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Water is an open-ended resource, meaning the provision isn’t usually intended to have a specific outcome or instructions to follow.

Mark making starts long before children pick up a pencil – and sand is the perfect sensory surface to explore it. This simple and engaging activity invites curious children to make their mark, build those early writing muscles and express themselves creatively and playfully.

This is an easy, accessible activity that encourages creativity, sensory exploration and expands vocabulary. In this activity children create their own dough and get to explore its properties by mixing, rolling, stretching and shaping it into various forms.

World Afro Day is a Global Day of Celebration and liberation for Afro hair. The day aims to challenge negative attitudes and help people understand and appreciate the diversity of Afro hair and identity. This my hair and me activity provides a wonderful opportunity to explore the idea that everyone's hair is different, and every type of hair is beautiful. Children can explore different textures through play, observation and creative experiences while developing positive attitudes towards difference.

Playdough offers a rich sensory experience that nurtures creativity, imagination and fine motor development. Create an inviting space where children feel inspired to explore and engage in sensory play. This open-ended experience encourages children to experiment, create and express their ideas freely, supporting their curiosity and individuality. 

Explore colours and textures in this sensory rainbow rice activity. Using their sense of touch, smell, sight and sound, children create a beautiful, unique, textured piece of artwork, developing fine motor skills and expressive language along the way.

This sensory harvest tray activity is a wonderful way for babies and young children to explore the sights, smells, textures and sounds of autumn. Using a range of natural harvest-inspired materials, children can investigate at their own pace while developing their senses, curiosity, communication and physical skills through hands-on, playful exploration.

Mark making is the foundation of early writing, creativity and communication – and it should be happening everywhere, every day. As leaders, it’s our job to inspire our teams to create rich environments and champion mark making across the whole provision – indoors and out. Here are our top tips put mark making at the heart of play and learning. 

This learning workout aims to look at some of the ways we can come to understand risky play, drawing upon some key examples of risk at play, and learn about safe ways to implement it in practice. 

Environments that stimulate children’s learning are not just about the space they interact in but relies on the professional conduct of the adults around them to create an engaging place for provocation and thought.

Process based activities give children an ideal opportunity to engage deeply in the processes behind their actions, supporting decision-making and developing a true sense of autonomy over their learning experiences.

Play-based learning is an essential aspect of early childhood development and a core way to engage children in a satisfying and stimulating environment. But another valuable way to continue to promote this necessity for play-based learning is to seek out even more opportunities to learn about the power of play!

To create an environment that encourages this stimulation and engagement, we need to ensure that the provocations of our learning opportunities promote curiosity and active enquiry.  

Risky play is all about providing the environment and means for children to test these limits in a safe and supportive way. Knowing of the presence of a ‘safety net,’ a familiar person, doesn’t eradicate any sense of danger or anxiety but helps to promote the positive feelings of curiosity and adventure instead.

Modern early years curriculums are built around the value of play, understanding it as an unprecedented language for early learning and development. Although the importance of play within learning theory in children’s social and emotional development is something that is widely recognised today,  it has only become an established philosophy since the mid-to-late 19th century!

Montessori schools are found around the world with a distinct approach to learning and development in young children. But who is the person behind the name?

With so much going on, it can be difficult to get everything done, but sometimes it’s necessary to think about what happens when we slow things down in order to appreciate the moment and fully immerse ourselves in all that an individual interaction has to offer. 

Risky play goes against the most basic instinct of a professional working in early education and care: to keep children safe is paramount to our job. But, paradoxically, risky play actually promotes everything best practice in early education and care stands for too: creating engaging and stimulating environments that test boundaries, sustain and expand confidences in individual ability and provide opportunities to grow. 

Play with sand is a form of messy play that offers endless possibilities for children to engage all sorts of skills for a well-rounded and healthy development. As a provocation with open-ended possibilities, sand is a resource that is sustainable and reuseable, to be used indoors and outside for all ages. Sand play offers a wide range of benefits for children in their early years, supporting their development in multiple areas. 

The 1001 Days Movement is a campaign that works to increase the recognition of just how important the infant years are to our continued development and learning through life.