Criterion PF103
A sufficient quantity and range of indoor and outdoor furniture, equipment, and materials is provided to ensure children have timely access to appropriate learning challenges, experiences, and opportunities that support their developmental stages, abilities, and current and emerging interests.
Guidance
How to show you are complying
You need a sufficient range of indoor and outdoor furniture, equipment and materials that provide children with appropriate challenges, opportunities and experiences. They need to support different developmental stages, abilities, and current and emerging interests.
Make sure the furniture and resources suit the range of ages, abilities, and interests of the children attending. Child-sized tables and chairs support young children while adult-sized seating provide comfort for feeding infants.
Children need to be able to access materials that match their interests and help them build their skills and abilities.
Consider open-ended resources and materials that can be used in different ways and are easy to move. When items have a range of uses, children have more choice and control over how they use the space and resources which offers challenges and support learning experiences.
Observe children's interests to make sure your equipment remains relevant to children’s interests across the service.
Children should have timely access to furniture, equipment and different material
The amount of furniture, equipment, and materials will vary from centre to centre. What’s important is that what you provide is suitable for the range of ages and abilities of children attending and that there’s enough, so children don’t have to wait too long to use them. This does not mean there has to be one of everything for each child at the centre.
When assessing whether you comply with PF103
Questions we are likely to ask
How do you make sure children have timely access to equipment and other materials in your service?
How do you make sure that you have a sufficient quantity and range of equipment appropriate to the learning challenges, experiences and interests of all children?
We are likely to look at, measure or count
Look at the quantity and range of outdoor and indoor furniture, equipment and materials available to children.
Observe if children are waiting for long periods to access equipment.
Look at how the furniture, materials and equipment support children’s abilities, learning experiences, and their current and emerging interests.
The tools below are here to support you, but you do not have to use them. You can use other tools or methods that work better for your service.
Examples of opened-ended resources include:
blocks or loose parts
cardboard boxes
art supplies
sand and water.
Children learn by interacting with people, places and things. The furniture, equipment and resources provided to children impacts on their learning, and how they view themselves and others as capable and competent learners.
Doing more than the minimum can shape better outcomes for children. Here are some ideas or examples you might like to consider.
You could ask yourself the following questions.
Do furniture, equipment and materials in your service:
reflect cultural differences at the service?
reflect the bicultural nature of Te Whāriki?
promote and protect written and spoken language?
support parents’ aspirations for their children’s learning?
reflect the special nature or philosophy of the service and how that can be reflected in the furniture, materials and equipment you provide? As an example, if you believe in providing a nature or environmental focused service, you will offer more equipment made from natural materials rather than plastic.
open-ended equipment that can be used in a variety of ways is usually a good investment?
promote inclusivity and avoid gender bias?
You can include areas where:
children can play together
places where they can play quietly on their own
cosy, calm areas
spaces for active play.