how the group got on, what helped and what got in the way (including what you did), and what you will set up next. Observations are where individual children go.

Every activity on the Activities page has an “An evaluation might say” line, and when you plan from one, the same example shows under the box on your plan. Use it as a guide to the kind of thing to write, then write what actually happened.

A good evaluation says: what the group showed you against the statement (impact); what helped or got in the way: the resources, the group size, the timing, and what you did (evaluation); and what you will set up next (next steps). Next steps are what the adult puts in place, not targets for the children.

• I write observations for the focused children and put them in Ovivio
• I fill in Impact · Evaluation · Next Steps on the plan
• I use those next steps to plan the next activity
• I have read the examples, and I can write an evaluation of the whole activity: impact, what helped or got in the way, and next steps

Who and why: Ovivio shows two of your key children (both 2½) filling and tipping at the water tray all week, and one saying “more!” when her cup was full.

Learning intention (Mathematics, Birth to Three): “Compare amounts, saying ‘lots’, ‘more’ or ‘same’.”

The plan: three children at the water tray in the morning window; two clear jugs, three cups of different sizes, a funnel. Key questions: “Which one has more?”, “Can you make them the same?”. Key words: more, same, lots, full, empty. Younger: pouring and naming “full” and “empty”. Older: “Which cup will fill the jug fastest?”. Sent for approval; approved.

Set up: towels down, aprons on, the tray at their height, room leader told.

What happened: one child filled two cups and said “same!”, then tipped one out and said “now more”. The adult waited, then asked “more where?” — she pointed to the full one.

Afterwards: a one-line observation for each focused child, into Ovivio; Impact · Evaluation: “Both used ‘more’; one used ‘same’ correctly. Next: put the clear cups out at snack so they compare drinks every day.”

What would be wrong: the whole room at the water tray · the adult pouring while the children watch · no statement, or a reworded one · running it before it was approved · nothing written afterwards.

Reflection prompt: look at your key children’s next steps. Which one could your next focused activity start from?

• I have picked a next step for my next focused activity