Café Culture and the not so humble snack…

abc doesChild Initiated Learning, Continuous Provision, Environment, Role Play, Talk12 Comments

Like with every area of your provision, it is worth asking the question 'what is snack for?' before you start to plan for it. At it most basic level, snack is an opportunity for young children, who burn lots of energy in their play and exploration of your environment, to re-fuel. But, in truth there is SO much more that snack could and should be than that. At best it can offer some brilliant leaning opportunities. At worst it is a bag of apples and some cartons of milk dumped on a table. Halton Lodge have a small but perfectly formed snack area with a 'Have a go if you want to' waiting area with leveled challenges in it There … Read More

Dinosaurs in Reception – Jenni’s Story

abc doesBoys Learning, Child Initiated Learning, Creativity, Environment, Nurseries, Phonics, Planning and Assessment, Talk1 Comment

I was really chuffed that Jenni took the time to drop me a quick email to tell me that she had tried the recipe for dinosaur eggs that I had posted. It sounded like they had such a good time, I asked her to write me a post all about it…. I was so pleased that Alistair asked me to write about the fantastic dinosaur experience we recently had at our nursery – all thanks to ABC DOES!  I logged on to ABC DOES, as usual, just to see what was happening. There it was, a recipe for dinosaur eggs – yippee, just what I needed to spice up our ‘theme’ – All creatures great and small!  Alongside our ‘theme’ … Read More

Music in EYFS – Part Two!

abc doesChild Initiated Learning, Creativity, Environment, Nurseries, Role Play2 Comments

Earlier this year I had a guest post from Kate Davison outlining a very interesting music project that she was doing with Nurseries in County Durham. You will find the original post here. The project has continued and gone from strength to strength and also taken a couple of interesting turns that no one anticipated. Here is Kate's update…. Parental Engagement, Mood and Behaviour Seascape Nursery in Peterlee, an area of significant disadvantage, managed by Kelly Walton, has taken the project in a very interesting and different direction to where I ever envisaged it going. Kelly noticed that the music played had an impact on how the children behaved and their moods. Initially she observed how the children responded to … Read More

Weekly Planning Sheet – Feeding Forward

abc doesUncategorized4 Comments

I had SUCH a good time in my role as Fairy Folk Finder. It a project with massive potential. I took my camera to get some photographs and of course got so engrossed in the delivery that I didn't manage to take any! I have asked the ladies at Waterloo to send me the ones they took so when they do I will post more info about how we see the project working and what we have done so far. On Monday this week I was working with the Early Years Department of a large primary school in Salford with 86 FS children The school have not long since finished some re-modelling and the EY now have a huge space … Read More