Two-year-olds: Planning - Get set

As more and more settings begin to take two-year-olds for the first time, how can we make sure we get it right for them? The answer is planning. Like all children, the twos need the highest quality possible if we are to make a positive contribution to their learning and development.

Being two is an exciting age of rapid development, but with a wide difference between 'just two' and 'nearly three'. Then there are the differences between the children. These three are all the same age: there is Chloe who dresses up every day, filling several bags with anything she finds, then there is Davey who loves the trains, the train track and lining up the cars, and Zak who is never seen without the large tiger from the nursery's wild animal collection.

So how do we plan for such differences? It is best to just think about longand short-term planning: first taking the long view on what we need to have in place, then planning what we need to do over the next few days.

Let's begin with the long view. You might be thinking this is already done for you in Development Matters. But essential as it is, that is general guidance and every setting is different. Your long-term plans needs to be geared to your setting and you.

THE LONG VIEW

Long-term planning should be seen as an overview - a broad outline based on our knowledge of child development. The best plans are broad enough to allow for plenty of flexibility. For two-year-olds, we need to begin with their special ways of being, doing and learning - how they are likely to be learning - and then think about:

• what the adults will do to support them
• the learning environment and continuous provision
• the routines of the day.

This should result in you being well prepared for what to expect and for the unexpected; twos can often surprise us.

Planning for how twos learn

Twos are no longer babies or toddlers, but they are at quite a different stage of development from typical threes and fours. We need to remember, especially if they are to be in mixed groups with older children, that the younger two-year-olds may only have been walking for a few months and will be at an early stage of verbal communication, often only just beginning to string words together.

They will probably be showing interest in other children, but playing alongside rather than with them. They are highly active, exploring and experimenting with everything. They love being outside and need to be there for a lot of their time. Pretend play is just getting going.

Schemas

'Schemas' are often very obvious with the twos and will greatly affect how they play and what they show interest in. A schema is like a 'mental framework' that structures children's learning. Typically, you may notice a child who is a 'collector' or a 'transporter' (often one child is both), a child who lines things up and loves to move objects in straight lines, or an 'enveloper' who cover things and loves to hide themselves in small spaces. What we might call an 'interest' for an older child tends to be an all-consuming passion for the two-year-old (see More Information).

Planning the adult role

The adult role with the twos is different in many ways from how we interact with older children.

Two-year-olds need:

• a key person who will provide the personal support and emotional security, and form a close, supportive relationship with their parents
• adults who respond positively to their interests and passions
• adults who understand them and their delight in repeating the same actions, games and routines
• adults who tune in and listen attentively as they begin to express themselves verbally
• adults who get involved in their play, rather than adult-led activities
• support for their pretend play
• support to develop relationships with each other
• support for self care, such as dressing and toileting
• no expectation that they will sit still or participate in a large group or wait for their turn.

Achieving this requires careful planning, setting aside time for the key person to support settling-in and building those strong relationships with child and family, especially as the personal circumstances of some families receiving two-year-old funding in September may mean they need plenty of support.

Twos can be very caring but they are also subject to extreme emotions, and frustration can easily set in when striving to do things for themselves. Two is the prime time for learning about relationships as they explore and test how others respond to them.

As Kay Mathieson says in I am Two, 'Two-year-olds will often use their behaviour as a means of communicating their need for attention, reassurance and support.' So this means planning to ensure all staff provide empathy and understanding as well as clear boundaries where safety is concerned.

Continuous provision

Twos need an environment inside and outside that will interest them and inspire their curiosity, with plenty of time to explore and constantly available so that the same experiences can be frequently revisited. I recently asked the staff in a twos room what they felt was most important to have available every day. Replies were: 'water', 'sand', 'home corner', 'bubble blowers', 'climbing', 'having multiples of everything', 'the staff are the most important resource' and 'resources that meet their interests'.

If the resources are open-ended and continuously available with enough so as to avoid conflict arising from children competing for the same resources, then we will be well on the way to meeting the children's needs. Here is a quick checklist.

Do you have:

• a great outdoor area and interesting home corners inside and outside
• safe and challenging climbing
• toys to push and pull and buggies, trucks and wheel toys
• hidey holes and small sheltered spots
• malleable and messy play
• sand and water
• quantities of items and plenty of interesting bags and containers
• quiet cosy spaces and soft toys
• books, puppets and story props
• block play
• small-world play (big animals, trains and cars are favourites)
• songs to sing and percussion instruments to explore
• a space to take a nap?

Planning for the prime

When it comes to planning for the areas of learning, Development Matters will help. Three age/stage bands cover two-year-olds, and although we may feel that our planning should be geared around the 22-36 months band, we also need to refer to 16-26 months and 30-50 months. For this age, it is the Prime Areas that matter most, but we do need to think about the other specific areas too.

SHORT-TERM PLANNING

Having planned the overview, getting to know the children and their families well is the next step. And this is where the most important planning comes in - the short-term planning, based around the needs, interests and learning styles of each individual child and their level of development.

The planning cycle

The planning begins with 'gathering evidence' by observing the children and discussing with parents what they are doing at home. Whether it is your own observation or an observation made by a parent, the observation needs to be analysed: what have we found out about the child's learning and development? This process helps us think about the child's achievements and needs, taking us smoothly to the next part of the cycle: what should we offer next? The plans are implemented and the cycle starts again (see diagram).

Parents' intimate and detailed knowledge of their child helps you get to know the child's interests, likes, dislikes, delights, fears, and all round development. If parents paint a different picture of their child from the one you see, believe it, as the child is likely to be very different at home.

Observing

There are various methods of observing, but you will find out most if you observe the children when they are immersed in play or something they have chosen to do. Here you will see not only the child applying what they know and can do but also the approach they take and their particular interests.

The best method is to stand back and observe for three or four minutes, taking a photo or two and a few notes, noting where possible what the child said or communicated.

PROGRESS CHECK

The two-year-old Progress Check is a summary for parents of what we know about a child so far, designed to help us meet children's needs (see More Information).

Although the check requires practitioners to summarise the child's achievements in each of the Prime Areas, I believe it is also important to note:

• how the child is learning, using the EYFS Characteristics of Effective Learning as a guide
• the child's particular interests (sustained interests over time, rather than fleeting)
• the parents' information about what the child is doing at home
• and if possible, the child's own comments or responses.

Having drafted some comments summarising the child's development in the Prime Areas, the child's interests and how the child is learning, the next step is to meet with the parents to ask for their views. A 'best-fit' assessment should be made, using the age/stage bands in Development Matters. This involves taking the age band as a whole for each aspect of the Prime Areas and deciding if the child is broadly within the developmental norms (22-36 months), not yet at this level or ahead.

Involving the parents

It may not always be possible but making the judgements with the child's parents will be helpful, ideally sharing views and knowledge and coming to a common understanding. As one children's centre teacher told me: 'Completing the Progress Check with the parent is a very positive experience as the parents can add in so much about the children when they are not here. Parents are so pleased that we know their children well. We make the assessment judgements together using Development Matters and this helps parents understand the kind of things we look for.'

As a mother from the same setting told me, 'This is really useful. As a parent I just don't have time to stand back and reflect on my child, what he is learning and what his interests are.'

The child's voice

At some point in the process, the child should be included too. The best way to do this is to share their learning diary with them and talk about some of the photos, noting down what they say or how they respond.

Planning next steps

The purpose of the Progress Check is to ensure that the planning and provision you make and what parents do at home is fine-tuned to support each unique child's learning and development. This is the time to discuss with parents both what you consider might further tailor support for the child and also what might be useful to try out at home.

For some children, these planning points may include making a referral to another professional, with parents' permission. But for others it may be a question of:

• making sure the child's particular interests are fully catered for
• observing an area of learning and development more closely, or
• carrying on plans already in place.

The Progress Check is now complete, ready to give to the parents and, most importantly, to implement what you and the child's parents agreed to do. And as long as you are properly tuned in, two-year-olds are a real delight to work with - exciting and good fun.

CASE STUDY: THE PLANNING CYCLE

Here is an example of the planning cycle in action. Samir, two years and four months old, is interested in the wheeled toys and playing outside.

When soapy water has been put out in bowls with sponges and scrubbing brushes for the children to wash the wheel toys, he begins by exploring the bubbles in the bowl with his hands, then watches two others washing the trikes and plays beside them, delighted. Then he runs around with a brush and tries scrubbing the tree, the wall, then back to the trikes. Now he joins in beside others washing a caterpillar tunnel.

Analysing this, his key person could see how deeply involved he was, and how he used his own ideas and made links with what he already knows. She also had information about his development in the Prime areas. She felt this interest in making relationships was particularly significant and further support would help.

'We will plan for you to take part in similar experiences with one or two others to support you in making friends,' she said. She also lists other experiences she wants to introduce him to, building on his interests.

MORE INFORMATION

• Effective Practice in the EYFS: an essential guide by Vicky Hutchin (Open University Press in association with Nursery World)

• Getting to Grips with the Progress Check at Age Two, by Vicky Hutchin, 2013, Optimus Education, www.optimus-education.com/ebooks

• The EYFS: a practical guide for students and professionals, by Vicky Hutchin, 2012, Hodder Education

• I Am Two! Working effectively with two-year-olds and their families by Kay Mathieson, 2013, Early Education

• 'Schemas' - a six-part series of case studies profiling children's schematic play and how to support it, www.nurseryworld.co.uk/schemas

• 'Progress check' - the future of the progress check

• Parents as Partners: positive relationships in the early years by Jennie Lindon, Practical Pre-school Books, 2009.

Vicky Hutchin is an early years consultant and author