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]
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.
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.
Pirates's treasure - In a pre-school, a practitioner offers resources, questions and ideas to a child exploring 'pirates'.
[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.
Acknowledgements
Disclaimer
00012-2007CDO-EN