Specific Areas

EYFS Development Matters 2020 Statements Birth to Four - Specific Areas

Literacy

Children in Crèche develop literacy skills by listening to stories, exploring books, making marks, and experimenting with sounds and words. They may demonstrate this when they:

Copy finger movements and other gestures.
Sing to themselves when they are playing.
Seek out familiar adults to share a book with, sitting close, pointing to pictures and listening to the story.

Copy finger movements and other gestures.
Sing to themselves when they are playing.
Seek out familiar adults to share a book with, sitting close, pointing to pictures and listening to the story.

Mathematics

In Crèche, children begin to develop the building blocks of mathematics through everyday play and routines. By exploring numbers, shapes, patterns, and measures in hands-on ways, they start to make sense of how things fit together, how much there is, and how things can change. They demonstrate this when they:

Play with stacking blocks and cups. They put objects inside others and take them out again.
Take part in finger rhymes with numbers.
React to changes of amount in a group of up to three items – if you were to build a tower with three blocks and take one away, would they notice?

Build with lots of different resources such as blocks and boxes.
Try to complete inset puzzles.
Begin to sort objects or arrange them in different patterns. For example, putting all of the blue objects in the blue box.

Understanding the World

In Crèche, children begin to make sense of their surroundings by exploring people, places, and the natural world. Through play and everyday experiences, they notice similarities and differences, experiment with how things work, and start to understand their place in a wider community. They demonstrate this when they:

Repeat actions that have an effect. For example, repeatedly pressing the button on a musical toy to hear the sound again
Exploring objects with different textures, sounds, smells and tastes.
Exploring natural materials, indoors and outdoors. Such as wet and dry sand, water and paint.

Show an interest in familiar routines, such as recognising when it’s time to eat or go outside
Point to or name family members in photos
Imitate actions they see at home, such as pretending to talk on the phone.

Expressive Arts and Design

In the Crèche, children express themselves and develop creativity by exploring a variety of materials, sounds, colours, and imaginative play. These opportunities allow them to experiment, represent their ideas, and share how they see the world. They demonstrate this when they:

Showing preferences for certain colours, sounds, or textures
Moving and dancing to music e.g., swaying, clapping, or bouncing to a beat.
Anticipating phrases and actions in rhymes and songs, like ‘Peepo’.
Respond emotionally and physically to music when it changes e.g., bouncing and smiling when the music becomes fast and lively, then slowing their movements and cuddling in when the music changes to something calm and gentle.

Joining in with songs and rhymes, exploring their voices by making some sounds.
Noticing patterns with strong contrasts, particularly patterns resembling the human face.
Exploring a range of sound-makers and instruments and playing them in different ways.
Making rhythmic and repetitive sounds.

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