Effective Early Years Practice – guidelines for staff

  1. Spend your time on the floor with children, and at their level, avoid standing and doing ‘adult tasks’ at counters or on shelves as much as possible
  2. Encourage children to engage with a resource or piece of equipment themselves, rather than leading play too much
  3. Repetitive and simple games can often be very calming for children, and enable them to take control of the game quickly [for example throwing bean bags in a bag, emptying them out and doing it again, and again and again)
  4. Think carefully about children’s transitions; talk to them about what’s happening, minimise disruption and help them re-engage at the other end of the transition
  5. Adapt activities and experiences in the gan to make them suitable for the individual child
  6. Help children to engage with the resources and equipment that are set out – they don’t always now HOW to play with the things. Think about how you can EXTEND the offer for children who need a bit ‘more’
  7. Help children make choices about what to play with and where to play
  8. Support children to develop focus and attention on the things in the environment rather than leading too many songs, stories or being too dominant in the space