Documentation as a Process of Thinking: Moving Beyond Simply Recording Children’s Learning

It's been quite a few years since I have worked directly in a room with children on a regular basis (although I love when I spend time in them during visits as an Approved Provider or consultant!) When people ask me if I miss it, I often say yes. I love what I do now and wouldn't change it, but I definitely miss the delight of seeing a child master a new skill, or the warmth of knowing that my connection with a child helped them settle, or the joy of hearing a mispronounced toddler-ism or learning 47891 facts about dinosaurs from an exuberant 5 year old. 

One of the things that I really miss though, which might seem unexpected, is documentation. I miss capturing moments of magic and discovery. I miss recording the voices of children. I miss making their learning visible for families. And I really miss unpacking the meaning behind children's play. 

Theorists - A Lightbulb Moment

When I first started my Certificate III in Children's Services over 25 years ago, I wasn't 100% sold. I think I had it in my mind that I would be spending my days changing nappies and playing in the sandpit (which, to be honest... I have done my fair share of!) I knew that playing with children and keeping them safe was important, but 17 year old me had no idea just how much learning and development occurred in the first five years of a child's life. When we began a module on theorists though - everything changed. Suddenly there was insight and understanding, there was language I could use to explain play, there was logic to why that toddler was filling up buckets and tipping them out and then filling them up again. Knowing that there were these tested ideas and frameworks for making sense of children's play and learning changed everything for me.

How did Understanding Theorists Shape my Documentation?

I know it was definitely my early experience, and I still see it when visiting services in the sector, that documentation can often be simply a recording of play. Now, of course there is nothing wrong with recording children's play - it's magic. But the real magic is when we dig a little deeper, when we explore "what is really going on here". And this is where having a knowledge of thinkers and theorists can help. 

I remember taking photographs of a child building with blocks in the block area one day. I found it interesting, the way that they were enclosing small animals and objects inside their block construction. When I had programming time later in the week, I was looking at the photos and becoming even more curious. So I started doing some online research (which let's be honest, was much harder in 2004) and stumbled upon Harriet Johnsons Stages of Block Play. It was a real "aha" moment when I saw that Stage 4 was "enclosures" and typically occurred around age 4. This explained so much. It took my documentation from "Sarah built enclosures around the animals" to something richer, and in the process, I learned more about the way that children play with blocks. 

The process of documentation is as much about thinking and learning as an educator as anything else. 

This is what I miss about documentation. The opportunity to dig deeper, to learn, to discover something new, to wonder, to question, to reflect, to discuss with colleagues. And I worry that this isn't commonplace. I worry that the digitisation of documentation has taken some of this away. I know that there are programs and apps that allow us to easily document children's learning - to add a tag for a specific EYLF outcome or theorist, but are we really thinking about it? Are we really asking questions and wondering? Are we learning about children's play? 

Many educators tell me they feel pressured to create so much documentation and I worry that the quality of the documentation, that the process of thinking and learning about play is being lost in this pressure for more more more. 

We need to think about what our intention is with documentation. Is it to create so many pieces of documentation that no-one can question our programs? Or is it to create meaningful documentation that gives us insight into children and how they play, learn and be in the world? 

Want to learn more about using theorists in meaningful ways in your documentation?

Check out our Thinkers and Theorist Card Sets. These are a great addition to your programming space, offering a quick reference point for educators and sparking a desire to learn more! 

Join us on 6th July 2026 for a live online session - find out more and register HERE