50 Fantastic Ideas for Nursery Gardens

By June O'Sullivan and Clodagh Halse

Company: Bloomsbury Publishing

Price: £10.99

Website: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/

A ‘charming’ and ‘extremely accessible’ book, which our testers say is useful for ‘inspiring and educating’ early years practitioners who are less well-versed in gardening and wildlife.

It is packed full of exciting activities, such as making a bird feeder and going on a garden treasure hunt, all that have been tried and tested in the London Early Years Foundation nursery gardens with the children and nursery staff.

‘The success is in its simplicity,’ one setting explained. ‘The ideas may be obvious to many but the step-by-step, clear, concise instructions will certainly support the less confident practitioner.’ With ‘attractive’ illustrations and a ‘clear layout’, it is ‘highly recommended’ by our testers. There is also a focus on the environment, recycling and caring for living things, which is most welcome at a time when environmental issues are high on the agenda.

Men in Early Years Settings: Building a Mixed Gender Workforce

By David Wright and Simon Brownhill

Company: Jessica Kingsley Publishers

Price: £18.99

Website: www.jkp.com

The role of male childcare professionals is explored in this book, along with guidance for practitioners, managers and policy-makers on how to build a more mixed-gender workforce by successfully attracting, recruiting, retaining and developing men in their teams. It considers the reasons why men make up less than 2 per cent of the early years workforce in England and suggests ways to break down the barriers. It contains some ‘inspiring quotes from interviews’ that help to normalise a mixed gender workforce.

A practitioner spoke of the ‘excellent referencing’ and how it ‘hits the nail on the head’ of some questions that people shy away from, such as male members of staff nappy-changing. He said, ‘They have not preached but offered some excellent evidence on why a gender mixed workforce is beneficial.’ Another tester praised the ‘accessible style’ which addressed a ‘challenging subject’ and described it as ‘an excellent tool for settings wanting to become more inclusive, as it provides case studies and strategies for including more males in the early years workplace’.

Messy Maths

By Juliet Robertson

Company: Crown House Publishing

Price: £18.99

Website: www.crownhouse.co.uk

This ‘beautifully presented and well written’ book hooked one reader in from the first excerpt, when it outlined how mathematical language is rehearsed by children naturally in their play. It is ‘full of theoretical and research references’; the pictures are ‘stunning’ and the layout of the book makes it ‘eminently readable’, one tester highlighted.

Author Juliet Robertson demonstrates a ‘deep knowledge’ of both maths and early years pedagogy in this thoughtful, well-researched book which will engage practitioners who ‘shy away’ from teaching maths, another tester explained. Ms Robertson believes that being outside makes maths real. She offers a rich resource of ideas to inspire practitioners to tap into the endless supply of patterns, textures, colours and quantities of the outdoors and deepen children's understanding of maths through hands-on experience.

Understanding Children's Behaviour

By Penny Tassoni

Company: Bloomsbury Publishing

Price: £19.99

Website: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/

Through a combination of practice, theory and reflection, renowned early years consultant Penny Tassoni explores children's behaviour from a child-centred point of view. Testers described the book as a ‘practical handbook’ which is ‘accessible in its layout and language’. One commented on the ‘especially helpful’ large section of the book which explores ‘specific undesirable behaviours’ and possible strategies. Another said that gives an ‘excellent insight’ into why children may be behaving the way they are, what practitioners and parents need to consider and strategies they might use.

The book focuses on the importance of adults building strong, responsive relationships with children and looking beyond undesirable behaviour to what might be going on for the child in order to provide the appropriate support. It also looks at children's ability to self-regulate. A useful A-Z problem-solving section deals with unwanted behaviour for analysis and to guide practice.

In All Weathers!

By Sam Goddard

Company: Yellow Door

Price: £15

Website: www.yellow-door.net

Written by Sam Goddard, an experienced Forest School leader, this practical handbook with clear theoretical grounding will prepare practitioners well for purposeful outdoor adventures. It is full of 50 creative and innovative ideas to help practitioners to embrace the rich possibilities of learning outside, whatever the weather and space available.

The activities include learning from nature; outdoor investigations; imaginative play; stories old and new; and seasonal celebrations. Each activity follows the same format for ease of reference: starter, resources, main activity, extension ideas, reflections and links to the EYFS. Settings reviewing the book commented on ‘easily photocopiable’ pages, for which permission had been given, and the spiral-bound ‘flip style’ A4 layout, which made viewing easy.

Can I Go and Play Now? Rethinking the Early Years

By Greg Bottrill

Company: SAGE Publishing

Price: £19.99

Website: http://uk.sagepub.com

Is it time to re-think continuous practice in the early years? In this book, author Greg Bottrill explores how he ensures that, in his early years setting, continuous provision enables children. Topics include early reading and the joy of reading; early writing development; boys' writing; the nature of outdoor play; the role of parents in child development; mathematics in play and when and how to do intervention work with children.

It is ‘very thoughtfully written’, providing the author's own thoughts and reflections, one tester explained. It also provides some ‘important messages’ about focusing on what children really need and developing pedagogy based on this. Other comments include: ‘it's well-laid-out and easy to read’; it ‘challenges the reader’ and it has an ‘academic feel about it’, using ‘language that would appeal to those at degree standard’.