Have you ever been in the situation where you can not see your child for a few minutes in a busy shopping centre, camping near a river, at a park, playground or a festival? This is the time we need the children to understand risks by walking off from their parents, what happens how do…
Month: April 2015
Sand, Water, Sensory Play in Early Years
Sensory play is so important for children, Children love to get hands on with activities it allows them to create, innovate and use their imagination. Children learn about the world through their senses, their first response to sand and water is a sensuous one, they touch, pat, swirl, smell and stroke it, sometimes for very…
Understanding the World through Gardening in Early Years
Have you ever planted a tree with your child or tried to explain where fruit and vegetables come from. Most children believe it comes from a market, supermarket shelf or delivered to your door. Is that really where it comes from? Lets look at getting hands on and growing a plant to help them learn…
Early Years Mathematics at home
There are many ways to teach mathematical concepts in early years from showing shapes, counting numbers especially at home. Everyday we all use different numbers, patterns everyday from telephone numbers, house/apartment numbers, time and many more. Once the child can recognise a number it is important to relate it back to their experience. For e.g….
Expressive Art and Design in Early Years
Does your child play with their friends and imagine they are flying a rocket, driving a car, a princess in a castle, a teacher, nurse or doctor. This is the start of using expressive arts in early years. Many curriculums encourage this particular role play, expressing their imagination, emotions, communication and developing socially. Expressive arts…
Literacy in Early Years
My son always asks me, “Why are letters so important, Mummy?” This is a fair comment at his age; only a few words make sense when trying to read and even reading is still matching pictures, making out the sounds, recognising letters and developing words. When he reads to us he looks at the pictures and…
Teach a Child to Understand the World in Early Years
What an important life skill it is to understand the world in the early years. In the British curriculum this is a key area for EYFS defined as follows: Understanding the world involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places,…
Fine Motor Skills in Early Years
In the early years fine motor skills involve a refined use of the small muscles controlling the hand, fingers, and thumb. The development of these skills allows one to be able to complete tasks such as writing, drawing, and buttoning in there later years. Which are important to start developing in the early years. During…
Building Gross Motor Skills in Early Years
What is Gross motor skills and why is it so important you ask? Gross motor skills are the abilities usually acquired during infancy and early childhood as part of a child’s motor development. By the time they reach two years of age, almost all children are able to stand up, walk and run, walk up stairs, etc. These skills are built upon,…
Mathematics Foundations in Early Years
There are many ways children learn mathematics, in early years one of the most important areas is recognition of numbers, sorting and counting. This can be done through sorting colours, in number groups and using different themes. Developing children experiences and allowing them to use their senses whilst learning can be beneficial whether it be…
Sensory Play in Early Years
Children have a natural instinct to use their hands whether it be with sand, water, dirt, rice, dry pasta or other substance like play dough. Through many studies sensory play has been found to foster the development of many foundation areas of a child from; Language development With language through sensory play they are creating…
Early Years 