Young babies' hunger patterns and responses to their food.
Encourage babies gradually to share control of food and drink. This provides opportunities for sensory learning and increased independence.
Plan feeding times which take account of the individual cultural and feeding needs of young babies in your group.
There may be considerable variation in the way parents feed their children at home. Remember that some parents may need interpreter support.
8-20 Months
Begin to indicate own needs, for example, by pointing.
May like to use a comfort object.
Dressing:
Cooperates in dressing.
Removes socks.
Removes unfastened shoes.
Removes loose hat.
How babies show what they want.
Talk to parents about how their baby communicates needs. Ensure that parents and carers who speak languages other than English are able to share their views.
Dressing:
Tell babies that you are about to dress or undress them using words and actions before you start.
Name body parts, for example, as you gently bend a leg to go into trousers or as you put an arm into a sleeve.
Sit babies on your knees and use words such as "push" as you put their arm through a sleeve or leg into trousers. Say "pull" when you pull on a hat. They will feel the movement that your body is making and this will help them to understand how they have to move when they begin to take a more active role in dressing.
When changing nappies, give babies something in their hands to play with, or hang a mobile over the changing surface to discourage rolling.
Children can usually undress themselves long before they can put clothes on. Encourage them to take part in undressing by partially removing items such as socks so they are just dangling off the toes and supporting them to give the final tug. Give lots of praise and extend this to other simple items such as hats.
Ask babies to help by saying "Lift your legs" and then lift their legs to indicate what you want them to do. After a while they'll start to react to your instructions.
Make dressing activities playful, by calling "Boo" up a sleeve to encourage children to put their arm in clothing. Say "Where's that wriggly worm?" as a foot is pushed down into trousers.
Use a reverse chaining technique to continue work on skills to take clothes off. This means that you do all but the last step to begin with, and expect the children to complete the job. Gradually increase the number of steps they have to do, for example, they have to pull a sock off their toes, and then pull it over their heel. Expect children to do a little more each time. Start with activities that can be done when sitting on a stable base like the floor.
Keep toys and comforters in areas that are easy for babies to locate.
16-26 Months
Show a desire to help with dress and hygiene routines.
Communicate preferences.
Dressing:
Places hat on head.
Assists with dressing, for example, holds out arm for sleeve or foot for shoe.
Aware of where clothes are kept, for example, outdoor coat and shoes by the door.
Puts on hat and slip-on shoes.
Plays 'dressing-up' games.
Unzips front zipper on coat or jacket.
Helps take coat off.
The efforts young children make to take off their own clothes.
Children's choices.
Praise effort such as when a young child offers their arm to put in a coat sleeve.
Be aware of differences in cultural attitudes to children's developing independence.
Dressing:
Encourage active involvement by expecting children to push their arm down a sleeve or take a leg out of trousers when asked. Give lots of encouragement and time to react. Keep trying each time you change their clothes or help them to undress.
Talk about what you're going to do, demonstrate, and then ask children to do it for themselves.
Dressing up in larger clothes can be fun and easier for children learning the movements needed. Old adult shirts can be particularly helpful as there is more room for manoeuvring.
Hats are often the first item of clothing children can put on unaided.
Move on to removing trousers – use loose, elasticated waists and start off by leaving only one leg on around the ankle, encouraging children to pull it off. Show them how to pull it off while sitting on the floor and later make it more difficult, leaving two legs of the trousers around two ankles.
Show children how to open fasteners, Velcro and large buttons. Lots of toys incorporate fasteners of different kinds that provide opportunities to practise. Show children how to practise pulling up and closing zips on adult clothes used for dressing up (the zips are longer) and on toys.
Practise taking off coats. As toilet training moves forward, encourage children to pull their trousers and pants up and down. Use elasticated waists or unfasten them first. Use simple verbal descriptions and instructions as well as demonstrating what needs to be done.
Ensure that there is time for young children to complete a self-chosen task, such as trying to put on their own shoes.
22-36 Months
Seek to do things for themselves, knowing that an adult is close by, ready to support and help if needed.
Become more aware that choices have consequences.
Take pleasure in personal hygiene including toileting.
Dressing:
Puts on hat independently.
Puts on shoes independently, but may not get the right feet or do them up.
Takes off loose coat or shirt when undone.
Can undo large buttons and Velcro fasteners.
Removes shirt.
Removes 'pull-down' garments.
Pulls up own trousers.
Pulls zipper up once fastened at the bottom.
Independence skills:
Participates and helps with familiar routines with help from adults such as dusting, setting table or putting away toys.
Enjoys responsibility of carrying out small tasks such as carrying a bag for Mum.
Examples of independence, for example, a child playing happily with building blocks, or putting their cup back on a table.
What children choose to do when presented with several options.
Support children's growing independence as they do things for themselves, such as pulling up their pants after toileting, recognising differing parental expectations.
Talk to children about choices they have made, and help them understand that this may mean that they cannot do something else. Enlist support to ensure children learning English as an additional language can express preferences.
Dressing:
Practise taking off a large loose t-shirt or jumper. Start by removing arms so that clothing is around the children's necks. Place children's hands on the neckband and help them to pull it over their heads. Once this has been mastered, leave one arm in the sleeve and show them how to hold the edge of the sleeve while pulling the other arm out. Later, repeat this with the other arm.
Guide arms into open-fronted coats and encourage children to do this independently. Do the same with pulling on socks. This is best demonstrated sitting on the floor with the child facing forwards between your legs.
Encourage children to hang up their own coats on a coat rack at child height.
Sharing fruit - In a nursery, a practitioner and a child eat fruit together at snack time. [transcript]
You can watch the video via modem or slow / fast / superfast broadband connections. If you are behind a network firewall, why not click here to view a flash file of the video. You do need to have the flash plugin.
Allow children to pour their own drinks, serve their own food, choose a story, hold a puppet or water a plant.
Choose some stories that highlight the consequences of choices.
Provide pictures or objects representing options to support children in making and expressing choices.
30-50 Months
Show willingness to tackle problems and enjoy self-chosen challenges.
Demonstrate a sense of pride in own achievement.
Take initiatives and manage developmentally appropriate tasks.
Dressing:
Puts arms into open-fronted coat or shirt when held up.
Hangs up own coat.
Finds items of clothing in the dressing-up box.
Pulls down own pants when using the toilet.
Independence skills:
Asks for help or support when needed.
Note:
Early Support material relating to feeding, washing and toileting appears in Physical Development: Health and Bodily Awareness
Instances of children celebrating their achievements.
How children use their own ideas to develop play.
Give children time to try before intervening to support and guide them.
Create an atmosphere where achievement is valued.
Encourage children to solve problems, and support them by clarifying the problem with them.
Plan opportunities for children to take the initiative in their learning.
Provide means for children to keep track of, and share, their achievements.
Build on children's ideas to plan new experiences that present challenges.
40-60+ Months
Operate independently within the environment and show confidence in linking up with others for support and guidance.
Appreciate the need for hygiene.
Dress and undress independently and manage their own personal hygiene.
Select and use activities and resources independently.
How children set about a chosen activity or task, and the success they achieve.
Children's recognition and management of their own needs, for example, that they need to put on a waterproof coat to go out in the rain.
Give children opportunities to be responsible for setting up, and clearing away, some activities.
Praise children's efforts to manage their personal needs, and to use and return resources appropriately.
Provide opportunities for self-chosen activities, and for choices within adult-initiated activities.
