Nursery World Show: Exhibitors - A fine sight!

The huge number of stands at the Nursery World Show 2010 will showcase the latest early years resources, IT software and play equipment, exhibited by leading nursery suppliers, early years associations, recruiters and trainers.

Visitors to the show will have the opportunity to meet industry professionals, discover new ideas and share good practice with their peers.

Free workshops and training sessions will be given by the unions Voice and Aspect on safeguarding, rights and responsibilities, and Early Years Professional Status.

For those looking to gain information on how to develop professionally and upgrade their qualifications, plenty of expert advice will be available from the teams manning the stands for universities including Greenwich, Kingston, Huddersfield and the West of England.

The Open University and the National Extension College will also be on hand to answer questions on the wide range of distance learning courses they have on offer, including the NEC's new Level 3 CACHE accredited transitional childcare courses, which enable students to move from playwork to childcare and vice versa.

Live Theatre Stage

The live theatre stage returns to the show this year, with demonstrations from leading early years consultancies and educational resource companies.

Nursery World's Trainer of the Year, Sue Gascoyne from Play to Z, will be sharing the benefits of using treasure baskets with children from birth to six-plus. Her hands-on demonstration will show what children and practitioners can gain from handling sensory-rich resources and what children with special educational needs can gain too.

Creative learning, development agency and educational consultancy Future Creative, which works closely with schools and community settings to support the development of the workforce, will facilitate a presentation on a holistic approach to the EYFS.

Jones and Bartlett Learning will be running an interactive workshop live on stage to promote its Paediatric First Aid for Carers and Teachers course, which is endorsed by the UK's College of Paramedics. Visitors will have the chance to gain hands-on experience of the new course run by a leading paediatric first aid expert.

TTS will be showcasing its new range of exciting products from the 2010 catalogue.

Enabling Environments

Educational consultancies Elizabeth Jarman and Mindstretchers will demonstrate, in a number of brief and informative sessions throughout the two days, how the environment supports and extends children's development and learning through planned experiences and activities.

Elizabeth Jarman will demonstrate her hugely popular CommunicationFriendly Spaces approach, which helps to assess how effective learning environments are in supporting children's speaking and listening skills.There will be six elevated spaces on show that practitioners will be able to explore so they can consider a child's perspective at first hand.

Mindstretchers, which provides children with multi-sensory and realworld educational environments through training and consultancy, educational products and nature gardens, will demonstrate its motivational naturalistic spaces.

The session aims to motivate practitioners by inviting them to relive their childhood experiences in order to appreciate the benefits of sensorial learning for young children.

Interactive Sessions

A range of interactive sessions taking place on the exhibition floor are designed to engage practitioners and demonstrate the variety of play equipment and resources on offer.

Step by Step (SBS) will recreate a mini market square role-play experience, where visitors can withdraw their money from the post office, pop along to the supermarket and shops to collect their groceries and take them back to the kitchen to cook a home-made meal.

First2learn, part of NES, will be bringing the outdoors to life with its new nature-themed play environment. Visitors to the show can explore the sensory garden that was inspired by Eureka! the national children's museum, and is designed to create unique sensory opportunities for active learning and imaginative play.

Active and outdoor play

Tumble Tots' Leaps and Bounds is a progressive physical and movement programme for children from when they are walking to five years of age.

It was designed to meet a demand from pre-school settings and parents for a movement and physical development programme, and is based on the principles of the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage and Birth to Three Matters. In 2006 the programme was awarded a kitemark by the Professional Development Board of Physical Education, which is recognised by the DCSF.

Designed to complement indoor and outdoor physical activities currently provided in pre-school settings, the programme aims to develop children's agility, balance, climbing, co-ordination and language development through the use of action songs and rhymes.

The programme is split into three age groups: walking-two years, two-three years and three-school age.

Action Kids will be promoting its accredited Action Kids Centre of Excellence Active Learning Journey, which supports early years provision through music, movement, games and imaginative play. The certified training programme is designed for all nursery staff and promises to enhance whole settings. It trains staff to the highest standard and encourages them to be pro-active, motivated and better communicators. They will also learn about the key areas of a child's physical development and be fully qualified to deliver the Action Kids' movement play activities.

Resources

A wide range of early years resources and equipment from toys to teaching aids will be on display, and a number of exhibitors will also be launching new products at the show.

Smart Start Toys will introduce four new products - balloons and rings, magnetic letters, a triangular activity centre and a cardboard rocket.

The multi-activity balloons and rings game helps to develop children's mathematical skills and hand-eye co-ordination while creating patterns and sequences, counting and sorting, and using the rings for stacking or stringing games.

The triangular activity has a blackboard on one side, an abacus on another, and turning blocks which show letter, word and phonetically correct images on the third side.

The cardboard rocket, one of a range of designs of cardboard playhouses, can help to boost imaginative play. Children can choose how they decorate the playhouses, which are made of durable and 100 per cent recyclable cardboard and can be folded flat when not in use.

Another new launch at the show is Dizzy Tron, Hope Education's new programmable robot that can be used as a learning aid for numerous curricular areas, including mathematics and English. Dizzy has a memory of up to 50 steps, lights, sounds and button presses, and gives feedback on the completion of a course. He also has a drawing feature that enables children to trace his steps and simple geometric patterns.

At the BT Better World stand, visitors will receive free copies of its 'Learning to Talk, Talking to Learn' DVD, which has been produced in conjunction with children's speech and language charity I CAN. The DVD demonstrates best practice for supporting the development of a child's language and communication skills in various settings.

Blue Butterfly Flooring, a mother and daughter partnership, will be launching its new range of flooring and mats designed to stimulate children's imaginations and bring the outside in so they can learn more about living creatures. The fantasy creations, which feature images of minibeasts, sea beasts and furry beasts, are printed on vinyl, carpet or foam backing.

Creche sponsor Eibe will be launching its new Lofts to Play products that promote basic physical, mental and social capabilities. The two-level structures provide game and movement areas and room for many experiences, from communication and role play to physical activity.

Creche Service

Visitors to the Nursery World Show 2010 can bring along their own children or charges and take them to the creche, where they will be looked after and entertained. The creche is run by the Pre-School Learning Alliance and Eibe, who will provide play equipment.

To register, visit www.nurseryworldshow.com