Principles
* Finding opportunities to give positive encouragement to children, with practitioners acting as positive role models (p28)
* Ensuring that there is time and space for children to focus on activities and experiences and develop their own interests (p28)
Early learning goals
* Continue to be interested, excited and motivated to learn (p32)
* Be confident to try new activities, initiate ideas and speak in a familiar group (p32)
Stepping stones
* Have a positive approach to new experiences (p32)
* Display high levels of involvement in activities (p32)
COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY
Principles
* Providing opportunities for children to see adults writing and for children to experiment with writing for themselves through making marks, personal writing symbols and conventional script (p44)
* Modelling the use of language as a tool for thinking (p46)
Early learning goals
* Use language to imagine and recreate roles and experiences (p58)
* Use talk to organise, sequence and clarify thinking, ideas, feelings and events (p58)
* Attempt writing for different purposes, using features of different forms such as lists, stories and instructions (p64) Stepping stones
* Use talk, actions and objects to recall and relive past experiences (p56)
* Ascribe meanings to marks (p64)
* Use writing as a means of recording and communicating (p64)
MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT
Principles
* Ensuring children enjoy mathematical learning because it is purposeful (p70)
* Encouraging children's mathematical development by intervening in their play (p72)
Early learning goals
* Count reliably up to ten everyday objects (p74)
* Recognise numerals 1-9 (p74)
* Use developing mathematical ideas and methods to solve practical problems (p74)
Stepping stones
* Show curiosity about numbers by offering comments or asking questions (p74)
* Begin to represent using fingers, marks on paper or pictures (p74)
* Show interest by sustained construction activity or by talking about the shapes of everyday objects (p78)
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD
Principles
* Using carefully framed questions (p84)
* Making effective use of outdoors and the local neighbourhood (p84)
Early learning goals
* Find out about, and identify, some features of living things, objects and events they observe (p86)
* Ask questions about why things happen and how things work (p88)
* Build and construct with a wide range of objects, selecting appropriate resources, and adapting their work where necessary (p90)
* Observe, find out about and identify features in the place they live and the natural world (p96)
Stepping stones
* Describe simple features of objects and events (p86)
* Construct with a purpose in mind, using a variety of resources (p90)
* Comment and ask questions about where they live and the natural world (p96)
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
Principles
* Providing sufficient space, indoors and outdoors, to set up relevant activities (p100)
* Supporting other areas of learning through physical activity (p101) Early learning goals
* Handle tools, objects, construction and malleable materials safely and with increasing control (p114)
Stepping stones
* Engage in activities requiring hand-eye co-ordination (p114)
* Manipulate materials to achieve a planned effect (p114)
CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT
Principles
* Giving children opportunities to develop their own ideas (p118)
* Interacting with and supporting children in developing confidence, independence in making choices, and children's response to what they see, hear, smell, touch and feel (p118)? Early learning goals
* Use their imagination in art and design, music, dance, imaginative and role play and stories (p124)
Stepping stones
* Engage in imaginative and role play based on own first-hand experiences (p124)
