Initiate new combinations of movement and gesture in order to express and respond to feelings, ideas and experiences.
Jump off an object and land appropriately.
Show understanding of the need for safety when tackling new challenges.
Avoid dangerous places and equipment.
Construct with large materials such as cartons, fabric and planks.
Move with confidence, imagination and in safety.
Move with control and coordination.
Travel around, under, over and through balancing and climbing equipment.
Show awareness of space, of themselves and of others.
The different ways children find of moving across and off and on objects.
How children combine movements to make simple sequences.
The way children recognise the need to take account of space when they plan to do things such as building and demolishing a tower or riding a wheeled toy.
The ways children manage themselves safely.
The ways children negotiate equipment by, for example, balancing, climbing, sliding or slithering.
Children's fine motor control when using a pencil or a brush.
Children's free, spontaneous movement and how they demonstrate control.
Encourage children to use the vocabulary of movement, such as 'gallop' and 'slither'; of instruction, such as 'follow', 'lead' and 'copy'; and of feeling, such as 'excited', 'scared' and 'happy'.
Help children communicate through their bodies by encouraging expressive movement linked to their imaginative ideas.
Talk with children about body parts and bodily activity, teaching the vocabulary of body parts.
Help children to think about how their movements and actions can impact on others.
Pose challenging questions such as "Can you get all the way round the climbing frame without your knees touching it?".
Talk with children about the need to match their actions to the space they are in.
Encourage children to be active and energetic by organising lively games.
Provide opportunities for children to repeat and change their actions so that they can think about, refine and improve them.
Help children to be aware of risks and to consider their own and others' safety.
Take time to review individual needs for space and equipment for a child who may require modifications to either or both.
Show children how to collaborate in throwing, rolling, fetching and receiving games, encouraging children to play with one another once their skills are sufficient.
Plan target throwing, rolling, kicking and catching games.
Plan games where children can use skills in different ways, such as hopping backwards and galloping sideways.
Provide open-ended resources for large-scale building.
Use whole-body action rhymes such as 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes'.
Provide time and space to enjoy energetic play daily, either indoors or outdoors, visiting parks if other spaces are limited.
Ensure children know the rules for being safe in different spaces.
Regularly check resources for safety, for example, ensuring that fabric is clean and that planks are free from splinters and rough edges.
Provide a range of equipment at different levels, such as an overhead ladder, a tunnel, a bench and a mat.
Provide large portable equipment that children can move about safely and cooperatively to create their own structures.
Plan imaginative, active experiences, such as 'Going on a bear hunt'. Help them remember the actions of the story (We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury) and think about the different ways of moving and ways of avoiding bumping into each other.
Health and Bodily Awareness
Show some understanding that good practices with regard to exercise, eating, sleeping and hygiene can contribute to good health.
Recognise the importance of keeping healthy, and those things which contribute to this.
Recognise the changes that happen to their bodies when they are active.
Feeding:
Helps with food preparation.
Has food preferences and wishes and expresses them.
Understands need for variety in food.
Eats a healthy range of foodstuffs.
Understands need for hygiene in food preparation, serving and eating.
Washing:
Begins to take responsibility for self-care in washing, teeth cleaning.
Uses personal hygiene materials competently.
Knows when to wash hands and face.
Shows negative reactions to lack of cleanliness in food, personal items and so on.
Toileting:
Reliably dry and clean during the day.
Usually initiates use of toilet when needed, and seeks help as required.
Knows routine of wiping self and handwashing and usually carries this out.
Note:
Early Support material relating to dressing appears in Personal, Social and Emotional Development: Self-care
How children indicate that they are hungry or need to wash their hands before starting to cook.
Children's familiarity with hygienic practices, such as throwing used tissues in a bin.
Children's understanding of what they need to do to maintain health, for example, a child telling others they are going to the dentist: "I need to have a check-up to keep my teeth strong".
Children talking about and feeling their heart beating after running, without prompting from an adult.
Promote health awareness by talking to children about exercise, its effect on their bodies and the positive contribution it can make to their health.
Help children to understand the thinking behind the good practices they are encouraged to adopt.
Be aware of specific health difficulties among the children in the group, such as allergies.
Be sensitive to varying family expectations and life patterns when encouraging thinking about health.
Find ways to involve children so that they are all able to be active in ways that interest them and match their health and ability.
Discuss with children why they get hot and encourage them to think about the effects of the environment, such as whether opening a window helps everybody to be cooler.
Ensure that children who get out of breath will have time to recover.
Place water containers where children can find them easily and get a drink when they need one.
Plan opportunities, particularly after exercise, for children to talk about how their bodies feel.
Using Equipment and Materials
Explore malleable materials by patting, stroking, poking, squeezing, pinching and twisting them.
Use increasing control over an object, such as a ball, by touching, pushing, patting, throwing, catching or kicking it.
Manipulate materials to achieve a planned effect.
Use simple tools to effect changes to the materials.
Show understanding of how to transport and store equipment safely.
Practise some appropriate safety measures without direct supervision.
Use a range of small and large equipment.
Handle tools, objects, construction and malleable materials safely and with increasing control.
Children's preferred hand for putting on clothes or using a paintbrush.
Children's developing ball skills.
Children's play patterns, identifying the ways they show interest in using a range of equipment and materials.
The different ways children explore and manipulate materials.
The tools children use to achieve effects.
Some of the ways children demonstrate their understanding of the need for handling equipment safely, such as when they carry a chair, ensuring they point its legs towards the ground.
How children use their skills when creating something they need in their play, or want to give to a friend.
Encourage children's large arm and hand movements and activities that strengthen their hands and fingers, for example, throwing and catching.
Introduce and encourage children to use the vocabulary of manipulation, for example, 'squeeze' and 'prod', and the language of description, for example, 'spiky', 'silky', 'lumpy' and 'tall'.
Justify and explain why safety is an important factor in handling tools, equipment and materials, and have sensible rules for everybody to follow.
Teach skills where necessary and then give children the chance to practise them.
Teach children how to use tools and materials effectively and safely.
Talk with children about what they are doing, how they plan to do it, what worked well and what they would change next time.
Provide a range of left-handed tools, especially left-handed scissors, for children who need them.
Provide a wide range of materials, such as clay, that encourage manipulation.
Offer different tools, techniques or materials when the available tools are inadequate to achieve the desired effects.
Provide tweezers, tongs and small scoops for use in play and investigation.
Provide a range of construction toys of different sizes, made of wood, rubber or plastic, that fix together in a variety of ways, for example by twisting, pushing, slotting or magnetism.
Acknowledgements
Disclaimer
00012-2007CDO-EN