The Early Years Foundation Stage: Setting the Standards for Learning, Development and Care for children from birth to five

• Give babies the experience of lying in different positions, for example, lying on their backs or on their tummies (while you are with them), sitting propped up and lying on their sides. Moving in different positions will make babies aware of the muscles in different parts of their body.
• Move babies' arms and legs around when playing to give them an awareness of movement.
• Lifting or turning the head is one of the first controlled movements that babies make. Encourage babies to lift their heads while lying on their tummies by:
  – talking to them from in front and above with your face close to theirs;
  – tickling or kissing them under their chins. Some babies find it easier to lift their heads if their arms are brought forward;
  – tickling or gently massaging the muscles on the back of their necks and upper bodies;
  – placing an activity mat or textured blanket underneath their chests.
• Encourage babies to turn their heads to each side by:
  – talking to them from different positions and taking their hands to your face;
  – varying the side you carry the babies on and encouraging them to turn towards your face and voice.
• Motivate babies to hold their head up while being carried upright at your shoulder by having someone behind talking to them or shaking a rattle to attract their attention.
• Gently massage babies to help them become more aware of their bodies.
• From two or three weeks of age, you can give babies an experience of movement in space by rocking them to give them a sense of motion in your arms or by carrying them in a sling so they experience your movement.
• As head and neck control becomes established, lifting babies through the air helps them develop their sense of position in space.
• Give babies the experience of lying on different surfaces, for example, on a soft bed and on a firmer floor.

Feeding:

• While holding a baby, introduce the teat of the bottle across the baby's cheek. This helps them to prepare for something coming towards their mouth. Young babies automatically turn to the side that has been stimulated. Let the teat rest gently on the baby's lips so that they can smell and taste the first drop of milk. Pause until the baby opens their mouth.
• Let babies know you are about to feed them by using consistent actions. Pause and wait to see if babies begin to anticipate the bottle by opening their mouths before the teat touches their lips.
• Later, say something like "milk time" and let them see you shaking the bottle when you're getting ready.
• When using a bottle, guide both of a baby's hands to hold the bottle when drinking. Gradually reduce the amount of support you give until they can support it independently. This also encourages their hands to work together. Bottles are easier to handle when not too full.
• When you begin spoon-feeding, use a plastic spoon with an easy grip. As babies begin to be able to grasp objects, let them hold a spoon and play with it, even when not feeding.
• Before you start, make sure you and the baby are comfortable and that you have everything you need to hand, for example, bib, cloths and kitchen paper. It's easier for babies to swallow in a sitting position, so sit with them on your knee if they have stable head control, or in a baby chair with enough support.
• Let babies have enough time to take the food off the spoon with their lips and palate so that they're in control of the speed of feeding until they become confident about feeding from a spoon.
• At first, babies push food out of their mouths, but with experience, they learn to swallow in a more co-ordinated way. They often splutter, spit or gag on food, but keep offering it in a calm and encouraging way. Try to leave a drop on their lips so that they have a taste of the food being offered.
• Make sure that all caregivers in your setting who feed children use the same approach.

Washing:

• Make washing routines as calm and cosy as possible. It's a time when you can awaken babies' sense of smell as well as awareness of their bodies. Use pleasant smelling baby bath products, and gently massage their skin using oils or lotions.

Changing nappies:

• Lie babies on a familiar surface such as a changing mat, soft towel or rug to change their nappies. This will help to build up a sense of security and routine.
• Make the routine pleasant and fun. Keep babies warm and comfortable. Change clothes and nappies in an unhurried way while gently talking to them about what you're doing.
• Follow the same sequence every time you remove or put on clothes to help babies anticipate what's going to happen next. Keep routines pleasant and unhurried so that babies enjoy these times with you.

Sleeping:

• Newborn babies' body clocks do not distinguish between day and night and are initially dependent on feeding routines. Longer periods of sleep come more easily as the result of familiar routines that stimulate babies during the day and are more calming at night.
• Try to tire babies during the day by being active and stimulating when they're awake, so that they begin to establish regular sleeping patterns at night.
• Use a calm and consistent routine to settle babies down for a nap during the day.

• Hang toys from a 'baby gym' frame just above babies' hands or legs so that they make accidental contact with the toys with their hands and feet when they move. Later, help them to pat and swipe the toys so that they start to do this by themselves.
• Encourage babies to naturally feel and experience the different textures they come into contact with during their everyday routines, for example, different mats, fleecy blankets, a wet sponge, a dry towel, their milk bottle. As babies discover their hands, they will start to finger familiar objects that they encounter, such as your bangle or a soft rattle in their cot.
• Bring a baby's hands together to encourage mutual finger play and to make them aware they have two hands.
• When babies' hands lie open, touch your finger on their finger tips (palm side). They will soon learn to curl their fingers deliberately around your finger and to hold it.
• Lie babies on their backs in cots or on the floor. Offer them a toy on their tummies or chests and help them to find and explore it with both hands. This is a helpful first step in finding objects.
• Help babies reach out to grasp sound-making and other toys.
• Provide plenty of opportunities to find out about different toys, by shaking a rattle, squeezing a squeaker, or ringing a bell. Use toys that are small and light enough for babies to hold and explore comfortably.
• Help babies to explore a flat surface and pat their hands on it, making a sound. Later, play clapping games to help them discover their hands.
• Encourage two-handed reach and play by offering babies their milk bottles, inviting them to reach and grasp with both hands.
• Give babies opportunities to feel toys with smaller parts such as teething rings to help develop their finger movements.
• Give babies ring rattles to hold with both hands and then transfer the toy from one hand to the other.
• Help babies to bang toys that make a sound or that produce a musical sound when a large key or button is pushed. Show them what happens when they press the button.
• Introduce finger games or rhymes such as 'This Little Piggy' or 'Tom Thumb' to help increase awareness of their hands and fingers.
• Place a cube on a table or tray surface. Guide the babies' hands along the surface until their first (index) or second finger touches the cube. Then let them pick it up. At first, they may scoop it into the palm, but gradually, they'll start to use their thumb when grasping.

• Babies love rough and tumble play, such as bouncing, rocking and swinging. Movement through space helps them establish balance and trunk control.
• When babies are lying on their tummies, encourage them to lift their heads and support their trunks on their elbows by talking to them or interesting them with a toy. Use a firm surface to give a good base to push against and support the movement effectively.
• Once babies can sit on your lap with minimal support, sit them on one knee while holding them with both hands around the hips and then lower down. Rock them gently from side to side to help them practise keeping their bodies straight. Do the same thing with them sitting along your thigh facing your other leg and rock them gently forwards and backwards. Gradually increase the size of the rock as their trunk control improves.
• Encourage babies to kick their legs by placing a sound-making toy at the base of their cot or under their legs.
• Many babies enjoy motion in an appropriate swing from the age of about six months.
• Put a few toys like sound balls on a mat with the babies. This encourages them to wriggle and move to pat the toys.
• To encourage rolling, place babies on their sides on a comfortable surface and encourage them to follow your voice, your face or a toy as it moves in the direction you want them to roll. Show them what you want them to do by gently rolling them so that they learn the pattern of movements required. Make sure they're helped and rewarded with a cuddle or the toy to play with. Repeat this with them lying on their back.
• Place babies in a sitting position on a firm surface, propped up with pillows. Show them how to support themselves using their hands and arms as props on the floor in front of them.
• Encourage babies to reach out for a toy or biscuit with one hand while sitting propped.
• Sit on the floor with a baby between your legs. Rock them gently from side to side (maybe singing a 'seesaw' song) and taking their hands to the floor to the side to show them how to save themselves.
• Begin to use action words to relate to body parts and actions. Say "Bend your legs" and "Push your arms". Say these words as you help babies use particular parts of their body, for example, when they're trying to crawl. With regular repetition, children begin to understand.
• Encourage children to begin to move around the room, rolling, bottom shuffling or commando crawling.
• To help with crawling, put babies into a crawling position so that their arms are straight and legs bent. Hold them round the middle and gently rock them from side to side and front to back to give the experience of the movement required and to develop balance.
• Once babies can support their weight on their arms and knees in a crawling position, encourage them to reach out with one hand and then the other. It takes most children several weeks from weight-bearing to mobility. Be aware that some children skip the crawling stage completely!
• Try placing children's legs in a crawling position and put your hands against the bottom of their feet. Their reaction will be to push against your hands and this will result in movement.

Feeding:

• Introduce small amounts of food with a new taste or texture and only increase the amount of food as a child becomes familiar with it.
• Try introducing finger foods by putting flavoured foods such as cream cheese or jam on to babies' fingers. At this stage, everything is taken to the mouth for exploration, so if it tastes good, they'll soon get the message and try other things. Finger foods which dissolve without much chewing can be introduced once solids are established.
• Let babies watch you as you prepare food so that they begin to associate smells, sounds and sights with the food you give them.
• Let babies play with safe kitchen equipment such as pans and spoons.
• When introducing new textures, start with foods you know a child likes. Leave some soft lumps in the food when you mash or purée it or add a few crumbs of food that will absorb the familiar flavour, such as soft grains of rice.
• Name the meals that you have at different points in the day, for example 'lunch' or 'tea' just before you start them.
• Once babies can use a high chair, include them in setting mealtimes. You may need to feed them first, but you can give them some finger foods on their tray so that they're involved in eating at the same time as everyone else. Let them hold a spare spoon while everyone else is eating.
• Encourage as much independence using a bottle as possible. You may, however, need to check the angle to prevent too much air being taken in.

Washing:

• Encourage cooperation in washing hands and faces at various points of the day, such as washing hands before meals and washing faces after eating.
• Give children a cloth to hold and encourage them to use it while you talk about what you're doing.

Changing nappies:

• When changing nappies, tell children when they've passed water or had a bowel motion so that by the time you're toilet training they'll know what you're asking them to do. Use simple words that everyone in your setting is comfortable with.

• Help babies to find a toy they are playing with when it slips out of their hand on a surface.
• Partly cover a toy with a cloth and help babies to pull off the cloth and find the toy underneath.
• Show babies how to knock two toys or objects together to make a banging sound, for example, two bricks.
• Put noise-making objects such as rattles in a metal container and shake the tin. This will motivate children to explore inside and remove the objects.
• Offer babies a box with objects of different sizes, textures and shapes. This will encourage them to reach inside and pull something out to use or play with.
• Offer toys with dials, knobs and switches to develop different hand movements, like pushing, pulling, turning and pressing.
• Offer a second object when babies are already holding one to encourage them to pass it to the other hand or to hold an object in each hand. Later, they may put the first object down.
• Use toys with a push button to encourage use of one finger at a time and pushing or poking with the index finger.
• When children start to practise releasing or throwing objects, show them where an object has fallen or attract their visual attention to it so that they learn where it has dropped.
• Show children how cause and effect toys work. These toys might, for example, require you to pull a string to make something happen or open a box to make the music start.
• Help children to take a single object out of a small container, such as a small rattle inside a toy saucepan.
• Show children how to use one object on another and to explore toys with two parts that pull apart. This might include a small container with a lid or construction blocks that click together.
• Introduce flexible cloth or plastic books with textures or flaps. Encourage children to turn pages after each page has been explored.
• As children begin to deliberately throw objects away, try to catch them and quickly give them back. Develop this into a 'give and take' game. Where toys or objects give an auditory or visual reward, for example, dropping a noisy toy into a shiny tin, develop games and ask "Where's it gone?".

• Hold children upright with a little weight on their legs and gently bounce them on your knee. You'll know when they're ready for this when they start to push down on your legs.
• Continue to give children the experience of standing, while you support them. Gradually allow them to take more weight on to their legs. At this stage children often enjoy bouncing while you hold them by the hands.
• When children are sitting on the floor, encourage them to lean round or lean over to reach a toy to increase trunk control and balance.
• Give experience of playing with toys on a low table to develop leg muscles for standing or scatter toys along a sofa so that children have to reach out to get them once they're standing.
• Encourage cruising (side-steps) around furniture by offering a favourite toy from a step or two away. Get other adults to call the child and encourage them to cruise along the sofa and reach them for a cuddle or song.
• Encourage walking forward with support by facing a child, holding both their hands (holding their arms straight in front at their shoulder level) and gently pulling them forward with gentle pressure on one side at a time, alternating from side to side. Call the child to you as you do this and reward them when they reach you.
• Use a sturdy and safe push-along toy as an alternative form of support.
• As balance improves, support children holding just one hand and as confidence grows, gradually release your grip a step or two away from some form of support to encourage the first independent steps.
• Encourage children to follow simple one-step directions to move their body by playing games and singing songs such as 'If You're Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands'.
• Help children to begin to explore steps and stairs - safety gates discourage unsupervised exploration but it's important to show children how this can be done safely as soon as a child is able to move independently.

Feeding:

• Encourage children to participate in eating routines in your setting by sitting them at a small table at snack time or telling them it's tea time and moving them towards a high chair.
• When children begin to use a spoon to scoop food, choose a bowl with a deep vertical side to give an edge to push food against. In the early stages it can be helpful to sit behind a child and guide their hand to scoop food. Do the first few scoops yourself if a child is very hungry to avoid frustration, then encourage them to use the spoon while they're still quite hungry. A favourite food will encourage children to use a spoon.
• This is a messy time and it's important that children are not discouraged from trying by anxiety over mess. A plastic mat on the floor is a good idea!
• Introduce a spouted cup with one handle.
• Give some finger foods in open-topped packets for children to pick out for themselves.
• Introduce open-topped cups and allow children time to play with them empty at mealtimes for some days before you use them. Start by using very small quantities of a drink children like. Sit them on your knee at the start of a meal when they're hungry and thirsty. Show children how to tip the cup to deliver liquid.
• Demonstrate how chunks of food can be speared with a fork and encourage children to try this for themselves.
• Put some favourite food inside a small carton or tub with a lid and show how to get at it.
• Ask children what they are going to eat and see if they can identify any food being prepared by smell or taste.
• Always tell children the name of the things they're eating.
• Help children tip a jug to pour out liquid. Practise this during play, pouring out sand or dry rice before moving on to water. Ladle spoonfuls of material into a container and then tip it out again.

Washing:

• Encourage children to wash their hands before and after meals and after messy play, using a hand basin.
• Show children how to rub hands with soap to get them clean and then how to rinse and dry them afterwards. It will be some time before they master this skill.
• Demonstrate how to brush hair and encourage children to brush yours as well.
• Encourage children to use the cold tap when using a hand basin. Talk about 'hot' and 'cold' and place the children's hands under the warm and cold taps while the water is running, to show the difference.
• Allow children to explore the plughole so that they understand that water flows out of the basin down the hole.

Toileting:

• Tell children what they've done when changing nappies to get them used to the language, using consistent words that you are comfortable with.
• Encourage children to hold and play with clean wipes while you're cleaning them and explain what they're for.
• Take your child with you to the door of the bathroom and tell them what you're doing so they realise everyone does this.
• Encourage children to explore a potty that you keep in the setting and talk to them about what it's for.
• In preparation for toilet training, get into the habit of taking children to the bathroom to change their nappy to give the message that this is the appropriate place for such activities.
• Ask children if they need changing (even when it's clear that they do) to encourage them to communicate their toileting needs.
• Encourage children to get involved in the disposing of nappies, by asking them to put them in the bin.
• Introduce the idea of good hygiene by explaining that you always wash hands after changing nappies or using the toilet.
• Use storybooks and toys to prepare children for toilet training. All their teddies and dollies need to go to the toilet too!

• Choose toys that require more complex movements to make them work and stronger and better coordinated finger movements, such as turning a stiffer knob or pressing individual buttons.
• Encourage individual finger use with toys that invite children to put fingers in small holes (such as a block with round slots and pegs). Taking small pegs from a board will encourage children to use their fingers. Encourage them to pick up small objects to develop their pincer grip (thumb and index finger).
• Put a number of small objects in a bag and encourage children to feel inside and pull the toys out.
• As building activities begin to interest children, show them how to stack one object on top of another, for example, put one brick on top of another and show them how to knock them down again so that they make a clatter. Take turns building and then knocking the bricks down.
• Encourage children to put objects back in their places as part of everyday life in your setting - put used cups in the sink, toys back in a play box, paper in a bin and so on.
• Children will develop coordination of hands and fingers as they explore the relationship between different containers and lids and learn to put a lid on a container.
• Introduce simple posting activities, for example, dropping a ball into a shoebox with a large hole. Later, children will enjoy posting smaller objects and learning how to rotate their forearm so they start to experience twisting of the wrist.
• Help children hammer pegs into a pegboard or play notes on a xylophone. This helps with the coordination needed to strike objects precisely.
• Children at this stage often enjoy putting bricks in a bucket and then taking them out again. Show children how to tip the bucket so that they all fall out.
• Play with water and show children how to pour water from a jug into a bowl.
• Introduce stacking toys and show children how to take rings off and put rings on.
• Make and cut out simple shapes from dough and draw shapes in the sand outside.
• Help children unwrap parcels, removing the wrapping paper.
• Introduce finger painting, making big, bright marks on paper. Cut potatoes together, to make potato prints.

• 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.

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.

• 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.

• 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.

• Match pictures with objects and play with pictures and objects that can be sorted into two groups by size, shape or colour. Socks (big ones for adults and small ones for children) or cutlery work well.
• Help children to develop their manual dexterity by showing them how to unwrap small objects covered in paper. Help them to use scissors, too – for example, to make collages from things you find outdoors together.
• Encourage children to enjoy scribbling using thick pens and paintbrushes. Some children will enjoy copying a line across or up and down a sheet of paper or copying a large circle.
• Show children how to make marks in dough and feel the marks they have made.