Early Years Blog
A hub for everything early years, EYFS and nursery education.
In our blog you’ll find inspiration for activities, news, events and advice from early years experts.
Halloween crafts: Spooky plant pot characters
To help you with your craft making this Halloween, we’ve put together some step-by-step activities for you to follow to create the perfect Halloween crafts. Simply make sure you have everything you need from our list below and follow the steps to make your own...
Bonfire Night crafts: Firework rolls
We’ve put together this Firework craft perfect for Bonfire Night. A step-by-step guide to creating fireworks with children using art and craft resources. Simply make sure you have everything you need from our list below and follow the steps to make your own Bonfire...
Halloween crafts: Spooky character paper plates
To help you with your craft making this Halloween, we’ve put together some step-by-step activities for you to follow to create the perfect Halloween crafts. Simply make sure you have everything you need from our list below and follow the steps to make your own...
Bridging the gap: the importance of play
The importance of play in early childhood is evident when you consider how to bridge the gap between EYFS and Primary school. The 'gap' is reference to early years learners that have struggled to grasp key skills that will take them through to primary education. This...
Bridging the gap: early years maths
Early years maths activities do not need to be boring. Play is the way that children explore and learn about the world around them – so use play. It gives them chance to learn from mistakes and experiences, investigate and understand their environment and other...
Bridging the gap: literacy in early years
Effective early years literacy activities can make a major difference when it comes to bridging the gap between children who are ready for school and those who aren’t. We know that the development of young children can depend on many different factors. Good...
Outdoor role play: benefits and ideas
Outdoor role play, and role play in early years settings in general are crucial for igniting a child’s imagination and developing life skills. Children love role play, and it often gives them skills which help them in everyday life. Taking play outdoors Taking...
Enrich your outdoor messy play
Children love messy play activities. These easy recipes for slime and mud play will result in hours of fun outdoors. Taking learning outdoors shouldn’t just be a case of half an hour of outdoor play or story time in the sunshine. The outdoor classroom is a world full...
Maths Mastery in early years
We all know that maths mastery is a vital part of the early years curriculum and should hold an everyday presence in our settings. This can be a daunting thought for many practitioners, who worry about how to incorporate mathematical learning into a play-based...
Social distancing and infection control in your nursery
Staying safe and controlling infection is every nursery’s top priority right now. We’ve been working hard to ensure you have the facilities to meet the DfE requirements and standards. With many Nurseries staying open throughout the Covid-19 outbreak in the UK, and the...
Covering the EYFS framework with a Glow Writer
Our experts reviewed the Glow Writer - a glow art drawing board also used for mark making - and discovered that it covers all areas of learning in the EYFS (early years foundation stage) and proves to be very popular with the little ones! The Glow Writer is a product...
8 ways to play: Mirrored Play Tray Mat
With a diameter of 800mm, our Mirrored Play Tray Mat is designed to fit perfectly into our Play Tray. The tray or the mat, however, can be used on their own and are ideal for discovery and messy play. We sent Maddy at @mayasmoonplay one of our mirrored play tray mats...