Creative Development in the Early Years Foundation Stage

Pamela May

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN:
  9780415476539
• eBook ISBN:
  9781136032707
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Early Childhood Education

The Practical Guidance in the Early Years Foundation Stage series will assist practitioners in the smooth and successful implementation of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

Each book gives clear and detailed explanations of each aspect of Learning and Development and encourages readers to consider each area within its broadest context to expand and develop their own knowledge and good practice.

Practical ideas and activities for all age groups are offered along with a wealth of expertise of how elements from the practice guidance can be implemented within all early years settings. The books include suggestions for the innovative use of everyday ressources, popular books and stories.

The clear and practical information in this book will help practitioners in supporting and developing the natural curiosity of children, helping them explore and express their own ideas through a variety of activities including music art and dance. The author explores the balance between the necessary freedoms of choice that creativity requires and the control which thoughtful practitioners must exert and offers ideas for building children's imaginations through play.

1

Being creative

From birth–11 months

Development matters

Responding to experiences.

Expressing and communicating ideas.

Using movement and sensory exploration to connect with their immediate environment.

Key words

security, prediction

Activity

Julia is seven months old. She has been with her childminder Sue for a few weeks as her mother returned to work after taking maternity leave. Sue is using lots of ways to get to know Julia really well and to help Julia feel safe and loved in her new setting. Singing with her is one of the very best ways of building this important friendship, and Sue sings nursery rhymes and songs every day.

Sue picks Julia up and stands her on her lap so that they are face to face. ‘Shall we sing a song?’ says Sue. Sue begins to sing the ‘Ready and …’ song which Julia has heard a few times before:

Ready and …

Up and down

And up and down

And side to side

And side to side.

Round and round

And round and round

And ready to do it again …

Ready and …

(PEEP 2001: 20)

Sue gently lifts Julia up and down, from side to side and round and round as she sings the song, and, by the third time she sings ‘Ready and …’, Julia’s eyes get wider, and her toes kick down on to Sue’s lap as she excitedly waits to be lifted up and down.

Learning story

Emotional learning. For babies to be able to respond to an environment, the environment has to be both interesting and loving. For babies, all their learning comes via someone else so the key to their successful learning is that they feel loved by their carer. This kind of interaction with babies is often called ‘mother-ese’ because it is how mothers instinctively behave with their babies. It is a powerful means of communication because Julia is learning so many things from this most natural of activities. She is learning that Sue enjoys being with her and that she is, therefore, a lovable person. (See ‘key person’, p. 7.)

Social learning. Julia is learning that Sue is someone she can trust and someone who will both care for her and be her partner in enjoyable activities.

Cognitive learning. Julia is learning some basis concepts here about directions. The way that we all learn about what it means to be ‘up’, ‘down’ and ‘round’ is to experience them at first hand. She is also learning to predict what will happen next and that things often happen in a predictable order.

Motherese

Look, listen and note

It is essential to watch babies’ body language to better understand their individual preferences and dislikes.

Observe them carefully to ensure that they feel safe and loved and note aspects of their emotional well-being as well as taking care of their physical needs.

Effective practice

This includes valuing and respecting babies’ preferences once they have been observed.

Practitioners need to demonstrate that they enjoy the baby’s company and find time and a comfortable space to share these valuable experiences together.

Practitioners will, of course need to go through this process with each of their key children.

Planning

Singing with young babies needs to be planned into every session as it is a key way to build the loving relationship that babies need. It needs to be planned as a one-to-one activity, somewhere it is quiet, and where there is a big comfortable chair or sofa, where there is room to do actions.

Resourcing

PEEP has a wealth of video and of other support materials for parents and carers for birth to four years. Look out for nursery-rhyme books such as The Helen Oxenbury Collection or The Oxford Nursery Rhyme Book by Iona Opie and Peter Opie.

The EYFS principles

The four principles of the EYFS are also to be seen in this simple example. Sue may well have tried a few songs before finding this one, which Julia clearly loves. For a carer to understand that each child is unique it requires them to be responsive to individual children’s preferences, and even very small babies can tell you which songs they like the best! It is a sign of the positive relationship between Sue and Julia that Sue takes time to find out which Julia’s favourites are and that she respects these choices. She will also have introduced her to other songs and rhymes, but a sign of her responsiveness as a carer is that she knows which ones are Julia’s favourites and that she makes a point of singing them regularly.

The environment in which this kind of activity takes place is an important factor. Songs between two people who are building a strong and loving relationship need to take place where they can be quiet and can concentrate. They need to be comfortable and to be at a time in the day when Julia is not tired or hungry.

From 8–20 months

Development matters

Respond to what they see, hear, smell, touch and feel.

Key words

investigate, enjoyment

Activity

Josh is twelve months old and has been at his nursery setting for four months. He attends for three days a week from 8 a.m. till 6 p.m. His key person Ali has noticed how much his face lights up when he hears music. She places him in a group of other children about his age and brings the treasure basket from which they can choose something to examine and play with. Josh chooses a small plastic bottle which has water inside and some shiny beads and buttons, securely fastened at the lid with tape. As he grasps the shaker and begins to shake it to and fro he looks at Ali who responds by clapping her hands in time to his actions and smiling at his e...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 Being creative
• 2 Exploring media and materials
• 3 Creating music and dance
• 4 Developing imagination and imaginative play
• Bibliography