Explorers - First Steps to Learning | Childcare for Children Under 2 Essex

Under 2s

The Explorers

The Explorers Room is a cosy and inviting space designed for infants aged 6 months to 2 years old. This nursery room is designed to encourage exploration and discovery, with plenty of colourful toys, soft play mats, and sensory objects to stimulate young minds.

Our experienced and caring staff is always on hand to provide attentive care and support to our little explorers as they learn and grow.

Safety is our top priority, and the room is equipped with all the necessary safety features to ensure a secure and comfortable environment for your child.

Tuff Tray Learning

We believe that sensory exploration is a crucial experience for the Explorers along with many other age appropriate resources that will stimulate your child’s mind.

Tray 1

Enhancing fine motor skills by pushing, pulling, rolling, along with connecting the trains and track together.

Tray 2

Sensory play – this allows the babies to stimulate their senses. Especially touch, sight and hearing.

Tray 3

Extension of children’s interest. Developing the understanding of and naming familiar sea creatures.

Tray 4

Posting activities allow the children to develop fine motor skills along with their visual special awareness.

Tray 5

Ice play – sensory play allows the opportunity to talk about what they are experiencing and using describing words to do so.

Tray 6

Developing the understanding that objects can be combined and one object can be placed inside one another.

Tray 7

Extension on children’s interest – tea making. The children are able to fill and empty tea cups using spoons and other cups to transfer one to another

Tray 8

Re creating a favourite book – encourages Explorers to look, point, touch and ask simple questions about what they can see. This develops social and cognitive skills.

Tray 9

To allow the children to make sense of their immediate world. The Explorer’s are able to engage in mimicry and imitative play.

Tray 10

Sensory play – this allows the babies to stimulate their senses. Especially touch, sight and hearing

Tray 11

Exploring new materials to create marks in. The Explorers are also developing the ability to control marks using their muscles.

Tray 12

Children to develop early concepts of Big/Small, finding the big animal and the matching small animal grouping them together

Tray 13

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

Tray 14

Enhancing fine motor skills by pushing, pulling, rolling, along with connecting the trains and track together.

Tray 15

Extension on children’s interest – tea making. The children are able to fill and empty tea cups using spoons and other cups to transfer one to another.

Tray 16

Learning about senses encourages the children to develop an understanding of passage of time and how things change.

Setup

The explorers can develop early mark making skills to develop the foundations needed for their early literacy skills.

Setup

Children can develop their vocabulary, colours, prepositions, shapes, problem solving, team work and counting

Setup

To allow the children to make sense of their immediate world. The Explorer’s are able to engage in mimicry and imitative play.

Setup

Building – opening up opportunities to build and create in a variety of ways

Steps to Progress

Our Curriculum

We understand that it may be the first time you may be leaving your most valuable and precious little ones, but rest assured they will be attended to with the utmost care.

The EYFS
Steps to Learning
Characteristics of Effective Learning
Keyworkers

The focus for learning and development with all children are based on the areas of learning within the EYFS:

Communication and language

Listening and attention
Understanding
Speaking

Physical Development

Moving and handling
Health and self-care

Personal, social and emotional development

Self-confidence and self-awareness
Managing feelings and behaviour
Making relationships

Literacy

Reading
Writing

Mathematics

Numbers Shape, space and measures

Understanding the world

People and communities
The world
Technology

Expressive arts and design

Exploring and using media and materials
Being imaginative.

Learning goals are divided by age-related outcomes, and are based on the following formula from ‘Development matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage’:

We recognise that all children learn best in different ways, and the EYFS splits styles of learning into the following:

At First steps to Learning, we incorporate these characteristics into our observations of children, and by recognising how the children individually learn best, we are able to create tailor-made planning that is child-focused and effective.

We also include fun and accessible teaching on
the British Values of:

Democracy
Rule of law
Individual liberty
Mutual respect and tolerance for those with different faiths.

We strive to include these core values that underpin our society in all aspects of the setting.

The Unique Child reaches out to relate to people and things through the Characteristics of Effective Learning, which move through all areas of learning.

playing and exploring
active learning
creative and thinking critically

We recognise the importance of each child having a Key Worker who works closely with your child, observing, assessing and planning in ways that enable them to thrive throughout their time at our nursery.

Your child’s Keyworker uses moments during learning in the ‘areas of learning’ to track their progress; and this forms part of their EYFS Profile when they start their academic journey in school. Again, we work with local primary schools to ensure that your child is well equipped for the transition.