We endeavour to have a child centred environment with activities planned with individual interests in mind. This may mean themes will last for two or three weeks or two or three hours. The deeper the interest the longer the theme will last. We may have two or three themes running alongside one another at any one time. It is our intention to encourage children to explore a variety of activities through their interests and will try and encourage children to try new activities by making connections to something they have shown an interest in. For example we will encourage a child who does not like to get dirty hands to play in the sand, corn flour or clay by introducing the small animals or toys they do like to play with. Both playrooms are set up to allow children access to basic play equipment at every session. This will include books for stories and reference, some made by the children themselves. Pencils, crayons, chalks, paints, paper, envelopes and cards to encourage mark making. Cameras, computers, puzzles, games, construction on large and small scale, cutting, sticking and small world play pieces. Collections of items to discover and sort, resources to encourage the children to explore their feelings, role play and dressing up. Physical activity, sand, water, play dough or other malleable material, music, singing and movement. Not all children will access all of these activities at every session but we would endeavour to make sure they take part in a variety of activities.

This is an example of how an interest in spiders in the garden progressed to making spiders in the craft area. When looking for spiders the children also found snails and we were able to show the children how a flat piece of paper could be transformed into a spiral (well almost, give or take a few snips in the wrong place).

This is another example of how we use an interest to encourage a different activity. The children had listened to a story about Breakfast. We then went on to talk about our favourite foods and the children were encouraged to draw pictures either of their favourite foods or from the story.

We offer a variety of activities that encourage the children to play alone or in groups of two or three and space so that children can play in larger groups. We offer adult led activities specifically for the whole group and for limited numbers of children.  There are times when we actively encourage children to take part in whole group activities but would offer an alternative for those who really do not want to take part or for those with a shorter concentration span.

When children do not behave the way we expect them to first we make sure they are aware of how we want them to behave. If the problem is with sharing we make sure we have enough materials for the numbers of children wishing to take part and if necessary find more or restrict the numbers playing. When the behaviour really needs addressing we would show the child what has happened as a consequence of their action, for example the mess on the floor or the crying child. We would ask them how they could make things better if necessary suggesting pick up the toys or give the toy back to the child. We do not ask the children to say they are sorry but encourage them to show they are sorry for example, by giving a cuddle or helping to re-build a model by asking "what could you do to make them feel better".  For some children we may have to say "I can see you are sorry, your face is showing me you are sorry". We believe the children need to understand the feelings associated with pain and grief and the signs others show us when they are feeling upset or angry. This helps them to understand why they need to say sorry and how they can put things right. For some children we use happy and sad hats to show we are not happy with their behaviour or to help them settle in. Giving the child a sad hat to wear helps them understand their own feelings of being left alone in a strange place and helps them to move forward when their mood changes. Children are rewarded by a big grin from a member of staff (a smiley face) when things go well or have improved or the child achieves something new, we also use stickers and praise with words where appropriate. We try and use a variety of methods to praise children so that they do not become routine comments or children do not expect a gift.