Are invitations to play becoming the same as teaching from themes?

Not necessarily. An invitation to play is often open-ended, sparking curiosity and child-led exploration, whereas a new theme can be more structured and adult-driven. However, invitations to play should be used intentionally and sparingly to avoid taking over the whole environment. 

 Key Points for Reflection and Rebalancing

1. Intent vs. Impact

 • Ask yourself: Why am I setting this up?

Is it to introduce a skill, a theme, or to enrich curiosity?

 • Then ask: What was the children’s actual response?

Did they engage meaningfully, or did they ignore it?

This helps separate teacher intention from child impact.

2. Too Many Invitations = Too Much Noise

 • Overloading a space with multiple setups can actually overwhelm rather than inspire.

 • Sometimes, one carefully thought-out invitation is more powerful than five visually appealing ones.

Try leaving more blank space for children to build their own ideas.

3. Continuous Provision as the Core

 • Revisit your core resources: blocks, natural loose parts, mark-making tools, fabrics, water, sand.

 • These are not boring—they’re versatile foundations.

 • Children often do their best work in spaces that aren’t overly directed.

4. Nature as the Ultimate Invitation

 • A stick, a stone, a puddle, a bird’s feather—these offer open-ended experiences with no fixed outcome.

 • Less setup, more exploration.

 Suggested Practice

Here’s a gentle guide to consider:

 Less Is More

Instead of constantly setting up new invitations:

 • Rotate resources.

 • Invite children to co-create invitations.

 • Use observations to let their interests drive what comes next.

Final Thought:

An invitation to play should invite, not instruct.

The most powerful learning often happens when we do less, observe more, and respond intentionally.

 Discover more on reducing work load and slowing down pedagogy with my Hygge in the Early Years training available here.