Wriggly Roo's

0 - 1 YEARS

During the first year of life, young children's physical development is very rapid and they gain increasing control of their muscles. They also develop skills in moving their hands, feet, limbs and head, quickly becoming mobile and able to handle and manipulate objects. They are learning from the moment of birth. Even before their first words, they find out a lot about language by hearing people talking, and are especially interested when it involves them and their daily lives. Sensitive caregiving, which responds to children's growing understanding and emotional needs, helps to build secure attachments to special people such as parents, family members or carers. 

As children become mobile new opportunities for exploration and exercise, open up. A safe and interesting environment, with age-appropriate resources, helps children to develop curiosity, coordination and physical abilities. This is a time when children can start to learn the beginnings of self-control and how to relate to other people. In this period, children can be encouraged to develop their social and emotional skills by people to whom they have a positive attachment. Building on their communication skills, children now begin to develop a sense of self and are more able to express their needs and feelings. Alongside non-verbal communication children learn a few simple words for everyday things and people. With encouragement and plenty of interaction with carers, children's communication skills grow and their vocabulary expands very rapidly during this period.

Exploration and simple self-help builds a sense of self-confidence. Children are also learning about boundaries and how to handle frustration. Play with toys that come apart and fit together encourages problem solving and simple planning. Pretend play helps children to learn about a range of possibilities. Adults are an important source of security and comfort.

 

LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT

The indoor and outdoor environment provides a safe, secure yet challenging space for the children.

The activities and resources in this age group include the following themes:

• Pretend Play - To encourage speech, social and listening skills by the use of dolls, teddies and simple everyday objects.
• Messy Play - To encourage fine motor exploration of objects using all the senses.
• Sensory and Heuristic Play - To encourage all aspects of sensory development, exploring objects, developing attention and concentration, hand-eye co-ordination and making simple preferences and choices.
• Family Corner - To encourage a child's own self-esteem, positive self-image and links between home and Pre-School.
• Book Play - To encourage an early love of books sharing them with a caring adult.
• Sand and Water Play - To encourage exploration of objects using a child-focused approach.

 

2 YEAR OLDS

Children's fine motor skills continue to develop and they enjoy making marks, using a variety of materials, looking at picture books and listening to stories, important steps in literacy. Self-help and independence soon emerge if adults support and encourage children in areas such as eating, dressing and toileting. Praise for new achievements helps to build their self-esteem. In this phase, children's language is developing rapidly and many are beginning to put sentences together. Joining in conversations with children is an important way for children to learn new things and to begin to think about past, present and future. Developing physical skills mean that children can now usually walk, climb and run, and join in active play with other children. This is an important time for learning about dangers and safe limits.

 

LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT

The indoor environment contains resources which are age appropriate, well maintained and accessible for all children in the room. The outdoor environment offers the children opportunities for doing things in different ways and on different scales than when indoors.

The activities and resources in this age group reflect the following themes:

• Large Movement Area - To encourage posture and large movements
• Small Movement Play - To encourage vision, fine movements and imagination
• Home Corner - To encourage speech, social and listening skills by the use of dolls, teddies and simple everyday objects.
• Messy Play - To encourage fine motor skills and creative exploration of objects using all the senses.
• Sensory Play and Discovery Bags - To encourage all aspects of sensory development, exploring objects, developing attention and concentration, hand-eye co-ordination and making simple preferences, choices and begin to assign words and attributes to objects
• Family Books - To encourage a child's own self-esteem, positive self-image and links between home and nursery.
• Book Play - To encourage an early love of books and developing language by sharing them with a caring adult.
• Sand and Water Play - To encourage exploration of objects using a child-focused approach.
• Language Resources and Programmes - Using language games and resources to focus in on the children's language skills including fun games, rhymes and songs to enhance the children's communication skills raising their self-esteem, confidence and social skills with others.
• Physical Programme - Every environment indoors and out has a place for children to be active or rest and reflect. Our own physical programme encourages a progression of skills to promote confident movement, health and bodily awareness as well as control in using physical play equipment.