It is easy to say 'our nursery is child-centred' or 'of course we focus on each baby and toddler as an individual'. But how often do you talk with colleagues to consider whether you really do run the days for under-threes with the children at the centre?What would that look like? In what ways do you really adjust care routines, play activities and your ways of communicating for each young child? Do you show you appreciate individuality in the under-threes? Do you enjoy your time with babies and toddlers overall, and do they realise it?
Along with your colleagues who work with the three- and four-year-olds, you need to ensure that you are not over-focused on the big picture of planning ahead and providing a full range of play and learning activities. Of course planning matters, but the important pay-off for the young children is what actually happens day by day, with experiences that mean each individual child is definitely in the final picture. Rather like the care routines, the planning for under-threes should never end up more important than the children themselves. So, how might you genuinely celebrate young children and their experiences?
Enjoy yourself
You celebrate children by enjoying care routines, play activities and outings with babies, toddlers and very young children. Yes, of course, you will have put in thoughtful planning about what is in offer today or how you are going to get down to the local park. But the entire point of celebrating is that you now enjoy the experience with the children.
* Do you find yourself giggling or laughing with the children? Of course, you are responsible as an adult for ensuring that very young children are safe and well. But this responsibility should still leave plenty of energy for you to relax into enjoying children's play. Taking children's care seriously does not mean you have to be serious all the time.
* Do the children in your care regularly experience your looking and smiling at their play? Perhaps an impromptu game of peep-boo has absorbed three toddlers for close to five minutes. They do not need you to be part of the game, but they notice happily that you have noticed.
* Do you show through your body language that you too are fascinated by what has caught this baby's attention or by the excited focus of several toddlers? Do you let the children lead you into the intriguing sight of raindrops running down the window or of what happens when you drop some Duplo into the water tray?
* Do you sometimes simply sit down comfortably with the children, just enjoying being peaceable together, looking at what they want to show you or enjoying their favourite story book for the third and fourth time?
* Do you show the young children that they are welcome to your time? You stop and watch how a small group of toddlers are busily loading up the trolley before transporting the contents across the garden. You give time and attention to a child who really wants to pull her own trousers up. Your smile and words show not only that you are pleased with what she has managed but that she was welcome to your time.
* Do you really appreciate and show you enjoy the process of children's making something in arts and crafts activities? Do you resist the urge to direct or even take over so that you have something neat to display or to give to the parents?
* Do you home in on what the children are keen to learn today, what they want to explore? They have plenty of time to learn in all the areas of their development and you celebrate very young children and their learning by following the flow of what and how they are keen to learn today.
* Case study: choice in routines
Every child is unique. Just as each child looks and acts differently, so too do they react differently to situations. It is easy to celebrate older children's achievements through a display of end products in the nursery, but showing appreciation for what very young children can do is just as important.
The nursery nurses at Beechwood Nursery in Glasgow use the main routines of the day to celebrate the young children in their care. For example, the children are involved in setting out snacks for themselves and encouraged to tidy and arrange toys and resources. They are also urged to identify what will happen next in the routine.
The staff give the babies and toddlers choice and challenge by allowing them, for example, to choose from crayons, pastels, charcoal and finger paints for a drawing or painting. This also ensures that a range of ability is catered for. Any creative piece produced can be hung on the wall, covered in sticky plastic and displayed for all to revisit and enjoy.
At Beechwood Nursery it is easy to see how much emphasis is put on preparing the environment to suit the individual needs and interests of the babies and toddlers. For each session the ethos, focus and resources are carefully chosen with the interests of the particular children who are attending in mind.
In any setting with under-threes, praise and affirmation should be offered freely, not just for achievement or participation but for paying attention, helping, sharing - and generally for being the little people that they are.
