Training opportunities last week gave our team the opportunity to reflect on the importance of play and all of the learning that can be found within everyday moments. In her role as CVN’s Play Champion, Katie has also been encouraging us to think more deeply about children’s right to play and how the importance of play within children’s learning and development is often overlooked.

One moment from last week that stayed with me was watching one of our wee ones exploring mud and water at the Fairy Tree. She moved back and forward between the mud and the burn, deliberately covering her wellies in mud before stepping back into the water to wash them “all clean”. Again and again, she repeated the process, giggling and laughing, completely absorbed in what she was doing.

To many people, it may have looked like a very simple game, yet she was exploring, experimenting, observing and noticing change. She was balancing on uneven ground, coordinating her movements and making decisions independently as she moved between the mud and the water. Most importantly, her laughter reflected just how much she was enjoying the experience.

Through simple experiences like these, children begin to notice patterns, changes and cause and effect — from discovering that bigger jumps create bigger splashes to observing how rainfall changes the burn from one day to the next.

It is often true that some of the richest learning happens during these child-led moments, where children have time and space to follow their own ideas, test things out and become fully involved in what they are doing. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child recognises play as an important part of childhood, and moments like these remind us why.

Sometimes the smallest moments of play can hold some of the most significant learning.