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  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.