Show their particular characteristics, preferences and interests.
Begin to develop self-confidence and a belief in themselves.
Any patterns in what children choose to do or not to do.
The decisions that children begin to make.
Recognise that children's interest may last for short or long periods, and that their interests and preferences vary.
Value and support the decisions that children make. Encourage them when they try new things.
Be aware of cultural differences in attitudes and expectations. Continue to share and explain practice with parents, ensuring a two-way communication using interpreter support where necessary.
Discuss with staff and parents how each child responds to activities, adults and their peers. Build on this to plan future activities and experiences for each child.
As children differ in their degree of self-assurance, plan to convey to each child that you appreciate them and their efforts.
Consult with parents about children's varying levels of confidence in different situations.
Self-confidence and Self-esteem
Begin to be assertive and self-assured when others have realistic expectations of their competence.
Begin to recognise danger and know who to turn to for help.
Feel pride in their own achievements.
Shows sense of own autonomy.
Assertive of own wishes and needs; is sometimes confrontational.
Starts to know their own mind and expresses this through action, gesture or spoken words, for example, "No want bath" or "No go bed".
Strong sense of ownership of toys, but will also share at times.
Shows active sense of humour; does things to make others laugh.
Very aware of others' reactions; likes to demonstrate prowess.
Responds positively to a variety of familiar adults.
Searches out adult when hurt or distressed.
Is jealous of sharing parents' attention.
Shows affection towards other children and younger siblings.
Demonstrates concern for others when they are upset, for example, offers favourite toy, pats arm or back, offers cuddle and so on.
Shy with strangers, especially adults; may hide against a more familiar adult when introduced.
Children's ability to value what they do themselves and what others do.
How children show their enthusiasm for things they like, or their anxiety about things that concern them.
How children show they are becoming more confident with a range of different carers.
How children begin to show affection and concern when other children are upset.
How children search out adults when they are hurt or distressed.
The circumstances in which children continue to be shy, for example, with strangers.
Describe what different children tried to do, or achieved, emphasising that effort is worthwhile.
Support children's symbolic play, recognising that pretending to do something can help a child to express their feelings.
Record individual achievements which reflect significant progress for every child: one may have stepped on the slide, another may be starting to play readily with others.
Seek and exchange information with parents about young children's concerns, so that they can be reassured if they feel uncertain.
Making Relationships
Learn social skills, and enjoy being with and talking to adults and other children.
Seek out others to share experiences.
Respond to the feelings and wishes of others.
Maintains attachments with special people, for example, shows affection, prefers them for interaction and uses them for comfort and security.
Enjoys conversation with carers.
Engages in play with other children.
Enjoys gaining attention of others and sustaining interaction.
Seeks to comfort others, for example, with hugs or offering toy.
Complies with requests, although may also be stubborn.
Shows understanding of some rules and routines.
May intentionally hurt another person if angry, for example, may hit another child if they take a toy away.
May have a tantrum if frustrated or misunderstood.
Shows embarrassment.
The strategies that children use to join in play with individual children or groups of children.
How children behave when they are the centre of attention.
In what circumstances children have tantrums or express frustration.
Whether children show embarrassment.
Ensure that children have opportunities to join in. Help them to recognise and understand the rules for being together with others, such as waiting for a turn.
Give children opportunities to express choice by offering them a range of games to play.
At the end of the day, talk about the things you did together: "What was the best thing we did?".
Provide many different opportunities for children to play and communicate with one another.
Help children to begin to negotiate with one another using language. For example, if they want to join in a game or if another child has a toy that they want to play with, talk about what they could say. Model the language for them.
In turn-taking games, help children to learn how to wait to take a turn, say "Ready? Wait, it's my turn first" and "Whose turn is it now?".
As children play more often independently, encourage them to come and find you. This helps them to move and explore and lets them know that you're still available, even though you are out of physical contact or sight.
Say "Hello" or "Hi" and "Goodbye" clearly and consistently when you arrive or leave and "Please" and "Thanks" to encourage the children in your setting to do the same.
When children play together in the setting, remember that they can be possessive about their favourite toys. Make sure that there are plenty of 'neutral' toys to hand that can be shared.
Understand that young children may want to be very independent sometimes, but will also be very clingy and need physical reassurance at times, particularly when tired, anxious or needing affection. Be available when children need emotional and physical support.
Talk about the behaviour and intentions of adults and children in the setting so that children get more curious and interested and begin to understand what other people are doing.
Create areas in which children can sit and chat with friends, such as a snug den.
Behaviour and Self-control
Are aware that some actions can hurt or harm others.
Responses to stories in which someone could be hurt or harmed.
Help children to understand their rights to be kept safe by others, and encourage them to talk about ways to avoid harming or hurting others.
Have agreed procedures outlining how to respond to changes in children's behaviour.
Share policies and practice with parents, ensuring an accurate two-way exchange of information through an interpreter or through translated materials, where necessary.
Self-care
Seek to do things for themselves, knowing that an adult is close by, ready to support and help if needed.
Become more aware that choices have consequences.
Take pleasure in personal hygiene including toileting.
Dressing:
Puts on hat independently.
Puts on shoes independently, but may not get the right feet or do them up.
Takes off loose coat or shirt when undone.
Can undo large buttons and Velcro fasteners.
Removes shirt.
Removes 'pull-down' garments.
Pulls up own trousers.
Pulls zipper up once fastened at the bottom.
Independence skills:
Participates and helps with familiar routines with help from adults such as dusting, setting table or putting away toys.
Enjoys responsibility of carrying out small tasks such as carrying a bag for Mum.
Examples of independence, for example, a child playing happily with building blocks, or putting their cup back on a table.
What children choose to do when presented with several options.
Support children's growing independence as they do things for themselves, such as pulling up their pants after toileting, recognising differing parental expectations.
Talk to children about choices they have made, and help them understand that this may mean that they cannot do something else. Enlist support to ensure children learning English as an additional language can express preferences.
Dressing:
Practise taking off a large loose t-shirt or jumper. Start by removing arms so that clothing is around the children's necks. Place children's hands on the neckband and help them to pull it over their heads. Once this has been mastered, leave one arm in the sleeve and show them how to hold the edge of the sleeve while pulling the other arm out. Later, repeat this with the other arm.
Guide arms into open-fronted coats and encourage children to do this independently. Do the same with pulling on socks. This is best demonstrated sitting on the floor with the child facing forwards between your legs.
Encourage children to hang up their own coats on a coat rack at child height.
Sharing fruit - In a nursery, a practitioner and a child eat fruit together at snack time. [transcript]
You can watch the video via modem or slow / fast / superfast broadband connections. If you are behind a network firewall, why not click here to view a flash file of the video. You do need to have the flash plugin.
Allow children to pour their own drinks, serve their own food, choose a story, hold a puppet or water a plant.
Choose some stories that highlight the consequences of choices.
Provide pictures or objects representing options to support children in making and expressing choices.
Sense of Community
Show a strong sense of self as a member of different communities, such as their family or setting.
Show affection and concern for special people.
Children's references to groups, people and places in the different communities of which they are members.
Talk to children about their friends, their families, and why they are important.
Share photographs of children's families, friends, pets or favourite people.
Communication, Language and Literacy
Development matters
Look, listen and note
Effective practice
Planning and resourcing
Language for Communication
Learn new words very rapidly and are able to use them in communicating about matters which interest them.
Points to and names simple pictures.
Uses 'me' to refer to self.
Asks simple questions using speech with a quizzical face.
Talks aloud when playing with others.
Says "Please" and "Thank you" with prompts.
Uses words to alert adults to needs, for example, when hungry, thirsty or tired.
Understands 'who', 'what', 'where' in simple questions.
Understands more complex sentences such as "Put your toys away and we'll read a book".
Responds appropriately to simple two-part instructions or requests such as "Get your shoes and put on your coat" or "Pick up the ball and give it to me".
Identifies action words by pointing to the right picture, for example, "Who's jumping?".
Shows understanding of prepositions 'in', and 'on', for example, by carrying out action "Put dolly in the box" or selecting correct picture.
Will point to smaller parts of the body (such as chin, elbow or eyebrow) when asked to do so.
Rapid growth in spoken vocabulary from at least 50 words rising steadily to over 200 words.
Begins to make little 'sentences' by joining two words together such as "Daddy gone" and then making short phrases such as "Me got one".
Later, makes longer sentences of three to four words such as "Mummy go shops now".
Uses words to ask and find out about things.
Uses words during play and almost all activities.
Uses words to ask for help, for example, when washing hands or going to the toilet.
Answers simple questions, for example "Where's Mum?".
Uses several pronouns correctly, such as 'I', 'me' and 'you'.
Indicates 'no' through gestures or speech.
Uses between ten and 15 action words such as 'eat', 'drink', 'sleep', 'wash', 'play' and 'finish'.
Uses words to describe things such as "It's wet" or "It's too hot".
Uses appropriate intonation to ask questions.
Talks aloud to self when playing alone.
How children begin to use words to question and negotiate.
Features of adult/child interaction, remembering these are culturally determined, and that conventions for interaction vary, both within and across speech communities.
How children show they understand more complex sentences and instruction.
The different ways in which children begin to combine words into short phrases and sentences.
Ways in which children use language to ask for help.
How children vary their intonation and stress patterns to ask questions or express surprise.
Talk about things which interest young children and listen and respond to their ideas and questions. For children learning English as an additional language, value non-verbal communications and those offered in home languages. Respond by adding to words, gesture, objects and other visual cues to support two-way understanding.
Talk about what you're going to do, where you're going and what you have just done.
Talk through TV programmes, videos or DVDs you've watched together. Children will not always understand what they have seen.
Carry on recasting (repeating) what children say. This makes it clear you are listening and value what they say but also allows them to hear and see a more 'grown up' version.
Help children begin to negotiate with one another using language. For example, if they want to join in a game or if another child has a toy they want to play with, talk about what they could say and model it for them.
Display pictures and photographs showing familiar events, objects and activities and talk about them with the children.
Provide activities which help children to learn to distinguish differences in sounds, word patterns and rhythms.
Language for Thinking
Use action, sometimes with limited talk, that is largely concerned with the 'here and now'.
Use language as a powerful means of widening contacts, sharing feelings, experiences and thoughts.
Situations where children use actions and some talk to support and think about what they are doing.
How children show what they understand, by what they do and say, for example, actions, questions, new words and the rhythms and intonations they use.
Use talk to describe what children are doing by providing a running commentary: "Oh, I can see what you are doing, you have to put the milk in the cup first".
Provide opportunities for children to talk with other children and adults about what they see, hear, think and feel.
Encourage children to learn one another's names and to pronounce them correctly. Ensure all staff can pronounce the names of children, parents and other staff members.
Include things which excite young children's curiosity, such as hats, bubbles, shells, story books, seeds and snails.
Provide activities, such as cooking, where talk is used to anticipate or initiate what children will be doing, for example, "We need some eggs. Let's see if we can find some in here".
Plan to encourage correct use of language by telling repetitive stories, and playing games which involve repetition of words or phrases.
Linking Sounds and Letters
Distinguish one sound from another.
Show interest in play with sounds, songs and rhymes.
Repeat words or phrases from familiar stories.
Picks out a familiar sound even when there is background noise, for example, "Dinner time", "No!" or "Stop now".
Listens to and carries out simple directions.
Recognises and joins in with songs and actions, such as 'The Wheels on the Bus'.
Frequently repeats words or signs that they hear or see with one or more key words repeated.
Listens with interest to the noises adults make when they read stories.
Recognises and responds to many familiar sounds, for example, responding to a knock on the door by turning, looking at or going to the door.
Listens to music and responds when it is turned off, for example, stops singing or dancing or turns to look at the stereo.
Fills in the missing word or phrase in a known rhyme, story or game, for example, 'Humpty Dumpty sat on a... '.
Notices a deliberate mistake in story telling or a rhyme.
Builds vocabulary rapidly, understands more words than are in active vocabulary.
Shows sustained interest in picture books.
Recognises own name when written.
Majority of words are intelligible to people the child does not know well.
Produces six to eight consonant sounds in words, for example, 'p', 'b', 't', 'd', 'k', 'g', 'm', 'n', 'w'.
Produces a wide range of vowels more accurately in words, for example, 'ou' as in bout, 'ea' as in bear, 'ou' as in bought, 'oa' as in boat.
Tries to repeat many things adults say either saying the actual word or making a close match, such as "Um-beya" for umbrella.
Adults who know the child understand what they are saying when words are joined into sentences.
The words, phrases and sounds children like to say or sing.
The languages they understand and use.
How the words and phrases used by a child become easier to understand as time goes by.
Efforts by children to imitate words, even though they may only be able to manage an approximation of how adults and older children would say them, at first.
Children's responses to music and how they signal they know that music has stopped.
How children react when you make a deliberate mistake or miss out words or phrases in a familiar rhyme or storyline. Can they fill in the missing words?
Ways in which children respond to familiar sounds, for example, by looking at the door when the doorbell rings or looking towards the food preparation area when the microwave pings.
How the range of recognisable vowel and consonant sounds used by a child increases with time.
Encourage repetition, rhythm and rhyme by using tone and intonation as you tell, recite or sing stories, poems and rhymes from books.
Use rhymes from a variety of cultures and ask parents to share their favourites from their home languages.
Be aware of the needs of children learning English as an additional language.
Keep background noise to a minimum.
Share favourite books over and over again, particularly ones with repeated, rhythmical words that children can join in with.
Repeat familiar tunes and words relating to people, objects and actions with which the children are familiar. Make these more interesting to listen to by using a strong beat, rhythm and lots of repetition.
Use puppets and other props to encourage listening and responding when singing a familiar song or reading from a story book.
Reading
Have some favourite stories, rhymes, songs, poems or jingles.
Children's favourite stories, rhymes, songs, poems or jingles.
Find opportunities to tell and read stories to children, using puppets, soft toys, or real objects as props.
Provide stories, pictures and puppets which allow children to experience and talk about how characters feel.
Provide dual language books to raise awareness of different scripts. Try to match dual language books to languages spoken by families in the setting. Remember not all languages have written forms and not all families are literate either in English, or in a different home language.
Writing
Distinguish between the different marks they make.
What children tell you about the marks they make.
Draw attention to marks, signs and symbols in the environment and talk about what they represent. Ensure this involves recognition of English and other relevant scripts.
Provide materials which reflect a cultural spread, so that children see symbols and marks with which they are familiar, for example, Chinese script on a fabric shopping bag.
Handwriting
Begin to show some control in their use of tools and equipment.
Ways in which children begin to develop fine motor skills, for example, the way they use their fingers when trying to do up buttons, pull up a zip, pour a drink or use a watering can.
Encourage children to handle and manipulate a variety of media and implements, for example, clay, finger-paint, spoons, brushes and shells.
Working with clay - In a nursery class, a child spends some time independently exploring clay. [transcript]
You can watch the video, via modem or slow / fast / superfast broadband connections. If you are behind a network firewall, why not click here to view a flash file of the video. You do need to have the flash plugin.
Vary the range of tools and equipment located with familiar activities, for example, put small scoops, rakes or sticks with the sand.
Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy
Development matters
Look, listen and note
Effective practice
Planning and resourcing
Numbers as Labels and for Counting
Have some understanding of 1 and 2, especially when the number is important for them.
Create and experiment with symbols and marks.
Use some number language, such as 'more' and 'a lot'.
Recite some number names in sequence.
How young children show their understanding of number labels such as 1, 2, 3.
The contexts in which young children use marks and symbols.
Situations that prompt children to talk about numbers.
The numbers children recite spontaneously in their games.
Children matching one thing with another, for example, glasses and straws.
Children putting things in order of 'turn'.
Show children how we use counting to find out 'how many'.
Talk about how the symbols and marks you make stand for numbers and quantities.
Ask questions such as "Would you like one sandwich or two?".
At mealtimes, talk about portions of food so that children learn about quantities, such as 'enough', 'more', 'how many'.
Encourage parents of children learning English as an additional language to talk in their home language about quantities and numbers.
Introduce number labels to use outdoors for car number plates, house and bus numbers.
Create a 'number rich' environment in the home play area. Introduce numbers as they are used at home, by having a clock, a telephone and a washing machine.
Keep a diary with the children about their favourite things. Talk about how many like apples, or which of them watches a particular TV programme at home.
Calculating
Begin to make comparisons between quantities.
Know that a group of things changes in quantity when something is added or taken away.
The deductions children make about whether there is some juice left, or whether it is 'all gone'.
Children's attempts at estimation and their efforts to check by counting.
How children engage with simple counting songs and games, for example, 'Five Currant Buns'.
When children begin to know about dividing things equally into two groups.
Help children to organise their ideas by talking to them about what they are doing.
Play games which relate to number order, addition and subtraction, such as hopscotch and skittles.
Sing counting songs and rhymes which help to develop children's understanding of number, such as 'Two Little Dickie Birds'.
Cocoa for 50p - In the outdoor area of a pre-school on a sunny day, the practitioner supports a child in his role-play about shops and money. [transcript]
You can watch the video via modem or slow / fast / superfast broadband connections. If you are behind a network firewall, why not click here to view a flash file of the video. You do need to have the flash plugin.
Provide props for children to act out counting songs and rhymes.
Provide games and equipment that offer opportunities for counting, such as skittles.
Plan to incorporate a mathematical component in areas such as the sand, water or other play areas.
Shape, Space and Measures
Notice simple shapes and patterns in pictures.
Begin to categorise objects according to properties such as shape or size.
Are beginning to understand variations in size.
Observations made by children relating to shapes or patterns.
When children begin to use some words that describe time, amount and size, for example, when children say things like "me bigger" to a smaller friend.
Talk about and help children to recognise patterns.
Draw children's attention to the pattern of square/oblong/square which emerges as you fold or unfold a tablecloth or napkin.
Be consistent in your use of vocabulary for weight and mass.
Sort coins on play trays into interesting arrangements and shapes; sort them into bags, purses and containers.
Measure for a purpose, such as finding out whether a teddy will fit in a bed.
Collect pictures that illustrate the use of shapes and patterns from a variety of cultures, for example, Arabic designs.
Provide opportunities for children to measure time (sand timer), weight (balances) and measure (non-standard units).
Vary the use of volume and capacity equipment in the sand, water and other play areas to maintain interest.
Knowledge and Understanding of the World
Development matters
Look, listen and note
Effective practice
Planning and resourcing
Exploration and Investigation
Explore, play and seek meaning in their experiences.
Use others as sources of information and learning.
Show an interest in why things happen.
Displays curiosity about the world by asking questions and looking intently at objects, events and people.
Recognises and anticipates everyday routines, for example, looks for coat or gets in buggy when adult is getting ready to go out.
Joins in with learning activities led by more able partner and can imitate some actions after they have seen them demonstrated.
Remembers a sequence of activities and events and 'tells' parents what they have done or seen, for example, "Mummy train ice-cream".
Begins to self-correct during an activity without adult prompting, for example, tries to fit a puzzle piece in the wrong space and then changes to the right space without adult prompting.
Matches sets of identical objects, developing understanding of the concept of 'the same'.
Begins to develop sense of time, understands terms such as 'later', 'tomorrow' and 'yesterday'.
Uses and understands the logic of 'if... then', for example, 'If I stand on a step, then I can reach the toy', 'If I eat my sandwich, then I can have some chocolate pudding' and so on.
Understands simple explanations and reasons given by others.
May invent imaginary person and treat them as a friend.
Demonstrates some understanding of quantity, for example, 'Take one biscuit', 'There are many blocks', and so on.
Understands size differences (big, small and so on), for example, selects the big or small object or picture when asked.
Matches simple shapes (circle, square, triangle).
Matches simple pictures of familiar objects such as spoon, dog, banana, shoes and so on.
Matches objects to pictures, for example, matches shoe to a picture of a shoe.
Is more organised, gathering together the toys they want to play with before starting play. For example, getting the doll and the tea set before starting to play tea-parties; getting the train and tracks and setting them out before playing trains.
Fits three or four nesting cups together, showing understanding of size differences and how they fit together.
Completes a two- to four-piece puzzle.
Shares books with adult or other child, making 'comments' about the events and pictures.
Builds a simple bridge using blocks.
Participates in creative activities, telling you what they have made, for example, using dough, paint, blocks, cutting and pasting, cooking, drawing, making music or sounds.
Waits when asked to.
Will imitate unfamiliar ways of behaving when these seem appropriate to them, for example, takes off shoes and socks to join in 'feet painting' at nursery if sees other children doing this.
Plays lots of interactive games with adult or older child, often involving running or chasing.
Plays alongside other children and occasionally allows them into play, for example, hands toys to them.
Begins to copy the actions and sequences of play of other children.
Plays with dough, makes different shapes and will tell you what they have made.
Imitates longer sequences in play, for example, copies adult pouring tea, putting in sugar, stirring and then giving to doll.
Uses one object to represent another in pretend play, for example, uses a lid as a cup, brick as a car or puts block on a plate as if it is a cake.
Uses other people's belongings in pretend play, for example, Mum's bag and brush.
Creates imaginary objects, characters and scenes in play, for example, talks to an imaginary shopper as if they are the shop assistant.
Adopts voice or manner of another person or animal in play, for example, moves like a cat and 'miaows'.
Includes another child in their play sequence and may talk to them as they do so, for example, gives child a cup to drink from.
Children's actions and talk, in response to what they find and the questions they ask.
How children express curiosity, match objects and ask questions about things that are the same and different.
Children's developing skills in remembering and telling someone else about a sequence of activities or events.
The ways in which children show they are beginning to understand simple 'if... then' logic, for example, "If I stand on a step, then I can reach the toy".
How children respond to simple explanations and reasons given to them by other people.
How children show they are becoming more independent in their thinking, exploration and understanding of the world.
Children's anticipation and forward planning, for example, when they gather together the toys they want to play with before they begin.
Recognise that when a child does such things as jumping in a puddle, they are engaging in investigation.
Talk about activities as children investigate things, for example, pouring water from one container to another or finding out what floats and what sinks. This helps children to understand what they are seeing and to learn the language they need to describe it.
Encourage children to help you with everyday activities such as doing the washing-up or cleaning. Give them a duster, too. These are all 'games' to young children, as they explore their environment.
Show children how a toy can be used, then withdraw while they try things out for themselves. Once they have mastered basic skills show them how to take things further by introducing variation.
Make up and share stories about the familiar sequences of events in a child's daily life. Use these to lead to discussion of past and future events.
Children are now able to be interested in books and stories for longer and to observe the detail in more complex pictures. Choose books with colourful and realistic pictures that children can easily recognise.
Be sensitive to when children want to do their own thing, but get involved in their play when they invite you. Your suggestions can help to extend the range of a child's play when you model actions, roles and imaginative ways of playing with familiar toys.
Make junk models together. Use these and construction toys to help with imaginary games.
Make use of outdoor areas to give opportunities for investigations of the natural world, for example, provide chimes, streamers, windmills and bubbles to investigate the effects of wind.
Designing and Making
Are curious and interested in making things happen.
How children investigate by, for example, taking all the cushions from several areas, piling them up and jumping on top of them.
Recognise that children's investigations may appear futile, but that a child may be on the brink of an amazing discovery as they meticulously place more and more things on top of one another.
Build on children's particular interests by adding resources to sustain and extend their efforts.
ICT
Show an interest in ICT.
Seek to acquire basic skills in turning on and operating some ICT equipment.
How children use the control technology of toys, for example, a toy electronic keyboard.
Talk about ICT apparatus, what it does, what they can do with it and how to use it safely.
Let children use the photocopier to copy their own pictures.
Provide safe equipment to play with, such as torches, transistor radios or karaoke machines.
Time
Recognise some special times in their lives and the lives of others.
Understand some talk about immediate past and future, for example, 'before', 'later' or 'soon'.
Anticipate specific time-based events such as mealtimes or home time.
How children talk about the special events they experience in the home and in the setting.
The ways children show their growing understanding of the past, for example, familiarity with places or people seen previously.
Make a diary of photographs to record a special occasion.
Use the language of time such as 'yesterday', 'tomorrow' or 'next week'.
Provide opportunities for children to work through routines in role-play, such as putting a 'baby' to bed.
Place
Enjoy playing with small-world models such as a farm, a garage, or a train track.
The things children say about their environment.
Tell stories about places and journeys, for example, Whatever Next! by Jill Murphy.
Provide story and information books about places, such as a zoo or the beach, to build on visits to real places.
Communities
Are interested in others and their families.
Have a sense of own immediate family and relations.
Begin to have their own friends.
How children play, socialise and talk about family life.
Encourage children to take on different roles during role-play.
Support children's friendships by talking to them about their characteristics, such as being kind, or fun to be with.
Provide a soft toy for children to take home overnight, in turn. Talk with children about what the toy has done during these excursions.
Physical Development
Development matters
Look, listen and note
Effective practice
Planning and resourcing
Movement and Space
Gradually gain control of their whole bodies and are becoming aware of how to negotiate the space and objects around them.
Move spontaneously within available space.
Respond to rhythm, music and story by means of gesture and movement.
Are able to stop.
Manage body to create intended movements.
Combine and repeat a range of movements.
Runs safely on whole foot, stopping and starting with ease and avoiding obstacles.
Squats with steadiness to rest or play with object on the ground, rises to feet without using hands.
Stands on one foot while kicking ball with other foot.
Pushes and pulls large toys, has difficulty steering around obstacles.
Jumps with two feet together from floor.
Can stand on tiptoe when holding onto something.
Can kick and catch a large ball.
Climbs confidently and is beginning to use nursery play climbing equipment.
The new skills children continue to achieve such as jumping, kicking a ball or balancing on one leg.
Chosen ways of moving and the way children experiment with movement and balance, turning upside down, crawling or rolling.
How a child responds physically to stimuli such as seeing an aeroplane flying overhead.
How children respond to different types of music.
The ways children try to copy movements or repeat skills they have achieved.
How children join movements such as running, stopping and jumping, climbing and turning.
The different ways children use their bodies to express themselves imaginatively.
How children begin to show an interest in climbing equipment and how they explore it.
Sitting by the sea - In a pre-school, the practitioners involve the children in a rhyme about the sea using physical actions and parachute play. [transcript]
You can watch the video, via modem or slow / fast / superfast broadband connections. If you are behind a network firewall, why not click here to view a flash file of the video. You do need to have the flash plugin.
Be aware that children can be very energetic for short bursts and need periods of rest and relaxation.
Encourage and guide children to persevere at a skill.
Value the ways children choose to move.
Give as much opportunity as possible for children to move freely between indoors and outdoors.
Talk to children about their movements and help them to explore new ways of moving, such as squirming, slithering and twisting along the ground like a snake.
Encourage children to move, using a range of body parts, and to perform given movements at more than one speed, such as quickly, slowly, or on tiptoe.
Encourage body tension activities such as stretching, reaching, curling, twisting and turning.
Be alert to the safety of children, particularly those who might overstretch themselves.
Introduce the vocabulary of spatial relationships, such as 'between', 'through' and 'above'.
Use positional words to describe where a child is, saying "You're on the chair" or "... in the paddling pool" or "... under the table". Link this with getting children to follow simple instructions such as "Put it in the box" and "Sit on the chair".
As children become more confident walkers, some like to pull along a toy such as a toy dog on wheels or a clackety caterpillar as they go, or to push a doll in a buggy.
As children walk around the setting, try putting a toy that they like on the floor near them to see if they'll try to bend or squat to pick it up.
Look out for how children get out of narrow spaces. They can be helped to learn to take a step or two backwards and then turn around.
Encourage children to run alongside you, holding your hand. Start with just a few steps and gradually increase range. Introduce changes in direction and rapid stops.
Encourage children to run a short distance towards you on a safe surface and then reward them by picking them up and spinning them round when they reach you.
Support children as they learn to jump on a soft bouncy surface holding your hands.
Soft play facilities provide many opportunities for safe movement and exploration.
As balance and muscular strength develop, encourage children to walk upstairs, holding your hand, placing both feet on each step before moving on.
Provide a range of large play equipment that can be used in different ways, such as boxes, ladders, 'A' frames and barrels.
Plan time for children to experiment with equipment and to practise their skills.
Undertake risk assessment and provide safe spaces where children can move freely. Create 'zones' for some activities and explain safety to children and parents.
Plan to respect individual progress and preoccupations. Allow time for exploration and for children to practise movements they choose.
Provide real and role-play opportunities for children to create pathways, for example, road layouts, 'taking the pushchair to the home corner' or 'going on a picnic'.
Provide CD and tape players, scarves, streamers and musical instruments so that children can respond spontaneously to music.
Plan activities that involve moving and stopping, such as musical bumps.
Health and Bodily Awareness
Communicate their needs for things such as food, drinks and when they are uncomfortable.
Show emerging autonomy in self-care.
Feeding:
Asks, or searches for food when hungry.
Feeds self competently with spoon.
Drinks well without spilling.
Replaces cup on table without difficulty.
Keeps most food in bowl or on plate.
Toileting:
Indicates need for toilet by behaviour (such as dancing movements or holding self).
Tolerates sitting on potty or toilet.
The signs, gestures or words young children use to convey what their needs are at any time.
Feeding:
How children tell you that they are hungry.
Toileting:
How children tell you they need the potty or toilet.
When children learn to sit on a potty or toilet.
Involve young children in the preparation of food.
Encourage repetition in movements and sensory experiences.
Give children the chance to talk about what they like to eat, while reinforcing messages about healthier choices, and to learn about each other's preferences.
Remember that children who have limited opportunity to play outdoors may lack a sense of danger.
Feeding:
Involve children in a wider range of food preparation tasks, for example, show them how to use a knife for spreading and cutting sandwiches.
Give lots of practise of cutting with a safe blade using dough and foods such as bananas, medium or soft cheese and cooked carrots.
Place some favourite foods in jars with simple screw tops and show how they can be opened. Develop this into a guessing game - shake the jar and ask what it sounds like. This will help to develop vital listening and manipulative skills.
Store children's eating equipment in an accessible place and encourage them to find their own cutlery and bowls and to put them on the table.
Set the table together with place mats, forks, knives, spoons, plates and cups.
Play 'guess the food' games by describing the food you're about to eat.
Encourage children to carry an open-topped cup with a small amount of liquid in it for a few steps. Do the same with a piece of fruit or sandwich in a bowl or plate. Extend this as skills improve.
Washing:
In addition to practising hand-washing, encourage the children to dry their hands with a towel and put it back in the appropriate place so that it can be found when next needed.
Toileting:
Encourage children to explore the toilet thoroughly and explain how it is used. Sit them on the closed lid to help them get used to its height. Provide a small step to help with getting on and to maintain good posture while sitting.
Make sure children feel secure when sitting on a toilet or potty by using a suitable child seat. Make sure they also have a stable base under their feet.
Show how the flush works and explain what happens when using public toilets or other people's bathrooms. Warn children that toilets in other places may sound different from the ones they use regularly so they won't be alarmed by different noises.
Ensure children's safety, while not unduly inhibiting their risk-taking.
Display a colourful daily menu showing healthy meals and snacks and discuss choices with the children, reminding them, for example, that they tried something previously and might like to try it again.
Be aware of eating habits at home and of the different ways people eat their food. For example, some families use hands to eat and some cultures strongly discourage the use of the left hand for eating.
Using Equipment and Materials
Balance blocks to create simple structures.
Show increasing control in holding and using hammers, books, beaters and mark-making tools.
Picks up tiny objects accurately and quickly.
Places objects down neatly and precisely.
Builds a tower of up to seven cubes.
Turns pages in a book one at a time.
Scribble writes including 'V' shape and vertical lines.
Later, imitates drawing a simple face: circle for head, with eyes, nose and mouth.
Fits square shapes into a formboard and then later round, square and triangle shapes into a puzzle or posting box.
Fits increasingly small shapes and objects into holes during posting activities.
Threads large beads onto floppier cord, for example, washing line cord or a heavy shoelace.
Makes snips in paper with child scissors.
Folds paper in half.
Turns rotating handles.
Screws and unscrews jar lids, nuts and bolts.
Can put tiny objects into a small container.
How children are developing fine movements of their fingers and hands to grip, twist, bang and make marks.
How they are building up strength in their arms and hands through large muscle activities such as climbing.
How children learn to put objects down neatly and precisely.
How children learn to pick up very small objects.
How children's control of fine movement develops as they begin to turn the pages in a book, one at a time, or to fold paper.
How children begin to use scissors on paper.
The strategies children use to open a screw-topped jar.
Encourage children in their efforts to do up buttons or pour a drink.
Introduce toys that need more than one step to be completed.
Help children measure out food quantities for dinner, for example, pouring drink from a small jug into a children's cup or measuring a helping from a serving bowl into a child's bowl. Talk about "a lot", "a little", "more", and "no more".
Use stacking toys that are more challenging and require children to put the biggest ring on the bottom and the smallest on top. Take turns playing with equipment and show children how the beakers or rings fit in relation to one another and according to size.
Resource the home play area with cooking utensils and babies' clothes so that children can handle tools and materials meaningfully in their imaginative play.
Provide 'tool boxes' containing things that make marks, so that children can explore their use both indoors and outdoors.
Creative Development
Development matters
Look, listen and note
Effective practice
Planning and resourcing
Being Creative - Responding to Experiences, Expressing and Communicating Ideas
Seek to make sense of what they see, hear, smell, touch and feel.
Begin to use representation as a form of communication.
Word plays, signs, body language and gestures that young children use in response to their experiences, for example, a child may jump up and down or whirr around when they are excited, or eagerly engaged.
Help children to value their creative responses by your interest in the way they move, represent or express their mood.
Provide props such as streamers for children to wave to make swirling lines, or place shiny mobiles, made from unwanted CDs, in the trees to whirl around in the wind.
Exploring Media and Materials
Begin to combine movement, materials, media or marks.
The inventive ways in which children add, or mix media, or wallow in a particular experience.
Be interested in the children's creative processes and talk to them about what they mean to them.
Choose unusual or interesting materials and resources that inspire exploration such as textured wall coverings, raffia, string, translucent paper or water-based glues with colour added.
Creating Music and Dance
Join in singing favourite songs.
Create sounds by banging, shaking, tapping or blowing.
Show an interest in the way musical instruments sound.
Children's responses to different songs, dance or music.
Help children to listen to music and watch dance when opportunities arise, encouraging them to focus on how sound and movement develop from feelings and ideas.
Invite dancers and musicians from theatre groups, the locality or a nearby school so that children begin to experience live performances.
Draw on a wide range of musicians and story-tellers from a variety of cultural backgrounds to extend children's experiences and to reflect their cultural heritages.
Developing Imagination and Imaginative Play
Begin to make-believe by pretending.
Children's make-believe play in order to gain an understanding of their interests.
Sometimes speak quietly, slowly or gruffly for fun in pretend scenarios with children.
Offer additional resources reflecting interests such as tunics, cloaks and bags.
