1 year olds

As children become mobile new opportunities for exploration and exercise open up. A safe and interesting environment at the nursery and preschool with age-appropriate resources, helps children to develop curiosity, coordination and physical abilities. This is a time when nursery children can start to learn the beginnings of self-control and how to relate to other people. In this period, nursery children are encouraged to develop their social and mental skills by people to whom they have a positive attachment. Building on their communication skills, nursery children now begin to develop a sense of self and are more able to express their needs and feelings. Alongside non-verbal communication children at nursery learn a few simple words for everyday things and people. With encouragement and plenty of interaction with cares, children's communication skills grow and their vocabulary expands very rapidly during this period.
Exploration and simple self-help builds a sense of self-confidence. Children are also learning about boundaries and how to handle frustration. Play with toys that come apart and fit together encourages problem solving and simple planning. Pretend play helps nursery children to learn about a range of possibilities. Adults are an important source of security and comfort.

Learning and Development

The room and outdoor environment at the nursery provides a safe, secure yet challenging space for the children.
The activities and resources in this age group include the following themes:

• Large Movement Area - To encourage posture and large movements
• Small Movement Play - To encourage vision and fine movements
• Pretend Play - To encourage speech, social and listening skills by the use of dolls, teddies and simple every day objects.
• Messy Play - To encourage fine motor exploration of objects using all the senses.
• Sensory and Heuristic Play - To encourage all aspects of sensory development, exploring objects, developing attention and concentration, hand-eye co-ordination and making simple preferences and choices.
• Family Books - To encourage a child's own self esteem, positive self image and links between home and nursery.
• Book Play - To encourage an early love of books sharing them with a caring adult.

• Sand and Water Play - To encourage exploration of objects using a child-focused approach.