Recently our construction area became a mechanic's workshop.
In the introduction to the Statutory Framework it states that the EYFS seeks to provide: "a secure foundation through ...opportunities which are planned around the needs and interests of each individual child". One of the children's parent's car had a flat tyre when he was collected and they had to phone for a mechanic to fix it and of course this was all he talked about next time he was in!
So we collected together all the building tools and brought in the ride on cars from outside and the children became mechanics! Lots of them knew exactly what to do (fulfilling one of the learning statements in Understanding the World "Remembers and talks about significant events in their own experience" and another in Expressive arts and design "Notices what adults do, imitating what is observed and then doing it spontaneously when the adult is not there")
The children of all ages and both sexes really enjoyed the role play opportunity.
We developed the area as time went on, with real number plates kindly donated by a parent and, with lots of the 2 year olds really interested in mark making, we added clipboards and pens for them to 'write' out their repairs.
Again the Statutory Framework outlines 4 guiding principles to shape practice, one of which is: children learn and develop well in enabling environments, in which their experiences respond to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership between practitioners and parents. This was really fulfilled by this activity.