Development & Learning

Castle image

Children learn in different ways and all have different interests. I carefully plan the activities and resources for each individual child. I regularly carry out observations of the children playing and use these observations to plan the best possible learning opportunities using their individual interests. This may include having focuses such as a festival or important event e.g. Christmas, Easter, Chinese New Year or topics like 'numbers’, 'pirates' and ‘colours’.

All play activities are based on the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum for children aged between 0 and 5 years. This supports children in the six separate but interconnected areas of learning:

PERSONAL, SOCIAL & EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

I aim to help every child in my care develop positive attitudes and good behaviour. The children always remain the central focal point of my practice, and I provide each child with love, care and individual attention. Children are given time to talk and are listened to, offered praise and celebrate their success. I encourage them to share their toys and work together on activities.  The children are encouraged to develop a positive sense of their own self-identity and the identity of others; to further develop their social skills to include the difference between right and wrong; and to gain a positive attitude to learning. I aim to develop each child’s positive self-image by acknowledging and respecting their culture, and will reflect this where possible in the activities and themes provided; to encourage them to learn about relationships and how to respect themselves and others, and the importance of friendships. The children are supported to manage their own hygiene by washing their hands, independently using the toilet, being able to dress themselves and taking turns. Free choice is offered in many of their daily activities, which help the children to develop a positive disposition towards learning and provide opportunities to think about and practise ways of solving problems. In my setting, I care for both younger and older children, so I actively encourage the older ones to be good role models for the younger ones. I always reward positive behaviour and good manners with praise and encouragement.

COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE & LITERACY

I assist the children to explore using mark marking, to recognise their name and to improve their hand and eye coordination, which helps them to write when they are older. Children learn best through activities and experiences that engage all of their senses e.g. feely bags, a range of herbs from the garden, visual stimulation, songs, rhymes, music and dance all play a key role in the development of their language skills.  Through play the children in my setting will also begin to develop the skills needed for reading and writing. I offer a wide variety of resources, which help them to express their cognitive understanding, including mark making, drawing, modelling, reading and writing. I talk to every child both on a one-to-one basis and in small groups, helping to develop their communication skills and extending their vocabulary. I actively encourage the children to imagine, express themselves and recreate their daily experiences through their role-play. As they explore the different situations they will naturally improve their language skills through the use of social interaction, repetition and consolidation. Further opportunities are provided to allow them to interpret their experiences in drawing, early writing and painting, and by re-telling events of a personal significance to their family and friends.  I encourage the children to use alphabet, phonic and word games and to look for written language in the world around them. A love of books, stories, rhymes and poems will be encouraged through regular and varied story sessions and related activities as the children and I, read and enjoy stories and rhymes from books and tapes together. My book corner contains a wide range of books both reference and stories/pictures to encourage children to enjoy books and to become familiar with reading materials, and to gain an awareness of how to use and handle them appropriately.

PROBLEM SOLVING, REASONING AND NUMERACY

Counting is very much a fundamental part of our every day lives and it is incorporated into everything the children do. With children we naturally count steps when we climb the stairs, buttons on our coats or the number of grapes and blueberries on our plate at snack time without even thinking about it. We look for numbers and shapes while we are out and about, look at the traffic lights and anticipate what colour comes next and learn about money during visits to the local shops.  By providing a wide range of adult supported and child led activities the children will become familiar with sorting, matching, ordering, sequencing and counting activities which form the strong foundation for early mathematical development and understanding. The children will also learn about mathematical language, identifying objects by shape, size, position, number and volume. A range of songs, games and books with accompanying props will also be used to help the children’s awareness of number sequences and the use of simple mathematical understanding such as addition and subtraction. They will learn to become more comfortable with numbers and concepts such as “heavier”, “lighter”, “bigger than” “smaller than” etc.

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Most of a young child's life involves learning about the world around them. With this in mind, I encourage the children to examine and talk about how things work and question why things happen.  Every child enjoys exploring and finding out, asking questions about what they see, touch, feel and hear ‘what’s that?’ is a very familiar first question and this is usually followed by ‘why?’. I am totally committed to ensuring that every moment a child spends with me is explored to the full.  With this in mind, we are always investigating the natural world outside - experiencing the different seasons, observing creatures (feeding and helping to look after the tortoises), looking at the differences and similarities with how people look and live, watching plants and vegetables grow, examining objects, participating in exciting treasure hunts, enjoying yummy picnics and hunting for mini beasts and insects!  These exploring skills will be encouraged through a range of tools e.g. torches, magnifying glasses, scissors and gardening tools. The children will also work with a range of materials e.g. both wet and dry sand, coloured and clear liquids, compost, clay etc to find out ‘what happens if we do this’. The children will find out about past events in their lives and their families’ lives by seeing pictures of or examining artefacts such as toys and clothing, which their parents and grandparents may have used themselves. In my setting, the children will also gain an understanding about the endless opportunities for design through the use of a variety of materials and joining methods. They will learn about information gathering using a range of media such as books, maps, pictures, photographs, audio and visual reference material and by talking to visitors or going on group outings. There will also be lots of opportunities to expand their knowledge and learn about their own cultures and beliefs and experience those of others through different cultural festivals.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

As a Black Belt in Taekwon-do exercise is very important to me, and I actively promote a healthy lifestyle, which includes eating well, exercising and the importance to rest. The children will be encouraged to learn about the effects of activity upon their bodies and the need for a healthy lifestyle. They will learn and understand the positive benefits of being healthy and active in both indoor and outdoor environments.  The children and I enjoy going on walks and exploring our local environment. Children are provided with healthy balanced meals and are encouraged to spend regular time outside each day. We play in the garden, build dens, go on treasure hunts and enjoy sharing picnics! We visit the local park to climb, play on the swings and slide, run and play with balls. The children will learn to move with confidence; be able to control their bodies and how to handle equipment safely. A wide range of equipment will be available on a daily basis and the children will have access to the garden at all times. The children will be encouraged and given opportunities to develop a greater control over their body movements through the use of music, dance and action rhymes. Props such as balls, parachutes, streamers, scarves and balloons will be offered, and with each child’s improved control over their bodies comes increased spatial awareness e.g. moving around without bumping into something or someone. Simple vocabulary relating to movement will be incorporated into their play such as ‘jumping’ and ‘hopping’ etc. I will also encourage the children to develop their fine motor skills through the provision of a range of objects namely ‘small world’ toys, threading, construction sets, the manipulation of material such as play dough and the availability of pencils, pens, paintbrushes and other mark making equipment. The children are also encouraged to develop good hygiene practices such as washing hands before meals and after using the toilet. There is a rest period each day where children can nap or play quietly with books, puzzles or explore the treasure baskets.

CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Creativity is about experimenting and making simple connections, and is strongly linked to play. I have a passion for art and craft, and the children love to explore with art and craft activities, producing masterpieces for their proud parents! We draw, paint, construct, cut, stick and print on both small and large scales – the children are currently working on a collage of their real size body.  The children are encouraged to explore shape and colour, make things, dance and explore using their bodies, tell stories and make music using materials and media such as paints, crayons, scissors, sounds, words, movement, props and make believe. They are also encouraged to explore and share their thoughts, feelings and ideas through a wide variety of music, movement, art, dance, imaginative and role-play activities. The children in my setting love to dress up and create pretend worlds in both individual and group imaginative role-play. They enjoy singing songs and nursery rhymes, and are encouraged to join in and make their own music with a range of instruments.