Nursery World - Learning & Development: Two-Year-Olds: Part 12

How can practitioners work within the Prime areas while also
introducing children to the Specific areas of development? Penny Tassoni considers how the different aspects link together

Over the course of this series, we have looked at two-year-olds in relation to the Prime areas of development. These areas have 'priority status' and are, of course, looked at during the Progress Check at Age Two. But there are four other areas of development that also form part of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), and which settings are expected to cover too. So in the final article in this series, we look at ways in which we might work with the Prime areas while also introducing children to the Specific areas of development.

STARTING POINTS

The Prime areas have to be the focus for our work with two-year-olds. They are, as is often said, the building blocks for children's overall development. When it comes to the Specific areas, a good tip is to be aware of the existing links between them and the routines, play and activities that you already use to support the Prime areas. This works particularly well where children's development is not yet secure within the Prime areas and so planning particular activities for a specific area of development would not be appropriate.

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