Have a positive approach to activities and events.
Show confidence in linking up with others for support and guidance.
Show increasing independence in selecting and carrying out activities.
Children's curiosity and drive to explore things around them.
Situations in which children show confidence and independence.
Children's reactions to and relationships with peers and adults, particularly those whose company they enjoy.
Interact with children in support of their interests and give them scope to learn from many things, including their mistakes.
Encourage children to see adults as a resource and as partners in their learning.
Support children in developing positive relationships by challenging negative or detrimental comments and actions towards either peers or adults.
Teach children to use and care for materials, and then trust them to do so independently.
Vary activities so that children are introduced to different materials.
Plan activities that require collaboration.
Make materials easily accessible to all children, to ensure everybody can make choices.
Self-confidence and Self-esteem
Show increasing confidence in new situations.
Talk freely about their home and community.
Take pleasure in gaining more complex skills.
Have a sense of personal identity.
Likes to sit, have a cuddle and share events of the day with a familiar adult.
Uses adults as sources of knowledge, comfort and shared activities.
May form a special friendship with another child.
Is more outgoing towards strangers and more confident in new social situations, for example, playgroup, but may be anxious at first.
Able to share and take turns to some extent, but also selfish at times.
Has strong sense of own space and possessions; likes to arrange own toys.
Likes to point out self in photos.
Shows growing autonomy and self-will.
Can sometimes be stubborn or negative and react badly to frustration.
Shows strong personal preferences for food, clothes and so on.
Expresses personal views in conversation.
May argue to achieve own wishes.
More independent in self-care; takes pride in appearance.
Developing independence - In a pre-school, a child works independently with various equipment and materials, indicating her sense of belonging and self-assurance.
[transcript]
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Instances of children's confidence and how they express their needs.
Children's ability to talk about, and take pride in, their homes and communities.
Examples of when children like to sit, have a cuddle and share the events of the day with a familiar adult.
Occasions when children form a particular friendship with another child for the first time.
Ensure that key practitioners offer extra support to children in new situations.
Create positive relationships with parents by listening to them and offering information and support.
Encourage children to talk about their own home and community life, and to find out about other children's experiences. Ensure that children learning English as an additional language have opportunities to express themselves in their home language some of the time.
Anticipate the best from each child, and be alert for evidence of their strengths.
Plan extra time for helping children in transition, such as when they move from one setting to another or between different groups in the same setting.
Provide role-play areas with a variety of resources reflecting diversity.
Making Relationships
Feel safe and secure, and show a sense of trust.
Form friendships with other children.
Demonstrate flexibility and adapt their behaviour to different events, social situations and changes in routine.
Enjoys talking about present and recent experiences.
Understands causes of some feelings, for example, feel sad because a toy is broken or feel frustrated because they cannot go outside to play.
Conscious of adult approval or disapproval for own actions, for example, checks to see if adult is looking before being naughty or looks guilty if 'caught in the act'.
Knows own mind and expresses it, for example, objects to having bath, getting dressed or going to bed.
Defends own possessions.
Shows initiative and autonomy in relating with others.
Is curious about others and will modify behaviour to fit in with what others are doing, for example, removing shoes and socks before going on slide after seeing others doing this.
Identifies self with children of same age and sex.
Likes to perform for others.
Ways in which children show that they feel safe and cared for.
Children who like to be with others, and those who need support to join in.
Children's strategies for coping with change.
How adult approval or disapproval affects what children do.
Children's awareness of the feelings other people have, for example, that another child is crying because a toy is broken.
The different ways in which children show they know their own mind and what they want.
The circumstances in which children like to perform for other people.
Establish routines with predictable sequences and events.
Encourage children to choose to play with a variety of friends, so that everybody in the group experiences being included.
Prepare children for changes that may occur in the routine.
At the start of the day, talk to the children about what you're going to do, the people they will see and the places they will visit. Remind them at the end of the day what they have done.
As children's understanding of language increases, begin to tell them about everyday activities in advance. Do this about five minutes before you want them to change activity. Then, when you get to the time, say "Now, it really is time to stop playing. Let's go and have a story".
Establish clear limits and boundaries and stay in control of routines. This gives children predictable routines and a better understanding of your expectations. If children refuse, follow activities which are disliked with activities that they like, as a reward.
During everyday routines, ask children to tell you what happens next in a sequence of activities and what objects or toys you will need to get ready so that they can show you how much they know about the order of events.
Be consistent about using and expecting attempts at saying "Please" and "Thank you" or "Ta".
Provide stability in staffing and in grouping of the children.
Provide time, space and materials for children to collaborate with one another in different ways, for example, building constructions.
Provide a role-play area resourced with materials reflecting children's family lives and communities.
Behaviour and Self-control
Begin to accept the needs of others, with support.
Show care and concern for others, for living things and the environment.
Children's recognition of the needs of others.
How children show their care for others and the environment.
Share with parents the rationale of boundaries and expectations to maintain a joint approach.
Demonstrate concern and respect for others, living things and the environment.
Set, explain and maintain clear, reasonable and consistent limits so that children can play and work feeling safe and secure.
Collaborate with children in creating explicit rules for the care of the environment.
Self-care
Show willingness to tackle problems and enjoy self-chosen challenges.
Demonstrate a sense of pride in own achievement.
Take initiatives and manage developmentally appropriate tasks.
Dressing:
Puts arms into open-fronted coat or shirt when held up.
Hangs up own coat.
Finds items of clothing in the dressing-up box.
Pulls down own pants when using the toilet.
Independence skills:
Asks for help or support when needed.
Note:
Early Support material relating to feeding, washing and toileting appears in Physical Development: Health and Bodily Awareness
Instances of children celebrating their achievements.
How children use their own ideas to develop play.
Give children time to try before intervening to support and guide them.
Create an atmosphere where achievement is valued.
Encourage children to solve problems, and support them by clarifying the problem with them.
Plan opportunities for children to take the initiative in their learning.
Provide means for children to keep track of, and share, their achievements.
Build on children's ideas to plan new experiences that present challenges.
Sense of Community
Make connections between different parts of their life experience.
Instances of children drawing upon their experiences beyond the setting, for example recognising that the lunchtime helper is somebody who lives near to them.
Encourage children to develop positive relationships with community members, such as firefighters who visit the setting.
A visit from the Community Support Officer - A Community Support Officer visits a local nursery, and talks with the children in the outdoor play area about his uniform and walkie talkie. [transcript]
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Provide activities and opportunities for children to share experiences and knowledge from different parts of their lives with each other.
Communication, Language and Literacy
Development matters
Look, listen and note
Effective practice
Planning and resourcing
Language for Communication
Use simple statements and questions often linked to gestures.
Use intonation, rhythm and phrasing to make their meaning clear to others.
Join in with repeated refrains and anticipate key events and phrases in rhymes and stories.
Listen to stories with increasing attention and recall.
Describe main story settings, events and principal characters.
Listen to others in one-to-one or small groups when conversation interests them.
Respond to simple instructions.
Question why things happen and give explanations.
Use vocabulary focused on objects and people that are of particular importance to them.
Begin to experiment with language describing possession.
Build up vocabulary that reflects the breadth of their experiences.
Begin to use more complex sentences.
Use a widening range of words to express or elaborate on ideas.
Understands use of objects, for example "What do we use to cut things with?".
Can identify picture or object with three critical elements, for example, 'big girl jumping'.
Shows understanding of prepositions such as 'under', 'on top', 'behind' and 'next to' by carrying out action or selecting correct picture.
Identifies objects by description, for example, 'the wet one' or 'the dirty one'.
Understands all pronouns: 'they', 'he', 'she', 'him', 'her'.
Uses words to: - give reasons; - say what they want; - play with others; - direct others; - tell others about things.
Can retell a simple past event in correct order, for example, went down slide, hurt finger and later can retell a simple story recalling events and characters.
Provides appropriate information in response to 'what' and 'where' questions.
Can give information about own life and favourite things.
Answers 'yes/no' questions appropriately.
Uses a range of tenses, for example, 'play', 'playing', 'will play' and 'played'.
Asks increasingly detailed questions to find out information.
Answers questions more fully, providing more than one piece of information.
Uses plurals, for example, 'cats'.
Uses possessives, for example, 'the boy's teddy'.
Knows when to wait while others are talking and can control the urge to butt in.
Realises the correct volume to talk at, not too loud or quiet.
Likes saying learned expressions such as name and age or address.
Sings on own.
The gestures and body language children use.
Children's responses to stories and information books you read with them.
How children act out rhymes and stories.
Instances of children recalling and recounting their own experiences and sharing them with others.
How children take account of what others say during one-to-one conversations.
Children's understanding of instructions and the questions they ask.
The range and variety of words that children use.
How children are beginning to develop and expand on what they say, for example, "Come in, it's time for dinner. You'll get hungry if you stay out there".
Children's developing use of a preferred language and whether this has changed since, for example, attending the current setting.
The different ways children answer "Yes", "No", "What?" and "Where?" questions. Do they provide appropriate information in response to different types of language?
How children begin to add grammatical markers to the ends of words to indicate verb tense, possession or plurality, for example, "Play", "Playing", "Played".
Examples of how children participate in group discussions. Can they wait for their turn while other people are talking?
Talk with children to make links between their gestures and words, for example, "Your face does look cross. Has something upset you?".
Support children in using a variety of communication strategies, including signing, where appropriate.
Listen to children and take account of what they say in your responses to them.
Choose stories with repeated refrains, dances and action songs involving looking and pointing, and songs that require replies and turn-taking such as 'Tommy Thumb'.
Share rhymes, books and stories from many cultures, sometimes using languages other than English, particularly where children are learning English as an additional language.
Give children clear directions and help them to deal with those involving more than one action, for example, "Put the cars away, please, then come and wash your hands and get ready for lunch".
When introducing a new activity, use mime and gesture to support language development. Showing children a photograph of an activity such as handwashing helps to reinforce understanding.
Provide practical experiences that encourage children to ask and respond to questions, for example, explaining pulleys or wet and dry sand.
Introduce new words in the context of play and activities.
Show interest in the words children use to communicate and describe their experiences.
Help children expand on what they say, introducing and reinforcing the use of more complex sentences.
Respond to children's requests and communication using language that gives descriptions and explanations.
Continue to share stories together and talk about the characters and events, including how characters might be feeling.
Collect photographs, leaflets, tickets and drawings of things your child has enjoyed or been involved with. Display them in scrapbooks or photograph albums that you can look through together, talking about what you did.
In the jungle - In a nursery class, the practitioner and a group of children explore ideas about the jungle through words and actions. [transcript]
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Encourage children to express their needs and feelings in words.
Provide opportunities for children whose home language is other than English, to use that language.
Find out from parents how children make themselves understood at home; confirm which is their preferred language.
Set up a listening area where children can enjoy rhymes and stories.
Introduce 'rhyme time' bags containing books to take home and involve parents in rhymes and singing games. Ask parents to record regional variations of songs and rhymes in other languages.
Introduce, alongside books, story props, such as pictures, puppets and objects, to encourage children to retell stories and to think about how the characters feel.
Help children to build their vocabulary by extending the range of their experiences.
Ensure that all practitioners use correct grammar.
The story tent - In a busy reception class, a child and a practitioner take a quiet moment to explore a book.[transcript]
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Language for Thinking
Talk activities through, reflecting on and modifying what they are doing.
Use talk to give new meanings to objects and actions, treating them as symbols for other things.
Use talk to connect ideas, explain what is happening and anticipate what might happen next.
Use talk, actions and objects to recall and relive past experiences.
How children use talk to think through and revise what they are doing. For example, following a farm visit, Fiona talks as she rearranges toy farm animals, "Put baby sheep here... oh no... no mummy... that sheep has lost its mum".
How children use talk to connect ideas and explain things.
Prompt children's thinking and discussion through involvement in their play.
Talk to children about what they have been doing and help them to reflect upon and explain events, for example, "You told me this model was going to be a tractor. What's this lever for?".
Set up shared experiences that children can reflect upon, for example, visits, cooking, or stories that can be re-enacted.
Help children to predict and order events coherently, by providing props and materials that encourage children to re-enact, using talk and action.
Linking Sounds and Letters
Enjoy rhyming and rhythmic activities.
Show awareness of rhyme and alliteration.
Recognise rhythm in spoken words.
Is able to follow directions (if not intently focused on own choice of activity).
Listens eagerly to stories and requests favourites over and over again.
Notices if adult uses wrong language in familiar story.
Concentrates and listens for more than ten minutes in adult-led activities that they enjoy.
Looks at books independently.
Takes part in 'reading' by filling in words and phrases.
Can remember three or four items shown on a list, for example, a picture shopping list of apples, oranges and bananas.
Can remember a spoken list of three objects or names (with no visual clues).
Speaks in longer sentences.
Shows interest in letter forms.
Can copy letter forms.
The rhymes and rhythms that children enjoy, recite and create in words and music, for example, tapping out the rhythms of their names.
How long children are able to listen to a story being read to them one-to-one or in a group of children.
Occasions when children express their enjoyment of stories and rhymes and how they participate as part of a group.
How many items children can remember when talking with an adult or looking at a picture book and talking about the things they see.
Ways in which children begin to combine more than one consonant sound together into consonant blends as their use of spoken language develops.
When singing or saying rhymes, talk about the similarities in the rhyming words. Make up alternative endings and encourage children to supply the last word of the second line, for example, 'Hickory Dickory boot, The mouse ran down the...'.
When making up alliterative jingles, draw attention to the similarities in sounds at the beginning of words and emphasise the initial sound, for example, "mmmmummy", "shshshshadow", "K-K-K-K-Katy".
Reading
Listen to and join in with stories and poems, one-to-one and also in small groups.
Begin to be aware of the way stories are structured.
Suggest how the story might end.
Show interest in illustrations and print in books and print in the environment.
Handle books carefully.
Know information can be relayed in the form of print.
Hold books the correct way up and turn pages.
Understand the concept of a word.
The stories and poems children choose and know how to follow. For example retelling a story, using words and phrases from a well-known story.
Children's familiarity with the way books work. For example, turning the pages and telling the story using the pictures and using phrases such as "Once upon a time".
Children's references to and understanding of how print works. For example, asking what a word says or what instructions mean.
Children's recognition of their names, or letters or words, in scripts other than English.
Encourage children to use the stories they hear in their play.
Discuss with children the characters in books being read. Encourage them to predict outcomes, to think of alternative endings and to compare plots and the feelings of characters with their own experiences.
Focus on meaningful print such as a child's name, words on a cereal packet or a book title, in order to discuss similarities and differences between symbols.
Help children to understand what a word is by using names and labels and by pointing out words in the environment and in books.
Read stories that children already know, pausing at intervals to encourage them to 'read' the next word.
Create an attractive book area where children and adults can enjoy books together.
Provide some simple poetry, song, fiction and non-fiction books. Include books containing photographs of the children that can be read by adults and that children can begin to 'read' by themselves.
Create an environment rich in print where children can learn about words, for example, using names and labels.
Introduce children to books and other materials that provide information or instructions. Carry out activities using instructions, such as reading a recipe to make a cake.
Ensure access to stories for all children by using a range of visual cues and story props.
Plan to include home language and bilingual story sessions by involving qualified bilingual adults, as well as enlisting the help of parents.
Writing
Sometimes give meaning to marks as they draw and paint.
Ascribe meanings to marks that they see in different places.
The marks children make and the meanings that they give to them, such as when a child covers a whole piece of paper and says, "I'm writing".
Reading a letter - In a nursery, a practitioner shares a letter with two children discussing the marks one child has made. [transcript]
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Make books with children of activities they have been doing, using photographs of them as illustrations.
Write poems and short stories with children, scribing for them.
Support children in recognising and writing their own names
Encourage the children to use their phonic knowledge when writing CVC words.
Provide activities during which children will experiment with writing, for example, leaving a message.
Include opportunities for writing during role-play and other activities.
Handwriting
Use one-handed tools and equipment.
Draw lines and circles using gross motor movements.
Manipulate objects with increasing control.
The way children control equipment and materials.
The marks children like to make.
Provide activities that give children the opportunity and motivation to practise manipulative skills, for example, cooking and playing instruments.
Provide opportunities for large shoulder movements, for example, swirling ribbons in the air, batting balls suspended on rope and painting.
Encourage children to make shapes like circles and zig-zags in the air and in their play, for example, with sand and water and brushes.
Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy
Development matters
Look, listen and note
Effective practice
Planning and resourcing
Numbers as Labels and for Counting
Use some number names and number language spontaneously.
Show curiosity about numbers by offering comments or asking questions.
Use some number names accurately in play.
Sometimes match number and quantity correctly.
Recognise groups with one, two or three objects.
Children knowing that different numbers have different names.
Children using the names for numbers accurately.
The range of numbers that children refer to, and why they use certain numbers.
Children's guesses about numbers of things and their ability to check them.
Accuracy in the use of ordinals (first, second, third and so on).
The strategies that children use to match number and quantity, for example, using fingers or tallying by making marks.
Use number language, for example, 'one', 'two', 'three', 'lots', 'hundreds', 'how many?' and 'count', in a variety of situations.
Model and encourage use of mathematical language by, for example, asking questions such as, "How many saucepans will fit on the shelf?".
Allow children to understand that one thing can be shared, for example, a pizza.
Getting ready to go out - In a reception class, the practitioner encourages children to locate their wellingtons by number and location. [transcript]
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Give children a reason to count, for example, by asking them to select enough wrist bands for three friends to play with the puppets.
Enable children to note the 'missing set', for example, "There are none left" when sharing things out.
Provide number labels for children to use, for example, by putting a number label on each bike and a corresponding number on each parking space.
Include counting money and change in role-play games.
Calculating
Compare two groups of objects, saying when they have the same number.
Show an interest in number problems.
Separate a group of three or four objects in different ways, beginning to recognise that the total is still the same.
The strategies children use that show they are working out whether a group of objects is the same or different.
How children work out a solution to a simple problem by using fingers or counting aloud.
Demonstrate language such as 'same as', 'less' or 'fewer'.
As you read number stories or rhymes, ask, for example, "How many will there be in the pool when one more frog jumps in?".
Use pictures and objects to illustrate counting songs, rhymes and number stories. This will benefit all children and be particularly supportive to children learning English as an additional language.
Create opportunities for children to separate objects into unequal groups as well as equal groups.
Provide story props that children can use in their play, for example, varieties of fruit and several baskets like Handa's in the story Handa's Surprise by Eileen Browne.
Shape, Space and Measures
Show an interest in shape and space by playing with shapes or making arrangements with objects.
Show awareness of similarities in shapes in the environment.
Observe and use positional language.
Are beginning to understand 'bigger than' and 'enough'.
Show interest in shape by sustained construction activity or by talking about shapes or arrangements.
Use shapes appropriately for tasks.
Begin to talk about the shapes of everyday objects.
Children's skills in matching shapes and in completing puzzles.
Children's recognition of shapes in the environment, for example, that a roof has a triangle at one end.
Children's ideas about why something is the correct size, for example, a piece of paper to wrap a gift.
How children apply their understanding of shape and space, for example, knowing they need one flat shape and one that is 'pointy'.
Children's use of mathematical names for shapes, such as 'circle' and 'triangle'.
Demonstrate the language for shape, position and measures in discussions, for example, 'ball shape', 'box shape', 'in', 'on', 'inside', 'under', 'longer', 'shorter', 'heavy', 'light', 'full' and 'empty'. Find out and use equivalent terms for these measures in home languages.
Encourage children to talk about the shapes they see and use and how they are arranged.
Value children's constructions by helping to display them or take photographs of them.
Organise the environment to foster shape matching, for example, pictures of different bricks on containers to show where they are kept.
Have large and small blocks and boxes available for construction both indoors and outdoors.
Play games involving children positioning themselves inside, behind, on top and so on.
Provide rich and varied opportunities for comparing length, weight and time.
Use stories such as Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins to talk about distance and stimulate discussion about non-standard units and the need for standard units.
Show pictures that have symmetry or pattern and talk to children about them.
A bed for a giant - In a reception class, the practitioner supports a child to solve problems by thinking about the size of a giant's bed, and helping him learn new skills about measuring. [transcript]
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Talking about a monster - In a reception class, the practitioner supports a child to talk about the features of his 'monster' using language such as long, tall, taller. [transcript]
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Knowledge and Understanding of the World
Development matters
Look, listen and note
Effective practice
Planning and resourcing
Exploration and Investigation
Show curiosity and interest in the features of objects and living things.
Describe and talk about what they see.
Show curiosity about why things happen and how things work.
Show understanding of cause/effect relations.
Displays curiosity about the world by looking intently at objects, events and people.
Gives reasons for own actions.
Understands consequences of own actions, for example, if cup is knocked over the juice is spilt or if I throw the toys Mum takes them away.
Shows awareness of danger, for example, is more careful on playground equipment.
Drawings become more identifiable, for example, draws a person with round shape for head and maybe two lines for legs.
Matches two or three primary colours (red, yellow, blue).
Matches objects by size.
Puts three pictures in correct order to represent sequence in familiar activity or story.
Understands concept of 'two', for example, can give two blocks when asked.
Can rote count to five.
Knows whether someone is a boy or girl, but might still be getting them confused.
Uses doll or teddy as partner in play, talking to it and telling it what to do next.
Uses one object to represent many different things, for example, a scarf could be a blanket, a cloak and a dress all during the same play sequence.
Imaginary play involves lots of detail and several linked actions such as getting undressed, bathed, dressed in nightclothes and having a bedtime drink.
Dresses up as different people.
Builds stories around toys, for example, farm animals climbing an armchair 'cliff' and having to be rescued.
Uses construction materials as a means to an end, for example, making road or house to be used as part of game, rather than as something simply to be explored.
Understands they have to share (for example, toys) but might not always be willing to do so.
Joins in make-believe play with other children.
Plays well with two to three children in a group.
How children examine objects and living things to find out more about them, for example, observing plants and animals, or noticing the different materials that things are made of.
How children express choices and preferences where verbal communication is through a language other than English.
How children give reasons for what they observe and reasons for their own actions.
How children use one object to represent many different things.
How children begin to use construction materials as a means to an end, for example, making a bridge for toy animals to cross.
Encourage and respond to children's signs of interest, and extend these through questions, discussions and further investigation.
Give additional support to children who are learning English as an additional language, through pictorial support, or from familiar adults who can interpret for them.
Continue to suggest different ways of using and combining toys and materials.
Use daily events and special treats, such as walking the dog or a birthday party, as the starting point for your shared play. This will help children act out and understand what they have experienced.
Use hide and seek or hunt the thimble games to build on children's curiosity, interest and anticipation of what might happen next.
When you are walking outside, ask children to look for particular people or objects. "Who can find… ?" games encourage children to explore the environment and to look out for special things.
Observe which are the children's favourite songs and rhymes and continue to use these, changing words around and inserting nonsense words.
Encourage finger rhymes and songs that include counting, for example 'One Potato, Two Potato, Three Potato, Four'.
Use the local area for exploring both the built and the natural environment.
Provide opportunities to observe things closely through a variety of means, including magnifiers and photographs.
Designing and Making
Investigate various construction materials.
Realise tools can be used for a purpose.
Join construction pieces together to build and balance.
Begin to try out a range of tools and techniques safely.
How children are using tools, for example, using a stick to make holes in dough.
How children link experiences and use their knowledge to design and make things.
Children's developing skills in using tools, including which tools they choose for particular tasks.
Introduce children to appropriate tools for different materials.
Provide a range of construction materials, including construction kits containing a variety of shapes, sizes and ways of joining, and support children in their use.
Provide ideas and stimuli for children, for example, photographs, books, visits and close observation of buildings.
Provide a range of tools, for example, scissors, hole punch, stapler, junior hacksaw, glue spreader, rolling pin, cutter, knife, grater, and encourage children to handle them carefully and use their correct names.
ICT
Know how to operate simple equipment.
The skills children develop as they become familiar with simple equipment, such as twisting or turning a knob.
Taking photographs - In a nursery school, a child explores using a digital camera, and a practitioner supports her in viewing and assessing the photos. [transcript]
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Draw young children's attention to pieces of ICT apparatus they see or that they use with adult supervision.
When out in the locality, ask children to help to press the button at the pelican crossing, or speak into an intercom to tell somebody you have come back to the setting.
Time
Remember and talk about significant events in their own experience.
Show interest in the lives of people familiar to them.
Talk about past and future events.
Develop an understanding of growth, decay and changes over time.
How children remember and recount a significant event, such as finding a dead jellyfish at the beach.
The comparisons children make about what they can do now with what they could do when they were younger.
Talk about and show interest in children's lives and experiences.
Use, and encourage children to use, the language of time in conversations, for example, 'past', 'now' and 'then'.
Encourage discussion of important events in the lives of people children know, such as their family.
Make books of events in settings, for example, summer fair, building a climbing frame, shopping expedition or learning about a festival.
Encourage role-play of events in children's lives.
Observe changes in the environment, for example, through the seasons or as a building extension is completed.
Plan time when children can discuss past events in their lives, such as what they did in the holidays or what happened when they went to have a splinter removed from their hand.
Ask parents to share photographs from home that show things such as a sunflower that their child took home from school in a pot, which has now grown taller than them.
Ensure the full participation of children learning English as an additional language by offering additional visual support and encouraging children to use their home language.
Place
Show an interest in the world in which they live.
Comment and ask questions about where they live and the natural world.
Children's interest in things they see while out for a walk.
The questions children ask about features of the built environment, such as road signs.
Arouse awareness of features of the environment in the setting and immediate local area, for example, make visits to shops or a park.
Introduce vocabulary to enable children to talk about their observations and to ask questions.
Encourage parents to provide vocabulary in their home language to support language development and reinforce understanding.
A treasure hunt - In the outdoor area of a reception class, the practitioner supports the children to explore the outside space, using pictures, clues and a map. [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.
Plan time for visits to the local area.
Provide play maps and small-world equipment for children to create their own environments.
Communities
Express feelings about a significant personal event.
Describe significant events for family or friends.
Enjoy imaginative and role-play with peers.
Show interest in different occupations and ways of life.
How children respond to a significant event, such as the birth of a baby or the death of a pet.
The ways children recall special events such as a wedding they have attended.
Introduce language that describes emotions, for example, 'sad', 'happy', 'angry' and 'lonely', in conversations when children express their feelings about special events.
Use group times to share events in children's lives.
Listen carefully and ask questions that show respect for children's individual contributions.
Explain the significance of special events to children.
Visit workplaces and invite people who work in the community to talk to children about their roles. Wherever possible encourage the challenging of strereotypes by, for example, using a male midwife or a female firefighter.
Plan time to listen to children wanting to talk about significant events and give them time to formulate thoughts and words to express feelings. Provide the support of adults who share languages other than English with children.
Provide ways of preserving memories of special events, for example, making a book, collecting photographs, tape recording, drawing and writing.
Invite children and families with experiences of living in other countries to bring in photographs and objects from their home cultures including those from family members living in different areas of the UK and abroad.
Physical Development
Development matters
Look, listen and note
Effective practice
Planning and resourcing
Movement and Space
Move freely with pleasure and confidence in a range of ways, such as slithering, shuffling, rolling, crawling, walking, running, jumping, skipping, sliding and hopping.
Use movement to express feelings.
Negotiate space successfully when playing racing and chasing games with other children, adjusting speed or changing direction to avoid obstacles.
Sit up, stand up and balance on various parts of the body.
Demonstrate the control necessary to hold a shape or fixed position.
Operate equipment by means of pushing and pulling movements.
Mount stairs, steps or climbing equipment using alternate feet.
Negotiate an appropriate pathway when walking, running or using a wheelchair or other mobility aids, both indoors and outdoors.
Judge body space in relation to spaces available when fitting into confined spaces or negotiating openings and boundaries.
Show respect for other children's personal space when playing among them.
Persevere in repeating some actions or attempts when developing a new skill.
Collaborate in devising and sharing tasks, including those which involve accepting rules.
Walks upstairs using alternating feet, one foot per step.
Walks downstairs, two feet to each step while carrying a toy.
Jumps down a single step.
Negotiates obstacles when running and pushing toys.
Walks backwards, forwards and sideways.
Walks forward on a straight line.
Rides tricycle using pedals.
Can walk on tiptoe.
Kicks ball forcibly.
Can stand momentarily on one foot when shown.
How children move enthusiastically, using their arms and legs in a spontaneous dance, or shaking their bodies in time to music, when they are sad, happy or excited.
Children's increasing confidence in what they can do and their enjoyment of physical activities.
Some of the strategies children find to avoid banging into one another, and objects, as they negotiate space.
Children's skill development, deciding if it is exploratory and experimental or repetitive, and whether they are ready for a new challenge.
Efforts to try something new and persevere at a skill.
The ideas that children suggest to make things 'fair'.
Children's developing confidence and competence walking up and down stairs.
Playing outdoors - In the outdoor area of a reception class, most of the children are involved in physical play and the practitioner joins in with a group who are pretending they are on boats. [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.
Teach skills which will help children to keep themselves safe, for example, responding rapidly to signals including visual signs and notes of music.
Encourage children to move with controlled effort, and use associated vocabulary such as 'strong', 'firm', 'gentle', 'heavy', 'stretch', 'reach', 'tense' and 'floppy'.
Use music to create moods and talk about how people move when they are sad, happy or cross.
Lead imaginative movement sessions based on children's current interests such as space travel, zoo animals or shadows.
Motivate children to be active through games such as follow the leader.
Talk about why children should take care when moving freely, and help them to remember some simple rules to remind them how to move about without endangering themselves or others.
Praise children's efforts when they consider others or collaborate in tasks.
Encourage children to persevere through praise, guidance or instruction when success is not immediate.
Use singing, music and movement games to reinforce understanding of different parts of the body and body positions. Try games such as 'Simon Says... ' and songs such as 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes' and 'If You're Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands'.
Begin to introduce the ideas of left and right. Use a sticker or a bangle to mark one hand.
Demonstrate how to move backwards and practise by dancing (try the 'Hokey-cokey'), holding hands and then reducing support.
Encourage children to jump off low steps into your arms and later on to the floor.
At this age, children may enjoy learning to walk along low walls or benches and jumping off the end. Give support to begin with but balance will improve with practice.
Play games that involve reaching up high to encourage children to stand on their toes. Challenge children to walk as quietly as possible on crinkly paper, leaves or pebbles. This also helps children to walk on tiptoe. You may need to hold hands initially but the children's balance will improve with practice.
Demonstrate how to push the pedals on a tricycle and encourage children to do this independently.
Plan opportunities for children to tackle a range of levels and surfaces including flat and hilly ground, grass, pebbles, asphalt, smooth floors and carpets.
Ensure that equipment is appropriate to the size and weight of children in the group and offers challenges to children at different levels of development.
Plan activities where children can move in different ways and at different speeds.
Provide balancing challenges, such as a straight or curved chalk line for children to follow.
Mark out boundaries for some activities, such as games involving wheeled toys or balls, so that children can more easily regulate their own activities.
Provide sufficient equipment for children to share, so that waiting to take turns does not spoil enjoyment.
Provide construction materials such as crates, blocks or boxes to create personal and shared spaces and dens.
Take photographs to put in a book about 'Me and the things I can do'.
Health and Bodily Awareness
Show awareness of own needs with regard to eating, sleeping and hygiene.
Often need adult support to meet those needs.
Show awareness of a range of healthy practices with regard to eating, sleeping and hygiene.
Observe the effects of activity on their bodies.
Feeding:
Eats individual pieces of food from tub or box with lid.
Able to blow, for example, candles or when cooling food.
Pours drink from jug with some spillage.
Eats with a fork and a spoon.
Beginning to use a knife for spreading.
Washing:
Helps wash self and own hair.
Helps dry self after washing.
Uses taps on hand basin.
Washes and dries own hands.
Turns taps on and off.
Brushes own teeth with help.
Blows nose when tissue is held up.
Toileting:
Asks for toilet using voice, gesture or action, for example, leads adult to toilet and asks verbally or makes a sign.
Mostly dry during the day with occasional accidents.
Usually able to control bowel with occasional accidents.
Pulls down own pants when using the toilet.
Flushes toilet with support.
Waits to be wiped after using toilet or potty.
Children's recognition of their own needs, such as when they tell you their lace is undone and need help to fasten it.
The ways children demonstrate understanding of healthy practices such as by saying they need a tissue, or putting a cup in the sink ready to be washed.
Children's understanding that they need a rest or a drink after a burst of activity.
Feeding:
Children's growing confidence using a range of different eating utensils.
How children pour liquid from a jug into cups.
Washing:
How children learn to wash and dry their own hands and face, including turning on the taps at a wash basin for themselves.
When children learn to blow their noses if a tissue is held up.
Toileting:
The different ways children ask for the toilet using voice, gestures or actions.
The pattern of children's learning as they become mostly dry during the day and later, reliably dry and clean.
How children behave in the toilet. Can they flush the toilet for themselves and do they wait to be wiped?
Talk to children about why you encourage them to rest when they are tired or why they need to wear wellingtons when it is muddy outdoors.
Create opportunities for moving towards independence, for example, have hand-washing facilities safely within reach, and support children in making healthy choices about the food they eat.
Encourage children to notice the changes in their bodies after exercise, such as their heart beating faster.
Provide a cosy place with a cushion and a soft light where a child can rest quietly if they need to.
Plan so that children can be active in a range of ways, including while using a wheelchair.
Be aware that physical activity is important in maintaining good health and in guarding against children becoming overweight or obese in later life.
Using Equipment and Materials
Engage in activities requiring hand-eye coordination.
Use one-handed tools and equipment.
Show increasing control over clothing and fastenings.
Show increasing control in using equipment for climbing, scrambling, sliding and swinging.
Demonstrate increasing skill and control in the use of mark-making implements, blocks, construction sets and small-world activities.
Understand that equipment and tools have to be used safely.
Can build tower of ten or more cubes.
Imitates making a train of cubes.
Threads large beads onto shoelace.
Cuts paper with scissors.
Holds pencil near point between first two fingers and thumb and uses it with good control.
Writes an 'X' form and a horizontal line.
Imitates drawing a circle.
Draws spontaneous and unrecognisable forms.
Draws person with head and one or two other features or parts.
