Developmental Movement Play

OUR CURRICULUM

Children start to learn about the world around them from the moment they are born. The care and education offered by our setting helps children to continue to do this by providing all of the children with interesting activities that are appropriate for their age and stage of development. Being active and playing supports young children’s learning and development through doing and talking. This is how children learn to think about and understand the world around them.

We use the Government recommended EYFS statutory guidance as the basis of our education programmes assisting to plan and provide opportunities which will help children to make progress in all areas of learning. This programme is made up of a mixture of activities that children plan and organise for themselves and activities planned and led by practitioners. We also incorporate our own ideas to help the children to achieve such as Forest School activities, STEAM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Maths), Yoga, Developmental Movement Play. The sports focus is an additional concept at our Humberston Country Club Pre-School.

Forest School

Innovative teaching has been provided to all three of our schools using the Forest School ethos which encourages children to develop a love and respect for the outdoors, to nurture their understanding of growth, the weather, the seasons, nature and all that the great outdoors has to offer. By teaching that with a fire comes a full tummy from cooking on it and a warm body from sitting alongside we hope to eradicate a lot of the anti social behaviour that is prevalent in such areas . We aim to create a respectful environment where children can appreciate a love of healthy food, cooking and the benefits that outdoor leaning has on their development and the overall impact on the environment.

At our forest school sessions we work in all weather and believe there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing. This is why we provide waterproof clothing and wellies so that even on the most wintery days we can still go outside to jump in puddles, explore frosty spiders webs and get warm by cooking porridge on an open fire.

Parents are often invited along to help cook over a campfire or continue the nurturing of homegrown vegetables, and children’s physical skills are developed from the work of pushing wheelbarrows and pulling and transporting logs. Communication is louder, clearer and more spontaneous and everything is shared with parents.

STEAM

We develop an interest within our children and their families in STEAM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths). As children are naturally curious and often think like scientists, by providing a play based curriculum, supportive adults and thought provoking resources we aim to further cultivate creativity and critical thinking, reasoning, problem solving and language and communication skills.

By discussing not just the typical careers within our local community, but those further afield, we hope to raise the aspirations of our children and also to encourage our girls to develop an interest in these subjects and roles. We link up with industries within the world of STEAM and create valuable partnerships which will encourage and develop our young children into the engineers, computer programmers, microbiologists and architects of the future.

We are now embarking on new collaborations, linking with local industry leaders in the Humber bank’s engineering, technology and green energy sector to promote apprenticeship opportunities for parents, at the same time as raising aspirations of their children.

Yoga

The Little Trees Yoga are fun filled themed classes. Our yoga helps children to learn to use their bodies in a healthy way. There are many benefits of teaching yoga to children:

Develop body awareness
They learn to manage their emotions through breathing awareness, meditation and relaxation
They learn to build concentration, increase their confidence and positive self image
They feel part of a healthy, non competitive group

Developmental Movement Play is an idea based on children's natural movements and is always: child lead, playful and neuro developmental. It provides opportunities for children to spontaneously explore their bodies and their environment in their own way and manage their own risks.

Developmental Movement Play explores the ‘5 ways of moving’ and we attempt to provide an environment which allows children to engage in all ways. The 5 ways of moving: floor play, belly crawling, crawling, push, pull, stretch, hang and buffeting around and spin, tip, roll, fall.