The Next Steps - Building on the Foundations

Head Office
59/61 Marlow Bottom Road
Marlow Bottom
Bucks
SL7 3NA
Tel: 01628 814350
Fax: 01628 476934
e-mail: info@thtjb-daynursery.co.uk
website: thtjb-daynursery.co.uk
<strong>The</strong> next steps - <strong>Building</strong> on
the Foundations
Now that your child is moving into pre-school we would like
to present to you our information pack on ‘<strong>The</strong> <strong>Next</strong>
<strong>Steps</strong>, <strong>Building</strong> on the Foundations’. As a nursery we work
in line with the Early Years Foundation Stage Principles
with the emphasis throughout on learning through play and
a child’s first hand experiences. Ultimately your child will
leave us to go to school and we hope to work with you to
assist in making this transition as smooth as possible for
you and your child.
12 Chestnut Lane
Hazlemere
Bucks
HP15 7BZ
Tel: 01494 713425
As you are aware we complete a Profile which sets out
goals laid down in the Early Years Foundation and is
updated regularly and information from this is shared with
you via a termly Learning and Development Summary, at
parent’s evenings and any time you wish to discuss your
child’s development. When your child leaves us this
document will be passed to you for sharing with your
child’s chosen school enabling them to go on and complete
this valuable resource.
We hope you will find this booklet helpful and fun to use
and perhaps you will try some of the activities suggested.
Amersham & Wycombe College
Spring Lane
Flackwell Heath
High Wycombe
Bucks. HP10 9HE
Tel: 01628 532169
RAF High Wycombe
No. 3 Site
Naphill
High Wycombe
Bucks. HP14 4UE
Tel: 01494 564439
Fax: 01494 564126

How children learn...
<strong>The</strong> ways in which children engage with other people and their environment –
playing and exploring, active learning, and creating and thinking critically –
underpin learning and development across all areas and support children to
remain effective and motivated learners.
<strong>The</strong> 7 areas of learning within the EYFS and their aspects are as follows:
PRIME AREAS
Prime areas are fundamental, work together, and move through to support development in
all other areas.
<strong>The</strong> prime areas begin to develop quickly in response to relationships and experiences, and
run through and support learning in all other areas. <strong>The</strong> prime areas continue to be
fundamental throughout the EYFS.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
A. Making relationships
B. Self-confidence and self-awareness
C. Managing feelings and behavior
Physical Development
A. Moving and handling
B. Heath and Self-care
Communication and Language
A. Listening and attention
B. Understanding
C. Speaking
SPECIFIC AREAS
Specific areas include essential skills and knowledge for children to participate
successfully in society.
<strong>The</strong> specific areas include essential skills and knowledge. <strong>The</strong>y grow out of the prime
areas, and provide important contexts for learning.
Literacy
A. Reading
B. Writing
Mathematics
A. Numbers
B. Shape, space and measure
Understanding the World
A. People and Communities
B. <strong>The</strong> World
C. Technology
Expressive Arts and Design
A. Exploring and using media and materials
B. Being Imaginative

Personal, Social and Emotional
Making relationships
Self-confidence and self-awareness
Managing feelings and behaviour
Social skills are for life
Social skills are important for your child. We begin learning social skills from the moment we are born
and we keep on learning all through our lives. <strong>The</strong>y are key to your child making and keeping friends
and to the enjoyment of life.
Please and thank you
Children develop good manners through
encouragement to say “please”
and “thank you”. Children learn
how to behave by copying what
adults do, so the more often they
see those around them being polite, the more likely they are to be polite themselves.
Neat and Tidy
Encourage your child to tidy away his or her own toys and complete one activity before choosing
something else.
Sharing and Taking Turns
<strong>The</strong> idea of sharing, whether a toy or anything else can, sometimes, be difficult for children to learn.
Giving lots of praise and rewards when children share encourages them to develop an understanding of
why sharing is important and what ‘taking turns’ really means.

Physical Development
Moving and handling
Health and self-care
This is a very broad area as it relates to all aspects of the
child’s ability to move around and use equipment. Large outdoor
play areas encourage children to explore their own skills at their
own pace.
Gross Motor Skills
Using the outdoor environment children develop their gross
motor skills such as hopping, jumping, running, balancing,
throwing and catching and the list goes on. Gross motor abilities
share connections with other physical functions.
Fine Motor Skills
In the pre-school we use a variety of activities and
equipment to promote children’s fine motor skills.
Threading, peg boards, construction sets, small world play,
playdough, gloop, painting and drawing. This helps the
children to develop the small muscles in their fingers and
arms which aids their dexterity and helps develop hand eye
co-ordination.
We encourage the children to become aware of the things they need to do
to keep their bodies fit and healthy.
We promote healthy eating and the
children have the opportunity to cook
and taste a variety of foods. Going to
bed early and having plenty of rest will
aid the transition to school.
Talking about real people from the local
Community can help to enforce these
messages for examples; dentists, police,
fireman etc.

Toilets and Washing
In the lead up to their transition to school, we can
build on a child’s confidence with toileting routines.
Helping and encouraging your child to;
Toilet confidently; Roll up their sleeves
and wash their own hands;
and in addition
use a handkerchief on their own and
make an attempt at dressing themselves
and put their own shoes on..
Dressing up games
Getting dressed does not come easily to young children. A collection of dressing up clothes can help
develop valuable skills in an enjoyable way and dressing dolls and teddies gives useful practise at
pulling on jumpers, jackets and trousers and fastening buttons.

Communication and Language
Listening and attention
Understanding
Speaking
It is never too early
It is never too early to start looking at books and sharing
stories.
Children who are read to and enjoy books from an early
age are most likely to become fluent and successful
readers themselves in the future.
We want children to know that reading is fun and
worthwhile – so it is important that they see adults read
and enjoy books, newspapers, magazines etc.
Reading must be fun
<strong>The</strong>re are plenty of well-illustrated and colourful picture
books and stories for reading aloud to choose from.
Let your child hold the book and encourage him or her to
turn the pages in the correct order.
Enjoying a story together provides some special time to
explore what books are all about. You can talk about the
pictures, ask questions and listen to what your child has to
say about them.
Involve your child
Children love getting involved in stories. Here are some ways you can do this……
Relate events to things you have done together and let him/her talk about what they think
will happen next.
Sometimes point to the words accompanying the pictures.
Your child may be able to join in the words with you when the story is repeated and words
are remembered.
This can also help to reinforce the left to the right movement needed for reading.

Encourage your child
Encourage your child to re-tell favourite and familiar
stories in their own words.
Taped stories, simple information books and carefully
selected comics can add to your child’s experience of
‘reading’.
Listen to music together and sign and recite nursery
rhymes, finger plays and simple songs. Children enjoy
the rhythm and repetition.
<strong>The</strong> local library
What a fabulous resource for a wide range of books and an exciting day out that you can share
together.
Even the smallest libraries have a children’s section with a range of books for pre-school children
to borrow free of charge.
A trip to the library to borrow some new books can quickly become a regular treat for your child.
Some suggested books
<strong>The</strong>re are thousands of interesting and exciting books available for young children to read. Listed below are
just a few of the best known ones, which are quite likely to be available from your local library.
<strong>The</strong> Tiger Who Came to Tea
Written by Judith Kerr
Published by Collins Picture Lions
Where’s Spot
Written by Eric Hill
Published by Picture Puffins
(the first of a series of ‘Spot’ life-the-flap books)
Kipper
Written by Mick Inkpen
Published by Hodder and Stoughton, Picture Knight
(the first of a series of ‘Kipper’ books)
Mog
Written by Judith Kerr
Published by Collins Picture Lions
<strong>The</strong> Very Hungry Caterpillar
Written by Eric Carle
Published by Hamish Hamilton
Guess How Much I Love You
Written by Sam McBratney
Published by Walker Books
<strong>The</strong> Mr Men and Little Miss Books
Written by Roger Hargreaves
Published by World International
<strong>The</strong> ‘Look and Talk’ Series
Published by Ladybird Books
(a series of 8 ‘information’ books for pre-school
children)

Literacy
Reading
Writing
Making marks
At first children need plenty of time to explore and
experiment making marks on paper with a variety of
implements. Try pencils, chalk, wax crayons and felt tips.
No formal instruction is needed at this stage.
<strong>The</strong>se ‘marks’ and scribbles have real meaning for
children so it is important to praise and value each
attempt.
Learning about writing
Children learn about writing by noticing print and watching
others write and draw.
Activity ideas
Point out bus or street signs and supermarket labels so
that children come to realise that the funny squiggles all
around them convey meaning. <strong>The</strong>y may even start to say
“what does that say”? when they see print.
Activities which help to strengthen fingers and develop
the physical skills necessary for writing are important
at this stage too, children can develop this strength
through making models and rolling and cutting out
shapes from play dough or pastry.
Simple sewing cards can be made using old birthday or
Christmas cards. Punch holes around the edge and let
children sew around them using wool or laces.

Recipe for making playdough
1 cup of salt
2 cups of flour
2 cups of water
2 tsp cream of tartar
2 tsp oil
Few drops of food colouring
Cook on a medium heat, stirring always.
Remove when mixture leaves the sides of the
pan. Knead well. Store in an airtight
containers.
Using scissors is a fabulous way of developing fine-motor skills together with hand-eye coordination,
try using scissors to cut out pictures from old catalogues, magazines or cards and glue
or paste the resulting shapes on to paper. Whilst these muscles are developing a good way of
practicing is with play dough – it’s much easier.
Holding the pencil
<strong>The</strong>re are lots of ways to practice mark making:
Make shapes or patterns in shallow trays or dry sand or
with paint using fingers.
Use wide brushes to make pictures with water
Try starting with wider objects such as thick colouring
pencils, these are easier to hold!
Patterns and lines
Before learning to write letters, children can benefit from drawing patterns and lines across
paper. Every opportunity should be made available for children to experience the marks that
they can make so that they can develop their emergent writing.
Before going shopping why not encourage your child to make their mark with the shopping list.
Names
Children are interested in any idea using their name.
Try making a name card for your child and use it to
encourage name and letter recognition. At first
encourage him or her to trace over the letters
using the index finger.
Use letter sounds. Let your child make their name
using magnetic letters. Play matching or sorting
games using sets of alphabet cards.

Mathematics
Numbers
Shape, space and measure
It’s not just about numbers
<strong>The</strong> idea of mathematics for pre-school children can seem a bit daunting. However, at this age a lot
of maths is about understanding ideas such as size, shape and pattern – things that most adults would
not think of as maths at all. If your child gains an early understanding of these concepts, then this
can give him or her a flying start with number work.
Shapes
Give your child opportunities to notice and
recognise the different shapes around them.
Use the proper names when talking to children
about 3D shapes and encourage them to find
things in the house with the same shape.
Look at road signs and discuss the different 2D
shapes your see.
Counting
A ball is a ‘sphere’
Children enjoy counting real objects so why not…….
counting the stairs at bed time; counting buttons on clothes; count the number of apples into a
shopping bag; count ‘pennies’ in a money box and save up to buy something.
Make up finding game, ‘can we find…… 3 books, 4 spoons or do 5 claps, 2 jumps etc’
Draw children’s attention to numbers in everyday life. Look for numbers on cars, buses clocks, houses,
telephones. Show your child how to represent numbers in a tray of sand or soil.

Counting Rhymes
Why not recite counting rhymes such as; such as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 once I caught a fish alive and read
counting books such as <strong>The</strong> Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.
‘1, 2, 3, 4, 5 once I caught a fish alive.
6, 7, 8, 9, 10, then I let it go again.
Why did you let it go?
Because it bit my finger so.
Which finger did it bite?
This little finger on my right.’
Pattern
Helping to lay the table encourages children to notice pattern – 1 knife, 1 fork, 1 plate in each
place.
Try using beads and cotton reels or pasta tubes for threading. Encourage ‘repeating patterns’
using 2 colours i.e. blue/green/blue/green along the string.
Matching
Playing matching games with pairs of socks,
shoes, gloves and pictures cards can be fun.
<strong>The</strong> ability to match lids to pans and tops
to bottles is useful too.
Talking with your child while doing an
activity will help him/her develop a
vocabulary of words which describe
positions, e.g. front, back, up down, over under.
Use words such as big, little; long, short; heavy, light; to describe items when you are shopping for
food or clothes.

Sorting
Sort objects into colours, e.g. icing on cakes if you have been baking, buttons, toys. Look out for
certain colours, e.g how many red cars do we see on our walk? Objects can be sorted for size,
shape and function too.
A ‘collection’ of seasonal items is useful for
developing sorting skills; e.g. leaves in autumn,
shells in summer, cards at Christmas.
Encourage children to notice similarities and
differences between these things.
Maths at bathtime
Bath time provides an exciting opportunity to investigate maths for example filling different sized
bottles with water and discovering which holds the most.
Vocabulary
Make as much use of mathematical vocabulary as possible such as more, less, full, empty, big, small,
tall, short, wide, narrow and the lists go on.
Time
Talk to your child about events in the day, night, morning,
afternoon

Measuring and Weighing
Cooking activities are always a favourite but can be an important mathematical experience, for
instance;
• Measuring ingredients with a cup
or spoon
• Using the scales to weigh and balance.
• Setting the timer on your cooker
to bleep when the food is ready.
This will help make your child aware
that it sometimes takes a length of
time to cook food.

Understanding the World
People and communities
<strong>The</strong> world
Technology
Plants
Plant cress seeds on damp cotton wool or blotting paper. Put some on a sunny windowsill, some in a
fridge and some in a dark cupboard and see what happens to them. Sprout carrot tops in a saucer
of water. Let your children help plant seeds and bulbs in the garden.
Changes over time
Observe growth in your family on a height chart.
Draw attention to seasonal changes. Talk about
the weather every day.
Collections
Collect and sort leaves using describing words
such as rough, smooth, crinkly Plant cress seeds
on damp cotton wool or blotting paper. Put some
on a sunny windowsill, some in a fridge and some
in a dark cupboard and see what happens to them.
Sprout carrot tops in a saucer of water. Let your
children help plant seeds and bulbs in the garden.
Clothes
What sort of clothes do we need to put on if it’s hot/cold/wet today?
Why are warm clothes warm?

Cooking
Cooking with your child gives opportunities to see the changes in food brought about by heating and
cooling.
Sand Play
Children enjoy playing with sand.
Try to provide opportunities for
children to compare how wet sand
can be used for building and how
dry sand pours like liquid.
Water Play
Water play can take place in a range
of ways e.g. a bath or paddling pool
Try adding soap and blowing through
a straw to make bubbles.
Add food colouring to make coloured water. Provide bottles, funnels, cups, jugs for pouring and
measuring. It takes a lot of skill to fill a small container from a large one and vice versa. Provide
corks, bottle tops, boats, small pebbles for floating and sinking games.
Information and Communication Technology
Children can be encouraged to use technology in their every day routines through the opportunity to
use simple computer programs, digital cameras, tape recorders, simple robots and programmable toys.

Cultures and Beliefs
Children learn about the world around them when they begin to understand about cultures and beliefs.
For example at Chinese New Year we try Chinese food and look at chopsticks. We make dragons and
do dancing and listen to Chinese music and stories. We enjoy celebrating world festivals and events.
Birthdays are celebrated through birthday boards and party teas.

Expressive Arts and Design
Exploring and using media and materials
Being imaginative
Being creative via a range of mediums enables us to practice fine and gross motor skills in a range of
ways. Using mark making materials in and around our environment helps us to think about sizes,
shapes, colours and textures as well as develop our vocabulary. How about going for a lovely walk with
clipboards? Draw a map of places you will visit, take rubbings of trees. Develop this journey into a
story?
Practicing everyday experiences helps us to learn social skills, using a wide range of objects to act out
real experiences helps us build on our imagination and enter a world of creativity where anything is
possible. For instance a scarf could become…….
• A beautiful sari
• A headband for a racer
• A dancing tool
• A snowman’s scarf
• A superheroes cape………. And many
many more