_______________ The 50 Fantastic Ideas series is packed full of fun, original, skills-based activities for Early Years practitioners to use with children aged 0-5. Each activity features step-by-step guidance, a list of resources, and a detailed explanation of the skills children will learn. Creative, simple, and highly effective, this series is a must-have for every Early Years setting. The tuff tray is a staple resource that is often abandoned or underused in early years settings. However, when used effectively, a tuff tray can enhance a child's learning through its versatile usage, such as messy play or as enhancements to support themes and ideas that are being explored. A simple tuff tray provocation can offer many learning opportunities to help a child progress and develop, as its sensory play approach promotes open-ended investigations and problem solving. 50 Fantastic Ideas for Tuff Trays is packed full of exciting activities that are not only simple and easy to prepare and manage, but that also use materials and tools found in most settings and at very low cost. With ideas for tuff trays that support books, promote mathematics and are ideal for celebrations and festivals, this book creates inviting opportunities for learning objectives to be met in an exciting and creative way.

'This app has been incredible helpful in helping me navigate the minefield that is being a new mother' - Praise for the My First Five Years app If you’re looking for fresh, playful ideas to spark your baby’s curiosity, build their confidence and support their development, look no further! Written by the renowned childcare experts at My First Five Years, the popular app designed to help parents support their child's physical, cognitive and emotional development, this unique book of 60 activities explains the why behind different types of play, and shows you how to make the most of short, daily moments together. You might be wondering why your baby loves to show you objects they’ve found, or why they prefer some toys to others. Have you questioned why they can roll from their back onto their tummy, but not the other way around? This book breaks down the science of early childhood development into concise summaries, and includes easy, realistic ideas for play that make the most of development opportunities. The activities are clearly set out with step-by-step instructions, lists of equipment, and benefits for your baby. The book is split into six streams of development – social and emotional, gross motor, fine motor, sensory, language and cognitive – and each chapter includes a summary of the underlying science followed by simple, fun play ideas you can do at home with your baby. From tasty finger paint to egg box puzzles, the ideas fit neatly into daily life and focus on enhancing play into pivotal learning moments. There are also QR codes featured throughout, linking to additional related content. Beautifully colour illustrated and full of tips and advice, this book is perfect for building the foundations for your baby’s lifelong learning, development, health and wellbeing.

_______________ The 50 Fantastic Ideas series is packed full of fun, original, skills-based activities for Early Years practitioners to use with children aged 0-5. Each activity features step-by-step guidance, a list of resources, and a detailed explanation of the skills children will learn. Creative, simple, and highly effective, this series is a must-have for every Early Years setting. Introducing mindfulness in Early Years settings equips young children with life-long skills that develop as they mature. 50 Fantastic Ideas for Mindfulness features a range of activities that enable children to build awareness of their emotions, focus on the present and empathise more easily with others. From ideas to manage distractions to games for independence, this collection of ideas includes colourful photographs and easy-to-follow instructions, making it a fantastic resources to bring mindfulness into the Early Years.

Transform your play area with these environmentally friendly DIY projects for the Early Years! This one-of-a-kind book contains everything you need to build exciting, sustainable outdoor play spaces that can be adapted for any setting, big or small. There are 36 projects ranging from smaller designs such as the Bird Box Bookshelf and the Table-Top Ramp to larger structures such as the Hobbit Hole Door and the Wonky Stage that children can help build, using recycled pallet wood. Authors Alistair Bryce-Clegg and Oliver Wotherspoon are experts in Early Years play and have been instrumental in designing some of the very best outdoor play settings. With their helpful illustrations, full-colour photographs, step-by-step instructions and advice on how the play spaces link to the EYFS Framework and support early learning, you don’t need to be a DIY expert to build these simple and effective natural play areas.

_______________ The 50 Fantastic Ideas series is packed full of fun, original, skills-based activities for Early Years practitioners to use with children aged 0-5. Each activity features step-by-step guidance, a list of resources, and a detailed explanation of the skills children will learn. Creative, simple, and highly effective, this series is a must-have for every Early Years setting. Early Years expert Judit Horvath presents 50 fun and thoroughly creative ideas in this book designed to get children experimenting and investigating the properties of mud and clay. When given soil, clay or mud to play with, most children are instinctively motivated to explore and experiment. Mud, soil and clay are naturally open-ended, stimulating children to investigate possibilities, look for reasons and think of ideas. They are cheap and easy to source or access, simple to transform to suit any age group or activity, can be mixed with other materials, given a rich sensory experience via visual texture, deep colour, rich smell and tactile feel.

_______________ The 50 Fantastic Ideas series is packed full of fun, original, skills-based activities for Early Years practitioners to use with children aged 0-5. Each activity features step-by-step guidance, a list of resources, and a detailed explanation of the skills children will learn. Creative, simple, and highly effective, this series is a must-have for every Early Years setting. 50 Fantastic Ideas Inspired by Famous Artists uses well-known art as a visual inspiration to develop expressive art and design skills in the Early Years. It is much easier now to access art online and to bring inspirational pieces into a setting without having to buy postcards or visit an art gallery. Drawing on these readily available online sources, Judith Harries presents 50 ideas featuring a range of diverse artists from Lubaina Himid and Friedensreich Hundertwasser to Mary Delany and Picasso, and famous art including pop and street art, sculpture and portraiture. Using art supplies easily found in and outside the classroom such as paints, clay, pipe cleaners and natural resources like leaves and flowers, the interactive activities found in this book are ideal for inspiring creativity and fun at the same time!

The 50 Fantastic Ideas series is packed full of fun, original, skills-based activities for Early Years practitioners to use with children aged 0-5. Each activity features step-by-step guidance, a list of resources, and a detailed explanation of the skills children will learn. Creative, simple, and highly effective, this series is a must-have for every Early Years setting. Fearless play is a key element in developing a child's confidence, extending their limits, and helping them learn to assess risks and manage situations. This book is full of fun and colourful ideas for facilitating fearless play in early years settings. The variety of activities means there's something for every child to enjoy, ranging from basket making to mud racing. Each idea is targeted to help children face new challenges and explore the world around them, as well as helping to establish motor skills, coordination, and body awareness. A perfect resource for busy early years practitioners who want children in their care to play safely and fearlessly.

The 50 Fantastic Ideas series is packed full of fun, original, skills-based activities for Early Years practitioners to use with children aged 0-5. Each activity features step-by-step guidance, a list of resources, and a detailed explanation of the skills children will learn. Creative, simple, and highly effective, this series is a must-have for every Early Years setting. Children are naturally drawn to making marks. Long before they pick up a pencil or a paintbrush, they will experiment with making marks using hands, fingers, feet etc. as well as various found objects that they come across in day-to-day life. For children to become really confident and secure mark makers we need to provide them with lots of different opportunities with a variety of exciting mark making resources in many different contexts. Alistair Bryce-Clegg has collected together a whole host of ideas for different mark making utensils, as well as exploring numerous substances and surfaces that children can make marks on. Some of the ideas will support children to create their own 'masterpieces' while others will encourage them to make marks with other children in a group. As with all Alistair's ideas, 'engaging children' comes top of his list as when children are engaged they make the biggest steps forward on the road to writing and have the most fun!

The 50 Fantastic Ideas series is packed full of fun, original, skills-based activities for Early Years practitioners to use with children aged 0-5. Each activity features step-by-step guidance, a list of resources, and a detailed explanation of the skills children will learn. Creative, simple, and highly effective, this series is a must-have for every Early Years setting. Circle time stimulates learning in all areas of development - from the improvement of social skills and positive relationships to encouraging children to listen to each other within a caring and respectful environment. Judith Harries brings together creative ideas for circle time where learning can be shared and music and drama can be enjoyed. The book includes circle time activities and games that cover all of the Early Learning Goals through the sharing of thoughts, feelings and experiences. It can also be used across the curriculum, including helping children with literacy and mathematics through phonics and number games. This timeless collection of ideas featuring colourful and fun photography is a fantastic resource with many new activities for circle time, as well as some old favourites.

_______________ The 50 Fantastic Ideas series is packed full of fun, original, skills-based activities for Early Years practitioners to use with children aged 0-5. Each activity features step-by-step guidance, a list of resources, and a detailed explanation of the skills children will learn. Creative, simple, and highly effective, this series is a must-have for every Early Years setting. _______________ Learning about phonics and putting that knowledge into practice is an integral part of every child's learning journey. Good phonic knowledge is essential if children are to become successful writers and readers. This complexity can often make the teaching of phonics difficult (and a little dull!). This book contains a no-nonsense bank of ideas that are all simple and effective when carried out, using readily available resources so that any Early Years setting can put in to practise Alistair's innovative paths to teaching and learning phonics.

_______________ The 50 Fantastic Ideas series is packed full of fun, original, skills-based activities for Early Years practitioners to use with children aged 0-5. Each activity features step-by-step guidance, a list of resources, and a detailed explanation of the skills children will learn. Creative, simple, and highly effective, this series is a must-have for every Early Years setting. Packed full of inspiring activities which re-invigorate and extend traditional areas of early years provision, 50 Fantastic Things to Do with a Water Tray is a must have for pre-schools and nurseries. Each activity features easy to follow step-by-step instructions with additional ideas on how to extend the activity inside and outdoors. The learning possibilities are clearly identified and practitioners can see at a glance what the children will get out of the activity.

The 50 Fantastic Ideas series is packed full of fun, original, skills-based activities for Early Years practitioners to use with children aged 0-5. Each activity features step-by-step guidance, a list of resources, and a detailed explanation of the skills children will learn. Creative, simple, and highly effective, this series is a must-have for every Early Years setting. Developing a secure understanding of number in the Early Years is key to ensuring number confidence for future stages of learning. A wide variety of meaningful hands-on experiences are required to develop a child's deep understanding of number. 50 Fantastic Ideas for Exploring Number presents ideas that are all about doing - to not only stimulate the senses, but to also provoke thinking and talking, allow questions to be asked, and ensure that links are made between number concepts and the real world. The ideas require little preparation beforehand, can be used by practitioners without any specific expertise in teaching early number, and include easy-to-source materials. Each area of early number sense is covered from adding on and taking away to number stories, identifying and writing numbers. Alison Hutchison draws on her wealth of experience to present 50 ideas and experiences that make numbers fun and accessible so that, as they explore and investigate, children are fully engaged partners in their learning at this crucial early stage of their number journey.

From bestselling author Alistair Bryce-Clegg comes a book that shows adults working with children the huge impact that quality talk experiences can have on children's lifelong attainment. Young children are fascinated by the world around them. They have high levels of natural curiosity and a compelling desire to explore and experience EVERYTHING! As children develop the skills of language and communication it is talk that helps children to make sense of those experiences by asking questions and talking about their thoughts. Talk not only plays a pivotal role in helping children to understand the world around them, it also enables them to learn how to make sense of the role that they play within in it. After all, talk is just the thoughts that you have in your head coming out of your mouth. If you haven't got many thoughts in your head then you won't have much to talk about. Alternatively, if you don't have very much experience of language and talk, you will not be able to express your thoughts. Our role as practitioners is to create a wealth of learning opportunities and experiences that will fill children's heads with thoughts and questions and then support them in acquiring the language to be able to communicate those thoughts to make sense of their world and be understood.

From bestselling author Alistair Bryce-Clegg comes a book based on a fundamental truth: you can have the best teaching resources in the world at your disposal, but if you lack the engagement of the children you are working with, the potential for high level learning is minimal. For children to make progress in all aspects of their learning, the practitioners who work with them must have a good understanding of what the child already knows and can do (assessment). They should be able to create activities that will take the children forward to the next step in their learning (planning). Finally, they should measure the impact of those activities on the children's attainment (evaluation) and then the process can start again. The one crucial element that this model lacks, however, is engagement. This book will show through practical examples how early years practitioners can move away from the more traditional model of teaching to one that maintains all of the essential elements but is driven by engagement, the most powerful learning tool of all. It features advice on reflective practice, real examples to inspire, and how to make fundamental changes that will impact on children's learning in a hugely positive way.

_______________ The 50 Fantastic Ideas series is packed full of fun, original, skills-based activities for Early Years practitioners to use with children aged 0-5. Each activity features step-by-step guidance, a list of resources, and a detailed explanation of the skills children will learn. Creative, simple, and highly effective, this series is a must-have for every Early Years setting. Outdoors is a great space to enhance and extend children's learning. There are lots of children who have a natural affinity with the outdoors and use it as their preferred learning space. As adults supporting children's learning, it is important to support the investigation of their outdoor environment, but also that learning is taken into those spaces and delivered to children in the most engaging way that it can be. What you can (almost) always guarantee is children's enthusiasm to take their learning outdoors, what you can't always guarantee is the weather! In 50 Fantastic Ideas for Outdoor All Year Round Alistair has created 50 ideas that will get children and practitioners outside and learning come rain, snow, wind or sunshine! All of the activities have got their own central skill that can then be adapted to fit the interests of the children or each setting's own particular outdoor environment. So, whether your setting's outdoor space is a back garden, a small yard or large playground there will be activities that can be used and that will inspire young learners.

The 50 Fantastic Ideas series is packed full of fun, original, skills-based activities for Early Years practitioners to use with children aged 0-5. Each activity features step-by-step guidance, a list of resources, and a detailed explanation of the skills children will learn. Creative, simple, and highly effective, this series is a must-have for every Early Years setting. Important dates and occasions are often marked with a variety of celebrations and festivals. These occasions are also important markers for children in the passing of time and repeated experience. In Early Years education the best time to talk about a celebration or festival is often after it has occurred rather than before it happens. This is because many young children don't have a strong memory or understanding of something that occurred a year ago. So the closer they are to the experience, the richer their learning can be. In this colourful new book by Alistair Bryce-Clegg there are activities that cover: Christmas Diwali Easter Hanukkah Chinese New Year Halloween Bonfire Night Each activity encourages the children to learn about a particular celebration or festival and also to acquire new skills or techniques. Each of these skills and techniques can be taught on their own, or linked to other activity ideas that you (or the children) might have. The list of celebrations and festivals that are covered is by no means exhaustive, but the activities are flexible enough to allow practitioners to keep their core content and apply a different theme. They are limited only by your imagination...!

The 50 Fantastic Ideas series is packed full of fun, original, skills-based activities for Early Years practitioners to use with children aged 0-5. Each activity features step-by-step guidance, a list of resources, and a detailed explanation of the skills children will learn. Creative, simple, and highly effective, this series is a must-have for every Early Years setting. 50 Fantastic Ideas for Exploring Shape and Pattern features activities and games filled with rich contexts for learning and discussion, as well as fun opportunities for consolidation and problem-solving. Alison Hutchison draws on her wealth of experience to present ideas in line with the Early Learning Goals for investigating shape and pattern in the world around us. She focuses on helping young children to make connections and develop language, knowledge and understanding of shape and pattern. Whether children build with fabric blocks to create patterns or explore symmetry while playing with natural materials, the easy-to-prepare activities in this book facilitate engaging learning opportunities for children's ideas and interests to be explored.

This lively book from bestselling author Alistair Bryce-Clegg will guide you in planning, stimulating and organising role play in the early years, both indoors and out. Role play is an important part of every child's development, and this lively book will guide you through every stage of including role play in your early years practice. Part 1 discusses why role play is important, and Part 2 presents activities suitable for a range of role play situations. There are ideas for materials, equipment and locations, including advice on making the most of limited resources. Unlock your imagination and help your children to bring out what's inside!

The 50 Fantastic Ideas series is packed full of fun, original, skills-based activities for Early Years practitioners to use with children aged 0-5. Each activity features step-by-step guidance, a list of resources, and a detailed explanation of the skills children will learn. Creative, simple, and highly effective, this series is a must-have for every Early Years setting. This is a fantastic repository of information for anyone looking for ways to get kids having fun outside in productive, creative ways. With practical and straightforward ideas, this will help children learn to love the outside world and get in touch with nature. '...will have adults as excited as children when completing the wondrous practical outdoor activities inside it!' Early Years Educator

An inspirational book that studies the development of mark-making skills in relation to 'talk' and provides age-appropriate activities to use with young children that will have a significant impact on their learning. There is so much that you can do with children to get them ready to write. Mark-making development in boys is statistically slower and less successful than girls. Bestselling author Alistair Bryce-Clegg believes that this has a small part to do with physical development and more to do with appropriate understanding and the planning of engaging activities. His book will help practitioners not only to understand the development stages of becoming a mark maker but also to provide tried and tested activities and interventions to use. Using these techniques, he believes they will see a significant increase in progress for both boys and girls! As the content is appropriate to stage of development and not age of child it is aimed at children of all ages - from the point that they begin to make marks. This is an accessible theory into practice book backed up with a 'how to' section which contains real examples of effective initiatives based on case studies in a variety of settings.

The 50 Fantastic Ideas series is packed full of fun, original, skills-based activities for Early Years practitioners to use with children aged 0-5. Each activity features step-by-step guidance, a list of resources, and a detailed explanation of the skills children will learn. Creative, simple, and highly effective, this series is a must-have for every Early Years setting. Children benefit from the sensitive and supportive engagement of both their parents from the earliest of ages, but involving dads can be challenging. This book is designed to provide simple and accessible activities for practitioners looking to engage dads. Both June and Alice work with dads on a daily basis, helping them to understand their contribution to their children's development and longer term educational success. Realising how they can add to what the mums or other carers do in a different but complementary way, and how simple activities can enrich their children's lives, helps strengthen the bond between father and child. Each simple but effective idea in this book has been developed and written with the intention of promoting child and family well being, helping both children and families grow together.

_______________ The 50 Fantastic Ideas series is packed full of fun, original, skills-based activities for Early Years practitioners to use with children aged 0-5. Each activity features step-by-step guidance, a list of resources, and a detailed explanation of the skills children will learn. Creative, simple, and highly effective, this series is a must-have for every Early Years setting. In order to be able to think creatively, children have to be encouraged to use their imaginations and play autonomously. When setting up open-ended learning opportunities that stimulate children to investigate possibilities practitioners need easily accessible, cost effective resources. The rationale behind using cardboard boxes is the simple fact that they are cheap and open-ended, meaning they can be easily sourced and simply transformed by both adults and children. A cardboard box is a resource that when left alone, does nothing in particular but comes to life in the hands of children, requiring them to use their imagination or to build on their past experiences. Boxes as open-ended materials greatly enhance the play experience, as they require children to bring their thoughts into the play experience in a deeper way.

The 50 Fantastic Ideas series is packed full of fun, original, skills-based activities for Early Years practitioners to use with children aged 0-5. Each activity features step-by-step guidance, a list of resources, and a detailed explanation of the skills children will learn. Creative, simple, and highly effective, this series is a must-have for every Early Years setting. One of the secrets to getting children to be enthusiastic writers is to give them a subject to write about that they find engaging and worthwhile. If children are not interested or motivated by what they have been asked to write about, you can be sure that any writing you do get will be rushed, short and a bit half-hearted. In 50 Fantastic Ideas for Early Writing Prompts, Alistair Bryce-Clegg offers a collection of all of his favourite ideas and inspirations that have motivated the children he works with to pick up their pencils and get scribbling!

_______________ The 50 Fantastic Ideas series is packed full of fun, original, skills-based activities for Early Years practitioners to use with children aged 0-5. Each activity features step-by-step guidance, a list of resources, and a detailed explanation of the skills children will learn. Creative, simple, and highly effective, this series is a must-have for every Early Years setting. The desire to be independent is a natural part of child development and when children feel safe and secure within their environment they tend to embrace it. We can help out children to develop a sense of independence by encouraging them to make simple choices within their everyday life. The degree of independence that children can achieve is often determined by their age and level of skill, but also their self confidence. The more opportunities children have to be independent, the more their self confidence will grow and the more success they will enjoy. This inspiring new book contains 50 simple, highly effective and fun ideas for helping children to embrace and develop this natural part of child development.

This book builds upon Alistair Bryce-Clegg's previous title Continuous Provision in the Early Years. Continuous Provision: The Skills is designed to show practitioners what effective continuous provision should look like and how practitioners can link their provision directly to assessment. It has an emphasis on skill-based learning. Alistair Bryce-Clegg shows the difference between 'pure skills', skills related to specific areas of continuous provision like sand, water and role play, and 'facilitative skills' that children can experience throughout a setting, in many different areas and activities. This book looks at all areas of continuous provision with a view to helping practitioners to identify, assess and teach different 'pure' and 'facilitative' skills. The other essential element for really good continuous provision is a measure of open-ended experience, to allow children to use their own creativity and curiosity to interpret and use what they see around them. This book provides plenty of suggestions to make activities interesting and engaging for children, to encourage them to challenge themselves and learn new skills.