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 Being Creative - Responding to Experiences, Expressing and Communicating Ideas Exploring Media and Materials Creating Music and Dance Developing Imagination and Imaginative Play
Birth-11 Months
 
  • Use gentle touch to trace 'Round and Round the Garden' or to pat hands for 'Pat-a-Cake' with young babies.
 
  • Talk to young babies about the sensations of different materials they feel, whether they are cold or warm, smooth or soft.
 
  • Sing action rhymes such as 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes' or clap and sing about something that you are doing, such as "We're getting Mina ready for bed".
 
  • Play games such as hiding the snake behind your back and slowly showing it coming round the corner of the play mat.
8-20 Months
 
  • Maintain the calm atmosphere of a light room or area by playing quiet music so that young children can rest from stimulation for short periods.
 
  • Encourage babies to make marks and to squeeze and feel media such as paint, gloop (cornflour and water), dough and bubbles.
 
  • Imitate familiar sounds such as 'quack, quack', encouraging the baby to join in.
 
  • Make exaggerated facial movements when you tell a story or join in pretend play, so that young babies notice changes in your body language.
16-26 Months
 
  • Support children's patterns of play in different activities, for example, transporting blocks to the sand area.
 
  • Accept wholeheartedly young children's creations and help them to see them as something unique and valuable.
 
  • Listen with children to a variety of sounds, talking about favourite sounds, songs and music.
  • Introduce children to language to describe sounds and rhythm, for example, loud and soft, fast and slow.
 
  • Show genuine interest and be willing to play along with a young child who is beginning to pretend.
22-36 Months
 
  • Help children to value their creative responses by your interest in the way they move, represent or express their mood.
 
  • Be interested in the children's creative processes and talk to them about what they mean to them.
 
  • Help children to listen to music and watch dance when opportunities arise, encouraging them to focus on how sound and movement develop from feelings and ideas.
 
  • Sometimes speak quietly, slowly or gruffly for fun in pretend scenarios with children.
30-50 Months
 
  • Provide appropriate materials and extend children's thinking through involvement in their play, using questions thoughtfully and appropriately.
  • Encourage children to describe their experiences.
  • Be interested in children's responses, observing their actions and listening carefully.
 
  • Make time and space for children to express their curiosity and explore the environment using all of their senses.
  • Talk to a child about images or effects that they see, such as the effect of light hitting a shiny piece of paper.
  • Talk to children about colours they like and why they like them.
  • Demonstrate and teach skills and techniques associated with the things children are doing, for example, show them how to stop the paint from dripping or how to balance bricks so that they will not fall down.
  • Introduce children to a wide range of music, painting and sculpture.
  • Encourage children to take time to think about painting or sculpture that is unfamiliar to them before they talk about it or express an opinion.
  • Make suggestions and ask questions to extend children's ideas of what is possible, for example, "I wonder what would happen if...".
  • Support children in thinking about what they want to make, the processes that may be involved and the materials and resources they might need, such as a photograph to remind them what the climbing frame is like.
 
  • Widen children's experience of music from different cultures, through experiences with different instruments and styles so that they are inspired to experiment, imitate, enjoy and extend their own expressions.
 
  • Support children's excursions into imaginary worlds by encouraging inventiveness, offering support and advice on occasions and ensuring that they have experiences that stimulate their interest.
  • Tell stories based on children's experiences and the people and places they know well.
40-60+ Months
 
  • Support children in expressing opinions and introduce language such as 'like', 'dislike', 'prefer' and 'disagree'.
  • Be alert to children's changing interest and the way they respond to experiences differently when they are in a happy, sad or reflective mood.
 
  • Help children to gain confidence in their own way of representing ideas.
  • Talk to children about ways of finding out what they can do with different media and what happens when they put different things together such as sand, paint and sawdust.
  • Help children to develop a problem-solving approach to overcome hindrances as they explore possibilities that media combinations present. Offer advice and additional resources as appropriate.
  • Alert children to changes in properties of media as they are transformed through becoming wet, dry, flaky or fixed. Talk about what is happening, helping them to think about cause and effect.
 
  • Support children's developing understanding of the ways in which paintings, pictures and music and dance can express different ideas, thoughts and feelings.
  • Encourage discussion about the beauty of nature and people's responsibility to care for it. Help children to support other children and offer another viewpoint.
 
  • Be aware of the link between imaginative play and children's ability to handle narrative.
  • Carefully support children who are less confident.
  • Introduce descriptive language to support children, for example, 'rustle' and 'shuffle'.