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Trauma informed practice (11 mins video)

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Trauma informed practice (11 mins video)

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Sowing Seeds: Trauma Informed Practice for Anyone Working with Children and Young People

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This animation was developed by NHS Education for Scotland, in partnership with the Scottish Government. It is designed to be relevant to all workers within the Scottish workforce who work with children and young people. It aims to support staff to understand the impact of trauma and to know how to adapt the way they work to make a positive difference to the lives of children and young people affected by trauma. Consider also watching the NHS Education for Scotland animation “Opening Doors” https://vimeo.com/274703693 designed to support all workers within the Scottish workforce know how to adapt the way they work to make a positive difference to people affected by trauma and adversity. Trauma is everybody’s business.

A freely available workshop, Taking a Trauma Informed Lens to your Work: Sowing Seeds, can be accessed here: https://vimeo.com/412350123. This workshop guides you through how to use the animation to further support the strengthening and development of trauma informed practice within your own work and/or wider service/organisation.

For further information on the NTTP and all the available resources, please visit our website: https://www.traumatransformation.scot/

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Keeping children safe: Supporting transitions in ELC

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Keeping children safe: Supporting transitions in ELC

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Keeping children safe: Supporting trips and outings in ELC

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Keeping children safe: Supporting trips and outings in ELC

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Trauma in the workforce (9 mins video) - trigger warning, briefly talks about different types of abuse - you can skip first 1 min 30 seconds

# data[].attributes.subject
Trauma in the workforce (9 mins video) - trigger warning, briefly talks about different types of abuse - you can skip first 1 min 30 seconds

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Opening Doors: Trauma Informed Practice for the Workforce

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This animation was developed by NHS Education for Scotland, in partnership with the Scottish Government. It is designed to be relevant to all workers within the Scottish workforce. It aims to support workers to know how to adapt the way they work to make a positive difference to people affected by trauma and adversity. If you work with children and young people, consider also viewing “Sowing Seeds” https://vimeo.com/334642616  an animation created by  NHS Education for Scotland to support people to make a positive difference to the lives of children and young people affected by trauma. Trauma is everybody’s business.
A freely available workshop, Taking a Trauma Informed Lens to your Work: Opening Doors, can be accessed here: https://vimeo.com/411406138  This workshop guides you through how to use the animation to further support the strengthening and development of trauma informed practice within your own work and/or wider service/organisation.
For further information on the NTTP and all the available resources, please visit our website: https://www.traumatransformation.scot/

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Early years Scotland

https://earlyyearsscotland.org/podcast/

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10 Messy Play Ideas for Hands-On Learning | Famly

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10 messy play ideas to get children engaged in creative play as they enjoy new sensory experiences.

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As a parent or carer, it's easy to find plenty of resources about expected patterns of child development, like this example from an NHS trust.

The trouble is, without context, these linear progression models of what children should do when can be interpreted too literally. Parents and carers may believe that if their child doesn't meet every one of those milestones 'on schedule', something must be wrong. This is where your expertise and partnerships with parents and carers really come into play.

Sharing information about children's development with parents on an ongoing basis can reassure anxious parents that their child isn't falling behind and provide the best framework for support if they are.

‍

Explaining how we apply developmental milestones in early years settings

Parents who are new to early years settings may feel anxious about their child being assessed too much or fear they will be 'labelled' early on. You may also meet parents who prefer a lot of data or reporting on their child's development, so they can feel reassured that their child is 'on track'.

Finding out more about parents' expectations and explaining how you'll share how their child is doing is a key part of their induction into your setting. The settling-in period allows you to discuss with parents and carers how you record and support development in the early years.

The most important message to share about milestones, such as the observation checkpoints in Development Matters or the statements in the Developmental Pathways in the Curriculum for Wales, is that they are for guidance only.

Not meeting one statement or milestone 'on time' is not immediately a cause for concern as child development is unique to each child. Educators' expertise and knowledge of the children in their setting are what allow them to determine whether a child is making good progress, either in regard to their age or their starting points.

‍

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The message to share with parents: Your child's development is completely unique.

"Each child is unique, and while we can be guided by an understanding of some general patterns of development from pre-birth into early childhood, progression is uneven and unfolds differently for each individual child. The complex differences for each child mean the pathways toward maturity should be seen more as dancing around a ballroom than climbing a ladder."

Birth to 5 Matters Guidance, Early Education on behalf of the Early Years Coalition. ‍

‍

"It is important we understand that learning is not linear and that different children are likely to progress in markedly different ways. We must recognise this and allow for a variety of diversions, stops and spurts in a child's learning journey." ‍

A curriculum for funded non-maintained nursery settings, Education Wales ‍

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"The terms of 'when I am a baby', 'when I am a toddler' and 'when I am a young child' have been used to illustrate developmental needs over time - but these should not be seen as rigid lines of progression. All babies and young children develop their individual skills, knowledge and attributes at different rates according to who they are."

‍ Realising the ambition: Being Me National practice guidance for early years in Scotland

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What about assessment and tracking?

Parents can feel really anxious about the assessment of their child's development so reassure them that a conversation about their child's progress will never be a surprise. As you observe and interact with their child each day, you'll be sharing what you see with parents and carers, including any achievements or concerns. They won't receive an end-of-term assessment suddenly telling them their child is behind.

If you use a platform like Famly, ensure parents know where to find their child's observations and assessments, so they can feel informed about how things are going. If you're still paper-based, allow parents frequent access to their child's paper learning journal.

If you complete a baseline assessment when a child starts, ensure that parents have an opportunity to contribute, to lay the foundations for partnership working on assessment and development. This will help you to set the scene for parents and carers about how and why we assess in the early years. Inform parents that:

It is not a test

You're simply working with them to find out what their child is interested in, already knows, and has achieved

It's a collaborative process between you, them, and the child.

Assessments enable you to provide experiences to deepen their child's learning and help them progress.

And, whether you work to your own curriculum or use a statutory one, it's a good idea to share this with parents and carers too. Not only does this help contextualise the experiences you deliver in your setting, but it can also support parents with learning at home. The more transparent you can be, the more reassured and confident parents will be.

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The message to share with parents: Don't worry if you haven't received lots of assessment and tracking data - we're spending the time with your child.‍

"Assessment should not entail prolonged breaks from interaction with children, nor require excessive paperwork. When assessing whether an individual child is at the expected level of development, practitioners should draw on their knowledge of the child and their own expert professional judgement and should not be required to prove this through collection of physical evidence.

‍ Statutory guidance: Early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework

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"Assessment should not be a tick list or a one-off event. It should be a continuous process that is useful, manageable and purposeful, both to us and to children's progress. Assessment should be indistinguishable from teaching and learning."

‍ A curriculum for funded non-maintained nursery settings, Education Wales

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Supporting and sharing developmentally appropriate expectations

Whether your setting supports children under 5 to build fires and use tools, or sit in small groups for phonics practice, parents and carers will want to know how and why you deliver the education that you do.

Some parents may favour a more traditional, disciplined, "classroom" teaching style, so they might need some extra information from you about the importance of co-regulation and learning through play. Some parents may believe that pre-schoolers are too young for a structured curriculum, and so may need some more information about how teaching looks in the early years.

Sharing why provision, resources, activities, or approaches you use are developmentally appropriate shows parents the knowledge and thought behind the decisions you make. Building partnerships with parents through sharing why you do what you do for their unique child not only builds trust and respect but also helps parents to deliver developmentally-appropriate experiences at home too.

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The message to share with parents: Play is learning - there's no rush to the 'finish line' in terms of development.‍

"The guidance can help you check that children are secure in all the earlier steps of learning before you look at their 'age band'. Depth in learning matters much more than moving from one band to the next." ‍

Development Matters, Non-statutory curriculum guidance for the early years foundation stage. ‍

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"Play is essential for children's development, building their confidence as they learn to explore, relate to others, set their own goals and solve problems. Children learn by leading their own play, and by taking part in play which is guided by adults." ‍

Statutory guidance: Early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework ‍

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"Development is rapid from birth to age five, as babbling becomes conversation and as physical movements become increasingly more complex and sophisticated. It is important to value this period of time and to nurture the playfulness and curiosity of children. The temptation for us to rush through skills, knowledge and experiences can have an adverse effect on the next stages of learning. At every stage of development, we should remain focused on the present needs and not those of the coming year(s)." ‍
A curriculum for funded non-maintained nursery settings, Education Wales
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How can we work in partnership with parents to record and celebrate children's development?

No one knows the children in your setting better than their parents or carers, so embrace their knowledge right from the start. A thorough induction or settling-in process allows parents and carers to share:

What they know their child knows and can do

Their interests and things they particularly enjoy

Any areas of concern

Any already-identified areas of delay or diagnosed conditions that require special support

You could ask parents to complete an 'all about me' document and ensure there's time to speak in-depth about the child before their first session. Especially where special need or disability is already known, this gives you a fantastic opportunity to learn more about where the child is successful and where they need extra help.

However, sharing this information once, when a child first starts, is not enough. Parents should feel continually involved as partners in learning. At your setting, reflect on how well you're:

Encouraging parents to share their own observations of what children are doing outside of the setting, so they can add to their child's learning journey too.

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The message to share with parents: We're working with you, in partnership.

"Parents make a crucial difference to children's outcomes. Parents are children's first and most enduring educators"

‍ Birth to 5 Matters Guidance, Early Education on behalf of the Early Years Coalition.

‍

"Families are central to the child's learning at home and in their community, to their acquisition of skills, capacities and attributes. Therefore, it is essential that as practitioners we develop strong links with parents in shaping the curriculum" ‍

Realising the ambition: Being Me National practice guidance for early years in Scotland ‍

‍

"Building trusting relationships between the home and our setting, where we share the same aspirations for learning and development, nurtures children's well-being and sense of belonging. Recognising parents and carers as the child's first educator and valuing what they know about their child is vital not only for smooth transition from home to setting, but also for ongoing effective partnerships." ‍
A curriculum for funded non-maintained nursery settings, Education Wales

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How to talk to parents about child development | Famly

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Ongoing and transparent discussions with parents about how you support children to learn and develop are essential for partnership working.

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If you read social media comments or posts about working with young children, you may see blanket statements about what is appropriate or inappropriate for children. This implies that there's a one-size-fits-all definition of 'appropriate,' that you can apply simply by seeing activity instructions.

To unpack this issue, we need to address developmentally appropriate practice. How do we define it in early education, and what does it look like in practice? How does it meet the ground, in the day-to-day happenings of your child care program?

In this article, we'll start to unpack what developmentally appropriate practice means for you, and how you can apply it as an early childhood educator.

‍

‍

How to decide if an experience or activity is developmentally appropriate

Let's take an example. To make a decision about the appropriateness of a plan when you're working with children, you need to know more than just the steps to an activity, and what the final product should look like.

Here's what else is needed:

A deep knowledge of child development

A knowledge of how young children learn best

To be attuned to the individual children in your program

Typical developmental priorities of children of different ages

The individual skills, needs, and interests of the children in your care

Listed all at once, it may seem like a lot. But in practice, you'll find that this knowledge becomes second nature and reinforces every decision you make for your children.

When you have this knowledge, you can make developmentally appropriate decisions about how to engage more deeply with children. When you ensure that your expectations for children are based on how deeply you know them, and how deeply you understand development, your teaching will invite wonder, delight and exploration - and deeper learning.

‍

What do young children need from adults' plans for them?

Based on how children learn, they need:

Opportunities for movement
Research suggests that when children are allowed to move in many ways, it can increase memory, perception, language, attention and emotional regulation.

‍Sensory engagement
When children are able to engage with an activity or material using many senses, it builds neural pathways in the brain, which contributes to more complex learning.‍

Opportunities for repetition
Opportunities to repeat activities and use the same materials again and again strengthen neural connections. This increases the likelihood that concept development is achieved and extended and provides emotional comfort to children.‍

Respect for children's intrinsic motivation
When exploration is intrinsically motivated, children are more likely to deeply engage with materials and ideas, to stay with an activity for longer periods of time, and to retain information.‍

Ample opportunities for play
Children learn best when they are given time, space and freedom to play, and true play encompasses all of these considerations.

And don't forget, areas of development overlap each other.

Young children are never working on just one skill area or developmental domain - all areas of development are interrelated. A child exploring paint may be engaging their cognitive skills as they notice changes in the paint and experience cause and effect, engaging their language skills by talking to a peer or teacher about what they see or what they want to try, and engaging their physical skills by holding and manipulating the brush.

‍

‍

DAP means understanding children's individual skills, needs and interests

Developmentally appropriate practice means we can't rely on blanket statements to make decisions. As an educator, you have to consider: what do you need to know about the individual children in your group?

Here are a few key factors that should determine your DAP decision-making:

Children's interests
We can gather information about what individual children are interested in (and therefore curious about) by observing how they play, looking for themes in the materials they choose or their conversation topics, talking with and listening to their families, and asking them.‍

Unique approaches to learning
Which child is comfortable with new experiences and initiating exploration? Which child relies on the opportunity to watch for a while before trusting the activity or exploration materials? Which child may need to have access to the materials long after the rest of the group has moved on?‍

Individual abilities
Which child's sensory processes require extra consideration? Will the child who uses a wheelchair be able to join in at a table exploration? Will the child who uses AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) tools and strategies be able to fully participate in discussion?‍

Giving children choices
Will each individual child have autonomy over their activities and bodies during the planned activity?

‍

‍

An example of DAP in practice: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Let's explore an example from my own work as an educator.

Next week, the four-year-olds and I will be reading and exploring the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault. Of course, I hope that the experiences and materials we make available to the children support their development and learning, but most important to me is that my decisions and plans honour their humanity, their childhood - and that they provide space for delight and wonder.

A cursory internet search for " Chicka Chicka Boom Boom preschool activities" gives me quite a list of ideas-colouring pages, felt figures for retelling the story, filling in a coconut tree with bingo dot painters-but none of them seem to offer much depth of learning or opportunities for delight and wonder.

One of the ways that I can think about opportunities that would offer deeper, more delightful experiences is to apply what I know about developmentally appropriate practice to my planning. Using the bullet points I've listed above, here are some of the opportunities I invited children to explore:

I looked around my classroom and thought about how I could authentically reinforce vocabulary from the story in a way that might be new to some of us. Instead of colouring or paint dotting a coconut tree, we will have A LOT of real "coconuts." When I am writing their dictated stories, notes for my co-teacher, texts to families, I will talk about using the "alphabet." When I move up and down to reach things or get to the floor to play, I will talk about "stooping."

I know that when children and adults play together with sounds and rhythms, it strengthens the foundation for future literacy learning. So I will find ways to add "skit skat skoodle doot" to our transitions. I will incorporate lots of time to "wiggle jiggle free." I will be sure that I can read the story to them all in such a way that it flows freely and sounds natural and fun.

I will make sure I have gloves for Trev, who will definitely not like touching the rough, hairy surface of a coconut but will still want to explore it.

I will make sure that Maitlen's wheelchair can get close enough to the sensory tub that she can join in alongside the others to play with the pieces of chopped coconut.

We will use real tools (hammers, cheese graters, coconut openers) to explore every bit of a coconut.

To make sure we have lots of opportunities for children to move their whole bodies while exploring a coconut, we will use coconuts for bowling, and roll them through paint in large, shallow boxes that allow for whole body engagement.

I will take photos of it all, and display them, along with explanations of what skills and concepts are being addressed by each experience, so that the adults around me also have a learning opportunity.

It would be much easier for me to simply pull a "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" theme box off the shelf and plug in the same colouring pages, felt board shapes, torn construction paper and glue coconut tree collage materials that were used last year.

It would be easy for me to plan for my imaginary ideal of a preschool child, instead of for the varied skills, priorities and experience levels of real-life children in my classroom. But focusing on what's easy for me to plan and implement does the children in my care an injustice.

My plans and actions will be more meaningful and effective because I have relied on the aspects of developmentally appropriate practice I've discussed in this article. The children deserve thoughtful and skillful intention from me.

They deserve a respectful, appropriate early care and education experience.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Developmentally appropriate practice in the early years

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Early childhood education professor, Heather Bernt-Santy, reflects on developmentally appropriate practice and how we can implement it in our settings

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
If you read social media comments or posts about working with young children, you may see blanket statements about what is appropriate or inappropriate for children. This implies that there's a one-size-fits-all definition of 'appropriate,' that you can apply simply by seeing activity instructions.

To unpack this issue, we need to address developmentally appropriate practice. How do we define it in early education, and what does it look like in practice? How does it meet the ground, in the day-to-day happenings of your child care program?

In this article, we'll start to unpack what developmentally appropriate practice means for you, and how you can apply it as an early childhood educator.

‍

‍

How to decide if an experience or activity is developmentally appropriate

Let's take an example. To make a decision about the appropriateness of a plan when you're working with children, you need to know more than just the steps to an activity, and what the final product should look like.

Here's what else is needed:

A deep knowledge of child development

A knowledge of how young children learn best

To be attuned to the individual children in your program

Typical developmental priorities of children of different ages

The individual skills, needs, and interests of the children in your care

Listed all at once, it may seem like a lot. But in practice, you'll find that this knowledge becomes second nature and reinforces every decision you make for your children.

When you have this knowledge, you can make developmentally appropriate decisions about how to engage more deeply with children. When you ensure that your expectations for children are based on how deeply you know them, and how deeply you understand development, your teaching will invite wonder, delight and exploration - and deeper learning.

‍

What do young children need from adults' plans for them?

Based on how children learn, they need:

Opportunities for movement
Research suggests that when children are allowed to move in many ways, it can increase memory, perception, language, attention and emotional regulation.

‍Sensory engagement
When children are able to engage with an activity or material using many senses, it builds neural pathways in the brain, which contributes to more complex learning.‍

Opportunities for repetition
Opportunities to repeat activities and use the same materials again and again strengthen neural connections. This increases the likelihood that concept development is achieved and extended and provides emotional comfort to children.‍

Respect for children's intrinsic motivation
When exploration is intrinsically motivated, children are more likely to deeply engage with materials and ideas, to stay with an activity for longer periods of time, and to retain information.‍

Ample opportunities for play
Children learn best when they are given time, space and freedom to play, and true play encompasses all of these considerations.

And don't forget, areas of development overlap each other.

Young children are never working on just one skill area or developmental domain - all areas of development are interrelated. A child exploring paint may be engaging their cognitive skills as they notice changes in the paint and experience cause and effect, engaging their language skills by talking to a peer or teacher about what they see or what they want to try, and engaging their physical skills by holding and manipulating the brush.

‍

‍

DAP means understanding children's individual skills, needs and interests

Developmentally appropriate practice means we can't rely on blanket statements to make decisions. As an educator, you have to consider: what do you need to know about the individual children in your group?

Here are a few key factors that should determine your DAP decision-making:

Children's interests
We can gather information about what individual children are interested in (and therefore curious about) by observing how they play, looking for themes in the materials they choose or their conversation topics, talking with and listening to their families, and asking them.‍

Unique approaches to learning
Which child is comfortable with new experiences and initiating exploration? Which child relies on the opportunity to watch for a while before trusting the activity or exploration materials? Which child may need to have access to the materials long after the rest of the group has moved on?‍

Individual abilities
Which child's sensory processes require extra consideration? Will the child who uses a wheelchair be able to join in at a table exploration? Will the child who uses AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) tools and strategies be able to fully participate in discussion?‍

Giving children choices
Will each individual child have autonomy over their activities and bodies during the planned activity?

‍

‍

An example of DAP in practice: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Let's explore an example from my own work as an educator.

Next week, the four-year-olds and I will be reading and exploring the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault. Of course, I hope that the experiences and materials we make available to the children support their development and learning, but most important to me is that my decisions and plans honour their humanity, their childhood - and that they provide space for delight and wonder.

A cursory internet search for " Chicka Chicka Boom Boom preschool activities" gives me quite a list of ideas-colouring pages, felt figures for retelling the story, filling in a coconut tree with bingo dot painters-but none of them seem to offer much depth of learning or opportunities for delight and wonder.

One of the ways that I can think about opportunities that would offer deeper, more delightful experiences is to apply what I know about developmentally appropriate practice to my planning. Using the bullet points I've listed above, here are some of the opportunities I invited children to explore:

I looked around my classroom and thought about how I could authentically reinforce vocabulary from the story in a way that might be new to some of us. Instead of colouring or paint dotting a coconut tree, we will have A LOT of real "coconuts." When I am writing their dictated stories, notes for my co-teacher, texts to families, I will talk about using the "alphabet." When I move up and down to reach things or get to the floor to play, I will talk about "stooping."

I know that when children and adults play together with sounds and rhythms, it strengthens the foundation for future literacy learning. So I will find ways to add "skit skat skoodle doot" to our transitions. I will incorporate lots of time to "wiggle jiggle free." I will be sure that I can read the story to them all in such a way that it flows freely and sounds natural and fun.

I will make sure I have gloves for Trev, who will definitely not like touching the rough, hairy surface of a coconut but will still want to explore it.

I will make sure that Maitlen's wheelchair can get close enough to the sensory tub that she can join in alongside the others to play with the pieces of chopped coconut.

We will use real tools (hammers, cheese graters, coconut openers) to explore every bit of a coconut.

To make sure we have lots of opportunities for children to move their whole bodies while exploring a coconut, we will use coconuts for bowling, and roll them through paint in large, shallow boxes that allow for whole body engagement.

I will take photos of it all, and display them, along with explanations of what skills and concepts are being addressed by each experience, so that the adults around me also have a learning opportunity.

It would be much easier for me to simply pull a "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" theme box off the shelf and plug in the same colouring pages, felt board shapes, torn construction paper and glue coconut tree collage materials that were used last year.

It would be easy for me to plan for my imaginary ideal of a preschool child, instead of for the varied skills, priorities and experience levels of real-life children in my classroom. But focusing on what's easy for me to plan and implement does the children in my care an injustice.

My plans and actions will be more meaningful and effective because I have relied on the aspects of developmentally appropriate practice I've discussed in this article. The children deserve thoughtful and skillful intention from me.

They deserve a respectful, appropriate early care and education experience.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Developmentally appropriate practice in the early years

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Early childhood education professor, Heather Bernt-Santy, reflects on developmentally appropriate practice and how we can implement it in our settings

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The activity habits that we develop in early childhood matter. What children learn about healthy eating, physical exercise, our relationship with the outdoors - they all form the basis for a child's whole lifestyle, in the short- and long-term.

But is that all that outdoor play and learning is about in the Early Years? Not exactly. As well as providing the perfect backdrop for physical activity, spending time outdoors has been shown to positively affect your mood, lower stress, blood pressure and heart rates.

We've known about many of these crucial benefits to outdoor learning in the EYFS for some time now. But there's one slightly new reason why it might be time to brush up how you're approaching the EYFS outdoors...

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Why are we focusing on outdoor learning now?

Covid-19 has led to more than one drastic change to the way we do things in the Early Years. A pivot to more outdoor learning may just be one of the most positive.

But that's not all. Department for Education (DfE) guidance suggests that we risk-assess activities and resources and 'keep windows open as far as possible to ensure ventilation and...use outdoor areas as much as possible"

All in, it's time we start planning to be enabling a significant deal more of the EYFS outdoors.

Planning more fresh air fun

Of course, there are many things to take into consideration when planning for outdoor learning, including the fickle UK weather. Most importantly though, we need to consider how we provide opportunities and teaching possibilities to cover all seven areas of learning and development outdoors, as well as opportunities for children to build those all-important Characteristics of Effective Learning skills for life too.

These are present as children actively learn through applying their own ideas and first-hand experiences of the world, show curiosity, play and explore, as well as take chances to create and think critically about the outdoor area (and the world) they're exploring.

With that in mind, here are 38 ideas, broken up into the different EYFS areas, to help you plan for bring the EYFS outdoors.

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1. The Early Years outdoors: Personal, social, and emotional development ideas

Try low-level experiences for babies and young children, like using old tyres as a sturdy base for investigations - they could be a holder for a washing-up bowl for water play or a planter for herbs to investigate with their key person.

Wind chimes and windsocks, old CDs, and other objects suspended from a tree branch make interesting things for babies and young children to watch and adults to key into cues.

Parachute games can help form good relationships as children play with others.

Provide small reading nooks for children to explore books independently or for storytimes in small groups.

Children love songs and rhymes and they work just as well inside as outside - try them out in your new environment.

Make print available outdoors - laminated words reflecting children's home languages or perhaps a 'recipe sheet' or 'menu' for your mud kitchen!

Consider how babies can safely explore outdoors. For example, you could use a large sheet to facilitate tummy time, and chances to learn to crawl, creep and walk. Don't forget your risk-assessments!

Make instruments or have 'Wake up shake up' sessions to further explore movement, giving children free rein to move and dance. Dance with ribbons and scarves to encourage gross motor skills, crossing the midline and bi-lateral movements.

Provide natural resources for the children to help build an assault course outside.

Sweeping brushes and other tools can help develop more physical skills. Large-scale mark-making can be done with chalks or water and large brushes on the floor or a large piece of paper.

Share your favourite books and stories in a new setting.

Watch the clouds, talking about the various shapes you can see (like a dragon or The Gruffalo). Add to the children's word bank by talking through the different types of clouds and their shapes.

Make your own stories - try a 'magic carpet' where each child adds something to the story and you recap as you go. For example, they can choose characters, where they are going, what adventures they will have and so on. This can be done with a large piece of paper too so that the children can draw, practise their emergent writing and you can scribe to capture their thoughts.

Try out the same songs and rhymes that cover important mathematical ideas from indoors.

Provide items in a range of sizes, weights and textures. Talk about the size of things such as a "big book" or "small book". You can try providing treasure basket and heuristic play outdoors on a dry day too. Great for fine-motor skills too!

Collect natural treasures to count (pine cones, leaves, shells, and rocks), sort into sizes, even or uneven groups, divide to share them with a friend, categorise, sequence - the list is endless!

Large dice can be rolled to explore numbers, add spots from two dice, decide which is the largest or smallest number (or perhaps they are "the same"?)

Laminate photos of children and their families, perhaps babies and toddlers can select photos of their own family from a small collection to have in the outdoor space.

It might be possible for small groups to go for walks in the local community, perhaps to fruit pick or learn more about the local shops, places of worship, road signs and other environmental print. You can take photos of the different types of print you see to make a display or book too!

Explore the seasons by planting seeds, growing food in planters or grow bags, and talk children through life cycles and other important natural processes.

Create story boxes and story sacks to spark creativity.

Create a stage (this could be a chalked or taped off area or made from decking or crates) for children to recreate stories, make up plays or puppet and dance shows.

Provide an arts area for children to explore various media - the outdoors brings a hue of natural colours for extra inspiration.

Provide clipboards and pencils to inspire children to write and draw plans (Maybe they want to use them in the construction area or you might be planning to create a Bugingham Place or Nectar Café)?

Provide windmills and bubbles and see how they interact with the changing world outside.

Bug hunts or treasure hunts are a great idea - How many natural objects can they find to fit into a small box? Can they find something starting with 'sssss'?

Discuss your shadow - Why does your shadow look small sometimes and longer at others? Is your shadow in front or behind you? Draw around your shadow at different times of the day and see if the children can track the time.

Explore volume and capacity - try making a weighing scale using a coat hanger and small buckets - and then provide objects and resources to weigh so children can hypothesise how many lighter objects it will take to weigh the same as a heavier object? Explore how many small cups of water might it take to fill a bucket or other experiments with volumes.

Use large 2D shapes on the floor, and let children interact with them - can children jump from a triangle to the square, for example?

Try sound or sensory walks as you explore your outside space.

First-hand experiences of the weather, seasons and world are in abundance outdoors. Factual books might extend this too!

Children could write for a purpose, taking orders from customers in their café, or you could display open and closed signs to promote print in the outdoors environment.

Consider nooks and shaded areas for play and rest too.

Listen to the sounds - birds, bees, aeroplanes, cars, and emergency service sirens- and talk about what is making them. Conversations about the weather are a fantastic opportunity to extend language, talking about the wind 'blowing', 'swishing' and so on.

Make puppets and use them, thinking about how you will provide role-play outside like a garden centre or car wash, for example.

Sometimes providing a narrative can help support learning in nature, talking about what children are doing "jumping up and down" or "splish splash" (as they jump in puddles).

Construction with crates, loose parts, planks, large blocks, and other natural materials are great for physical development and problem-solving.

The outdoors is also a great opportunity to build relationships in key person groups too.

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2. Outdoor Early Learning: Communication and language ideas

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3. Outdoor play in the Early Years: Physical development ideas

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4. The EYFS Outdoors: Literacy ideas

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5. Outdoor learning and play: Amazing mathematics ideas

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6. EYFS outdoor activities: great ideas for understanding the world

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7. EYFS Outdoor learning and play: Creative ideas for Expressive Arts and design

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The EYFS Outdoors: 38 Outdoor Learning Activities | Famly

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Sue Asquith explains why COVID-19 makes it more important than ever to take the EYFS Outdoors - plus 38 early outdoor learning activities to try.

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How singing songs makes easy transitions in early education

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Here’s how to make your own little song for any occasion.

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The Window Of Tolerance (edited version of our original 2018 video)

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If you've ever felt like you're bad at singing, this next song's for you.

Lots of us grew up with the idea that we're bad at singing. As adults, we're shy about it. You might feel like you shouldn't sing, or that you should at least give a disclaimer beforehand. And if that's the case, it can be frustrating to read blog articles about how great singing is for children's brain development, or how it helps them handle daily transitions.

What use is that knowledge if you don't feel comfortable singing in the first place?

The good news is, all of us can sing. Embracing that just requires you to see that there's a lot more to singing than delivering Beyoncé-level vocals.

Luckily, there's no better place to do that than a room full of toddlers.

Zoë Challenor, the founder and director of B'Opera, directs singing workshops for babies, toddlers and educators. As a classically-trained vocalist, she's got years of experience performing for both grown-ups and young children. She says babies are the better audience.

"They're so much nicer than adults," she laughs. "The Early Years is not a judgmental age group. There's just something so lovely about singing to an audience that is truly listening, without any notion of judgment and criticism."

So how can we take a page from children's songbooks, and learn to sing without apology? How can we quit worrying about whether we're good at singing, and just focus on how to have fun with it?

That starts with thinking about singing as play, not performance.

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Who said we've got to be 'good' at singing, anyway?

By the standards of the Cambridge Opera Journal, most three-year-olds aren't 'good' singers. But they're probably having more fun singing than any adult in the room.

In that sense, children have a more open-minded understanding of singing than most grown-ups. They see singing as a form of play, removed from any self-criticism or second-guessing. If we can follow their example, it's easier to shed our own reservations about our singing voices.

"Stop thinking about singing as a way to make music, and instead think about it as a way to build community. Singing creates fun, joyful interactions, in a playful way that children appreciate," explains Dr. Wendy Sims, who studies singing in early education at the University of Missouri School of Music.

For a grown-up, real-world example of how this works, you could look at chants at a sports stadium. Nobody's too concerned about delivering a sparkling choral performance there. Instead, it's clear that the shared experience, that sense of togetherness, is the point of singing.

Early education is the perfect environment to rethink your relationship to singing. We've just got to follow children's example, in their willingness to experiment with song, and enjoy the shared experience that comes from that. Professor Graham Welch, Chair of Music Education at University College London, says this element of playfulness is essential.
Why there's just no substitute for singing
There's something about singing that connects with young ears like nothing else.

In the scope of this article, we can't cover all the developmental benefits of singing for children. If you're looking to learn more on that, you might check out the Zero to Three Foundation. The thing is, these benefits just don't bloom in the same way with recorded music.

Here's what makes that shared experience of singing unique:

Singing builds community. Singing allows everyone to work toward a common goal, and to feel the shared excitement of building a song together. That song, whatever it may be, is yours - and that's something to be proud of. That sense of ownership and creativity is hard to recreate with recorded music.

Children are hardwired to like singing. As we've explored before, young brains are naturally inclined to enjoy bouncy, sing-song voices. It's soothing and attention-grabbing, in part because of the eye contact and facial expressions you get from singing.

Singing lets you experiment, and to trust each other. There's an aspect of singing that requires you to take a creative risk, and to be a little bit vulnerable. That can seem scary - but overcoming it builds a sense of trust that you just can't get from Spotify.

Making the effort to sing with children is worth it. You don't need to belt out an operetta for them, either - you can weave songs into the real-life, day-to-day doings of your early education setting. Maybe that's a tune for clean-up time, or a little vocal activity you share during circle time.

Let's look at more ways to do that just below.

Learning to play with your voice

Unlearning a lifetime of sing-shyness takes time. But if you'd like to take some baby steps, it's helpful to just play with your voice.

For starters, it's best to just get comfortable with different ways to project our voice, and to share that with others. You don't have to worry about whether you're good at singing or not - just that you're trying something new.

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You can try these activities yourself, but they're also great to do as a group with children.

Make some sound effects. What sound does a cow make? What about the wind in the trees? What about a really, really loud cow? Storytime is a perfect opportunity to play around with these sounds.

Trace a line with your voice. Draw a wiggly line on a sheet of paper, and follow the line with your finger, raising the pitch of your voice up and down with the rise and fall of your line. You could also spell your name with your finger, and use the pitch or volume of your voice to match the motion of your finger.

Say a sentence in five different ways, or a word in ten different ways. Play around with your tone, your pitch, or which syllables you emphasize. You can go around in a circle and take turns as a class. If it devolves into silliness, good! That's fun, and there's no wrong way to sing.

Say a word looooonger, Louder! or quieter than usual. We use our voices expressively all the time anyway - where's the boundary between singing and fancy talk? You might take turns doing this with a vocabulary word of the week, or with your names.

Get to know your face muscles. Do a big yawn like a lion, or scrunch your face up teeny like a mouse! Then, give your jaw and cheek muscles a little massage. Playing with our facial muscles and expressions is a great way to warm up for singing, and an easy opportunity to make noises along the way.

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Best practices for singing with children

If you're just starting out with bringing singing into your classroom, you may as well pick up a couple good habits from the get-go. Here are three tips to keep in mind as you start singing with children:

1. Don't say you're bad at singing. Children learn what we model for them, whether or not we intend to teach it. If you say you're not a good singer, or act shy and apologetic about singing, children will learn that it's something to be insecure about. Remember, children don't care how you're singing - what's important is that you're sharing the experience together.

2. Explore songs from children's home cultures. You could reach out to parents to ask for simple songs to try, or to share an example of how communities use song in different cultures. Not only does this help form stronger bonds with families, but it also gives you a bigger library of songs and musical traditions that reflect the children in your care.

3. Think of singing as a teaching tool, not a performance. As Zoë Challenor explains, "it's not about what you sing, but the intention behind your singing. What feeling, or what experience, do you want to give to children through song? That might be love, soothing, or a sense of togetherness," she says. "With young children, they're not thinking about whether you're 'good' or 'bad.' It just matters that you're trying."

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Sing with children, even if you're bad at it | Famly

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If you've ever felt like you're bad at singing, this next song's for you. Lots of us grew up with the idea that we're bad at singing. As adults, we're shy about it. You might feel like you shouldn't sing, or that you should at least give a disclaimer beforehand.

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Pre-birth to Three: Professor Colwyn Trevarthen - Musicality of Language

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What is continuous provision in the EYFS?

Continuous provision is the resources and areas that you have laid out for your children to explore freely. Effective continuous provision should:

Be enticing and attractive to little learners - the point is to encourage children to take ownership of directing their own learning.

Give children the freedom to be independent choice-makers - think about accessibility and whether adult intervention is required to reach resources.

Be carefully thought out and planned for children to use every day

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So how do I plan continuous provision?

All your areas of provision and planned learning environment should be constantly evolving with your children's interests and continuous provision is no different. To work out what's working and what might need a refresh, observe children playing with your continuous provision for an extended period and ask yourself:

Which resources are being used constantly? Which ones are largely ignored?

Are the children displaying the characteristics of effective learning?

Do the current resources reflect the childrens' interests?

Are the resources available right for the ages, needs, and abilities of the children using them?

When was the last time we introduced something new?

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Improving your continuous provision

So now that we know what we mean by continuous provision, let's take a look at some steps you can take to improve your provision today. And what better place to start than with you...‍

1. How adults enable children to learn

Instead of being teachers here, adults are facilitators for children to learn and develop while accessing continuous provision.

There will be hundreds of little opportunities to scaffold or support each child's learning while they are engaged in activities that fascinate them. For example, you might be using open-ended questions to support children's language development, by giving them the vocabulary they need to explain what they're doing.

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2. Continuous provision is not static

Don't be fooled by the term continuous provision - you shouldn't hold onto an area just because you think it's best practice. If the children aren't engaged in it, then it's not working.

Not sure where your current provision stands? Try out the 'Why?' test.

Simply go around the provision and ask why every single part of it is there. It could be because it's fulfilling a child's interest or it could be a developmental need. Anything can be the answer to your why question, but if you can't find an answer at all then the chances are that it needs to go.

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3. There are a million different ways to play

In this great article from Alistair Bryce-Clegg, he explains that one of the biggest challenges in continuous provision is that children tend to engage only with what's familiar to them.

Now that's not a problem in and of itself. It's good that they're engaged and happy learners tend to be successful learners. But challenging every child is important too, and if your children are always going to the same familiar resource and engaging in low-level behaviour, then they're unlikely to be progressing.

The answer to this is in understanding common play behaviours for every area of your continuous provision. To do this, you need to take each area and list all the activities that children might engage in there. Once you're done, you split that list into emerging, mid-level and high-level activities.

Then, you make sure that you provide the resources for children to engage with the area at every level. That might mean providing tools that require finer motor control, or larger collections of certain things to improve their number recognition.

Whatever it is, it's not about telling the children what level of resource they need to engage with. You just need to provide them with the options to progress to higher-level activity. As an educator, you can see that the separation is there, but each child is simply seeing a range of interesting things to play with.‍

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4. Early Years education is about giving children time

Continuous provision is really about allowing the children to go on a learning journey on their own terms. They should be able to visit old explorations of course, but also to follow their interests into new ones.

Continuous provision is so much more than just filler time in between your adult-led activities. But, in order to give the children the time they deserve to fully immerse themselves in the resources you've provided, you need to make sure that the structure of your day is not getting in the way.

Think about every time that you interrupt the children in order to pull everyone together:

Is every circle time necessary?Does lunch need to be at 12 on the dot?Why not swap a fixed group snack time out in favour of offering children self-service snacks? This means children can eat when they're ready to rather than being pulled out of something they're completely engaged in for the sake of a carrot stick or two.

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How to improve your continuous provision | Famly

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Want to improve the continuous provision at your nursery? Get some great tips on how to make it a more engaging and challenging environment for every child

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Care Inspectorate document highlighting how you can use creative arts to support children's learning.

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PLAY TRUTH: The Science Behind PLAY as the Motivation to Learn - Wunderled

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Over the years, so many people have asked to learn more about the theorists and scientists I have studied. So […]

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Welcome to Play Scotland's Play Well Podcast series!

Each month we will be exploring play through different themes by talking to play experts, play champions, and practitioners who are passionate about play.

Join us to learn about the importance of play for child development, play as a human right, and the different ways play can be used to tackle social issues.

Click here to subscribe to our podcast on your preferred podcast app.
Listen to "The Play Well Podcast" on Spreaker.
Read transcripts of our podcast below

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Welcome to Play Scotland's Play Well Podcast series! Each month we will be...

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Document: My Space - creating enabling environments for children.

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Document: My Space - creating enabling environments for children.

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Literacy Stages - Communication and Literacy with children - Introduction

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Literacy Stages - Communication and Literacy with children - Introduction

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Document from City of Edinburgh Council (Part 1)

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Literacy stages: Sensorimotor and motor development

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Literacy stages: Sensorimotor and motor development

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City of Edinburgh Council document (Part 2).

Children’s sensory and motor development is fundamental to what and how they learn. They are the

roots and base of the literacy tree.

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Literacy stages - Relating to others and early oral language

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Literacy stages - Relating to others and early oral language

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City of Edinburgh Council document (Part 3)

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City of Edinburgh Council document - (Part 4)

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City of Edinburgh Council document (Part 5)

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CFE Summative Assessment writing powerpoint

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CFE Summative Assessment writing powerpoint

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Care Inspectorate

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As a parent or carer, it's easy to find plenty of resources about expected patterns of child development, like this example from an NHS trust.

The trouble is, without context, these linear progression models of what children should do when can be interpreted too literally. Parents and carers may believe that if their child doesn't meet every one of those milestones 'on schedule', something must be wrong. This is where your expertise and partnerships with parents and carers really come into play.

Sharing information about children's development with parents on an ongoing basis can reassure anxious parents that their child isn't falling behind and provide the best framework for support if they are.

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Explaining how we apply developmental milestones in early years settings

Parents who are new to early years settings may feel anxious about their child being assessed too much or fear they will be 'labelled' early on. You may also meet parents who prefer a lot of data or reporting on their child's development, so they can feel reassured that their child is 'on track'.

Finding out more about parents' expectations and explaining how you'll share how their child is doing is a key part of their induction into your setting. The settling-in period allows you to discuss with parents and carers how you record and support development in the early years.

The most important message to share about milestones, such as the observation checkpoints in Development Matters or the statements in the Developmental Pathways in the Curriculum for Wales, is that they are for guidance only.

Not meeting one statement or milestone 'on time' is not immediately a cause for concern as child development is unique to each child. Educators' expertise and knowledge of the children in their setting are what allow them to determine whether a child is making good progress, either in regard to their age or their starting points.

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The message to share with parents: Your child's development is completely unique.

"Each child is unique, and while we can be guided by an understanding of some general patterns of development from pre-birth into early childhood, progression is uneven and unfolds differently for each individual child. The complex differences for each child mean the pathways toward maturity should be seen more as dancing around a ballroom than climbing a ladder."

Birth to 5 Matters Guidance, Early Education on behalf of the Early Years Coalition. ‍

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"It is important we understand that learning is not linear and that different children are likely to progress in markedly different ways. We must recognise this and allow for a variety of diversions, stops and spurts in a child's learning journey." ‍

A curriculum for funded non-maintained nursery settings, Education Wales ‍

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"The terms of 'when I am a baby', 'when I am a toddler' and 'when I am a young child' have been used to illustrate developmental needs over time - but these should not be seen as rigid lines of progression. All babies and young children develop their individual skills, knowledge and attributes at different rates according to who they are."

‍ Realising the ambition: Being Me National practice guidance for early years in Scotland

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What about assessment and tracking?

Parents can feel really anxious about the assessment of their child's development so reassure them that a conversation about their child's progress will never be a surprise. As you observe and interact with their child each day, you'll be sharing what you see with parents and carers, including any achievements or concerns. They won't receive an end-of-term assessment suddenly telling them their child is behind.

If you use a platform like Famly, ensure parents know where to find their child's observations and assessments, so they can feel informed about how things are going. If you're still paper-based, allow parents frequent access to their child's paper learning journal.

If you complete a baseline assessment when a child starts, ensure that parents have an opportunity to contribute, to lay the foundations for partnership working on assessment and development. This will help you to set the scene for parents and carers about how and why we assess in the early years. Inform parents that:

It is not a test

You're simply working with them to find out what their child is interested in, already knows, and has achieved

It's a collaborative process between you, them, and the child.

Assessments enable you to provide experiences to deepen their child's learning and help them progress.

And, whether you work to your own curriculum or use a statutory one, it's a good idea to share this with parents and carers too. Not only does this help contextualise the experiences you deliver in your setting, but it can also support parents with learning at home. The more transparent you can be, the more reassured and confident parents will be.

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The message to share with parents: Don't worry if you haven't received lots of assessment and tracking data - we're spending the time with your child.‍

"Assessment should not entail prolonged breaks from interaction with children, nor require excessive paperwork. When assessing whether an individual child is at the expected level of development, practitioners should draw on their knowledge of the child and their own expert professional judgement and should not be required to prove this through collection of physical evidence.

‍ Statutory guidance: Early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework

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"Assessment should not be a tick list or a one-off event. It should be a continuous process that is useful, manageable and purposeful, both to us and to children's progress. Assessment should be indistinguishable from teaching and learning."

‍ A curriculum for funded non-maintained nursery settings, Education Wales

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Supporting and sharing developmentally appropriate expectations

Whether your setting supports children under 5 to build fires and use tools, or sit in small groups for phonics practice, parents and carers will want to know how and why you deliver the education that you do.

Some parents may favour a more traditional, disciplined, "classroom" teaching style, so they might need some extra information from you about the importance of co-regulation and learning through play. Some parents may believe that pre-schoolers are too young for a structured curriculum, and so may need some more information about how teaching looks in the early years.

Sharing why provision, resources, activities, or approaches you use are developmentally appropriate shows parents the knowledge and thought behind the decisions you make. Building partnerships with parents through sharing why you do what you do for their unique child not only builds trust and respect but also helps parents to deliver developmentally-appropriate experiences at home too.

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The message to share with parents: Play is learning - there's no rush to the 'finish line' in terms of development.‍

"The guidance can help you check that children are secure in all the earlier steps of learning before you look at their 'age band'. Depth in learning matters much more than moving from one band to the next." ‍

Development Matters, Non-statutory curriculum guidance for the early years foundation stage. ‍

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"Play is essential for children's development, building their confidence as they learn to explore, relate to others, set their own goals and solve problems. Children learn by leading their own play, and by taking part in play which is guided by adults." ‍

Statutory guidance: Early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework ‍

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"Development is rapid from birth to age five, as babbling becomes conversation and as physical movements become increasingly more complex and sophisticated. It is important to value this period of time and to nurture the playfulness and curiosity of children. The temptation for us to rush through skills, knowledge and experiences can have an adverse effect on the next stages of learning. At every stage of development, we should remain focused on the present needs and not those of the coming year(s)." ‍
A curriculum for funded non-maintained nursery settings, Education Wales
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How can we work in partnership with parents to record and celebrate children's development?

No one knows the children in your setting better than their parents or carers, so embrace their knowledge right from the start. A thorough induction or settling-in process allows parents and carers to share:

What they know their child knows and can do

Their interests and things they particularly enjoy

Any areas of concern

Any already-identified areas of delay or diagnosed conditions that require special support

You could ask parents to complete an 'all about me' document and ensure there's time to speak in-depth about the child before their first session. Especially where special need or disability is already known, this gives you a fantastic opportunity to learn more about where the child is successful and where they need extra help.

However, sharing this information once, when a child first starts, is not enough. Parents should feel continually involved as partners in learning. At your setting, reflect on how well you're:

Encouraging parents to share their own observations of what children are doing outside of the setting, so they can add to their child's learning journey too.

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The message to share with parents: We're working with you, in partnership.

"Parents make a crucial difference to children's outcomes. Parents are children's first and most enduring educators"

‍ Birth to 5 Matters Guidance, Early Education on behalf of the Early Years Coalition.

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"Families are central to the child's learning at home and in their community, to their acquisition of skills, capacities and attributes. Therefore, it is essential that as practitioners we develop strong links with parents in shaping the curriculum" ‍

Realising the ambition: Being Me National practice guidance for early years in Scotland ‍

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"Building trusting relationships between the home and our setting, where we share the same aspirations for learning and development, nurtures children's well-being and sense of belonging. Recognising parents and carers as the child's first educator and valuing what they know about their child is vital not only for smooth transition from home to setting, but also for ongoing effective partnerships." ‍
A curriculum for funded non-maintained nursery settings, Education Wales

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How to talk to parents about child development | Famly

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Ongoing and transparent discussions with parents about how you support children to learn and develop are essential for partnership working.

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How play environments support positive interactions

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How play environments support positive interactions

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C.I - Me, my family and my childcare setting

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C.I - Me, my family and my childcare setting

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Me, My family and my childcare setting pdf

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C.I exploring curiosity and exploration in ELC

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C.I exploring curiosity and exploration in ELC

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C.I Supporting curiosity and exploration in ELC

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C.I Practice note - High Quality Play Env outdoors

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C.I High Quality Play and Learning outdoors

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C.I High Quality Play and Learning outdoors

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C.I Practice note - High Quality Play Env outdoors

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Play area development - construction area

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Play area development - construction area