Tabla de contenidos para Summer 2021 en Creative Steps

The Department of Education has recently published a revised version of the EYFS Framework, coming into effect from September 1st this year, intended to make the 17 Early Learning Goals clearer and more specific. Whilst the emphasis of the revisions is “to strengthen early years curriculum, assessment and practice to improve outcomes for all children and close the gap for disadvantaged children”, much of which is focussed on strengthening language and vocabulary development and on literacy and numeracy preparation for Year 1, there is sadly a lack of guidance on the importance of learning through play! There are also changes to the Understanding the World and Expressive Arts & Design goals. For an in depth review of the new Framework and how you can implement the changes in your pedagogy…

Dinosaur Opposites Practise opposites with these prehistoric puzzles! With twenty different puzzles to complete there’s lots to talk about and the friendly, prehistoric characters are sure to have children laughing – from a compsognathus weightlifting to a spinosaurus on skates, a woolly mammoth with curly hair and a diplodocus in welly boots! Dino-Snore-Us Who will collect the most uncracked eggs from the sleeping T-Rex in Dino-Snore-Us? If the T-rex wakes up everyone lets out a big ‘ROAR’ and that player has to return to the start. If he is asleep, that player can steal an egg back! This pre-historic themed game is fun for all the family and is a great way to practise number and counting skills. Pirate Ship Ahoy there me hearties! Have fun completing this 100-piece puzzle…

STORE CUPBOARD: ■ Paper cake cases ■ Plastic milk bottle tops ■ Scissors ■ Double-sided tape ■ Thin elastic or string ■ Goggly eyes ■ Glue ■ A glue brush 1 Cut off 1-2cm from around the edge of a coloured paper cake case. Save the offcut for making a tentacle. 2 Glue the trimmed paper case onto another full sized case in a different colour, so the smaller one sits on top. 3 Glue another coloured cake case underneath. This makes the body stronger and adds another colour. 4 To make more tentacles, cut 2 or 3 more cake cases into thin 1cm strips, or cut thinner pieces to vary the sizes. 5 Brush glue inside a plastic milk bottle cap then press the ends of 6-8 paper tentacles…

CEY smart CEY smart is a PACEY member-exclusive online learning platform offering web-accessible CPD training. This Facebook group is a space for CEY smart users to share ideas and #DoOneThing. First steps to childminding A supportive group for people wishing to become childminders; newly registered childminders; and those undertaking their pre-registration training. Ideas for creative childcare Tips, ideas and activities to help children meet their early learning goals, or things to get up to in your setting, are all shared here. Play to learn - activities to try at home with your child This group aims to promote and share simple activities that can be created at home for little or no cost, whist supporting children's learning and development.…

STORE CUPBOARD ■ Old CD's ■ Strong glue or sticky pads ■ Ribbon ■ Torches 1 Start by fixing the discs back-to-back so the shiny surfaces face outwards with the printed sides stuck together. 2 Using the diagram, start from a centre CD, overlap and stick a CD to the top left. Repeat, sticking to the top right, lower left and lower right of the centre disc. You should have a square formation. 3 Fix another 4 CDs to overlap the 'square' formation and the centre CD. Your Glitterball should now look like the picture here. 4 Tie a ribbon to one of the outer CDs to hang and rotate. Shine torches at the Glitterball to create fab colours.…

STORE CUPBOARD: ■ Crisp tubes ■ Paints ■ Paintbrush ■ Scissors ■ Glue ■ Wool ■ Scraps of felt fabric 1 Paint the crisp tube with white paint to cover up the writing. Paint the tube with lilac paint and leave it to dry. 2 Wrap some wool around your hand lots of times. Slide it off your hand and use another piece of wool to tie a knot at one end. Trim the other end to make the tail. 3 Wrap some wool around two fingers (loosely) lots of times. Slide it off your fingers and use another piece of wool to tie a knot around the middle. Trim both ends to make the mane. 4 Glue the tail and mane onto the tube. 5 Roll a piece of…

STORE CUPBOARD: ■ Plain white T-shirt ■ Fabric dye ■ Bucket or large bowl for mixing dye ■ Washing up gloves or disposable gloves ■ Salt ■ A measuring jug ■ Strong elastic bands (3mm+ wide) or string ■ An old wooden spoon or stirring stick ■ Small plastic bottles BEFORE YOU START ■ Rinse the T-shirt then squeeze out most of the water. ■ Dye can be applied to dry fabric but leaving it damp helps the dye to spread through the folds. ■ Some new garments have a coating on the fabric surface so it’s better to machine wash before dyeing. ■ Mix up the dye in a bowl or bucket with cold water. Follow the instructions for mixing the dye. Some dyes need salt adding to fix…

CRAB POP-UP HATS LADYBIRD SHAKER LADYBIRD 1 Take two paper plates and paint the underside of one red and the other black, using either poster or acrylic paints. 2 When the paint is dry, cut the red plate in half with a pair of scissors, overlap the red halves at one end to create the wings, as shown above right, and fix together on their underside using a piece of sticky tape. 3 Cut a small section from the black plate to create a head for your ladybird and fix the head in place with glue or tape as shown above. Add a couple of googly eyes. Lay the red wings on top of the black plate and fix the two plates together with glue or tape. Add some dots…

To assist with the aims of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), projects and activities in the first section of the magazine for 0-5 year-olds will support the Early Learning Goals (ELGs): ★ Communication and Language Development ★ Physical Development ★ Personal, Social and Emotional Development ★ Literacy Development ★ Mathematics ★ Understanding the World ★ Expressive Arts and Design In the following sections for 5-7 and 7-11 year-olds, projects and activities will be linked to the following KS1 and KS2 National Curriculum subjects: ★ Art & Design ★ Design Technology ★ Drama ★ Geography ★ History ★ Home Economics ★ ICT ★ Literacy ★ Maths ★ Music ★ Physical Development ★ PSHE ★ Religious Education ★ Science Projects suitable for a Group Activity will include this icon:…

STORE CUPBOARD: ■ Card ■ Scissors ■ Glue ■ Wool ■ Felt fabric 1 Draw around the templates onto card and cut them out. 2 Glue the card shapes onto felt fabric, allow them to dry and cut around them. Cut the cone and the lolly stick from light brown felt, use pastel colour for the ice cream, brown for the chocolate stick, and a bright colour for the lolly! 3 Glue the ice cream onto the cone, and the chocolate stick onto the ice cream. Glue the lolly stick onto the back of the lolly. 4 Cut a piece of ribbon as long as you like, and tape or glue it to the back of the ice cream and the lolly. Make as many ice creams and lollies as…

STORE CUPBOARD: ■ A plastic milk carton ■ Blue tissue paper (or use another colour) ■ PVA glue ■ A glue brush ■ Scissors ■ White paper ■ Blue card ■ Beads or googly eyes ■ String or wool ■ Sticky tape 1 Rinse out a plastic milk carton and remove the lid. Push a piece of scrunched up tissue paper into the hole by the handle. 2 Tear up some blue tissue paper strips. Brush glue over the carton then paste the tissue paper over the top. Keep adding strips until the whole carton is covered, smoothing the tissue paper over the curved corners, leaving the opening at the top uncovered. 3 Before the glue dries, stick a 30cm piece of wool or string around the sides and across…

LEARNING ZONES: Mathematics ★ Physical Development ★ Communication & Language Development Helen Beatrix Potter was born on 28th July 1866 in Kensington, London. She was an author of children’s books and became famous for creating Peter Rabbit, Jeremy Fisher, Jemima Puddle-Duck, Mrs Tiggy-Winkle and other animal characters. Potter’s family were wealthy and she was educated at home by a series of governesses. She did not have many friends as a child but did have lots of pets – including two rabbits named Benjamin and Peter. Potter spent long holidays in Scotland and the Lake District. These trips inspired her love of nature, plants and animals which she sketched and painted. In 1901 (aged 35), Potter published The Tales of Peter Rabbit. This was done at her own expense and as…

HINTS & TIPS ■ Paint wooden lolly sticks after they’ve been glued onto the box, or use ready coloured lolly sticks. ■ If you prefer, cover the box with a strip of coloured paper decorated with felt pen patterns. LEARNING ZONES: Recycling ★ Art & Design ★ Mathematics 1 Cut off 5-6cm from the bottom from a cereal box to make a shallow container. 2 Cut some lolly sticks in half with strong scissors then smooth the ends with sandpaper. Depending on the size of the box you’ll need 15-20 sticks. Brush glue around the front and sides of the box then press the wooden sticks on top. Leave the glue to dry. 3 Cut several 4-5cm sections from a cardboard tube, glue them inside the box so they fit…

STORE CUPBOARD: ■ Card ■ Black permanent pen ■ Paints 1 Draw a line onto a piece of card. Draw a zigzag star shape at the end of it and colour it in. 2 Draw lots of thin lines coming out from the points of the star shape, as in the examples shown. 3 To create a rainbow coloured dandelion, put a tiny blob of pink, yellow and blue paint into a row onto a plate or paint palette. Dip your little finger into the pink paint, and dab it onto a section of the dandelion, at the end of the lines. 4 Dip your pink painted finger into the side of the yellow paint and swirl it around a little to make orange. Dab this onto a section of…

STORE CUPBOARD ■ Red card ■ 4 eye stickers ■ 2 red pipe cleaners ■ Sticky tape ■ Red marker felt tip pen ■ Strong glue ■ Red glitter glue ■ 5 split pins ■ Pencil ■ Scissors ■ Craft knife 1 Using the templates provided, draw all the shapes onto red card and cut out. 2 Ask an adult to make holes in the pieces so that the split pins will go through. 3 Assemble the parts and push through the split pins. Open out the arms on the back and push them flat. 4 Stick on the eyes and stick the spare eyes on the back. 5 Colour in the eye lids with red marker pen. 6 Put dots on the side of the lobster with red marker…

The History of Spin Art In 1958 Eugene R. Pera is thought to be the first artist to create art by throwing paint at a spinning canvas. The machine he built would spin his canvas on the vertical axis while he threw different colour paints at it, creating dramatic abstract art. During the 1960’s spin art was made popular by artists such as Alfons Schilling and Annick Gendron. Fine Artist Study: Mark Chadwick Mark Chadwick is a contemporary fine artist who lives and works in the United Kingdom. Born in 1983, Mark studied fine art at Birmingham University and was awarded his BA and MA in fine art. He has built his own machine for spin art and makes changes to the speed and direction of the machine to produce…

KEY: HB HARDBACK ★ PB PAPERBACK ★ BB BOARD BOOK FACTopia! Kate Hale RRP £9.99 (HB) www.books.britannica.com Choose your own path through this hilarious world of 400 facts, all of which are verified by Encyclopaedia Britannica. Every fact in the book is connected to the next in an ingenious trail of information. Hop from topic to topic in unexpected and delightful ways, and discover what connects a giraffe with the Eiffel tower, or a slice of pizza with Cleopatra. On your aweinspiring journey, you will find out extraordinary facts about space, bones, dinosaurs, spiders, sharks, robots, ancient Rome and more. Who knows where your curiosity will take you! Age 8 years + We say… Fascinating fun facts on a trail of discovery to dip into! Science and Me: Inspired by…

3 FREE 100 Ways Your Child Can Learn Through Play Packed full of 100 creative and engaging activities for young children with special educational needs, this book enables you to have fun and enjoy developing your child's skill-based learning with them. From building biscuit construction sites and rainbow ice towers to playing dentists, nail salons and post office workers, the variety and creativity featured on every page of this book means you'll never have a dull day with your child again! With activities for rainy days, in the garden, on walks and more, there's something new to learn wherever you go. With charming black and white line illustrations to depict each activity, this is a great way to connect with your children with SEN, while building their life skills at…

ENCOURAGES: Using Mixed Media & Materials ★ Being Imaginative STORE CUPBOARD ■ A pair of flip-flops ■ Coloured paints ■ Paintbrushes ■ Coloured paper/card ■ White card ■ Black felt-tip pen ■ Pencil & scissors ■ Glue stick How to Make a Print 1 Before you begin, make sure the soles of your flip-flops are clean and dry. Then paint stripes on them in whatever colours you choose, or use the pictures here as inspiration. 2 Then press the flip-flop down onto a sheet of white or coloured card or paper, and try to lift off without wiggling. Leave the print to dry. The Butterfly Cut a head and long body from green paper and stick in between the two wings. To finish, draw on a face and curly antennae…

STORE CUPBOARD: ■ A5 sheet of coloured corrugated card ■ 3 large coloured lollipop sticks ■ 2 orange pipe cleaners ■ 1 orange pom-pom 4cm diameter ■ 1 pink pom-pom 4cm diameter ■ Pair of googly eyes 1.5cm diameter ■ Assortment of pom-poms, beads or buttons ■ Scissors ■ Ruler ■ Glue stick ■ Pencil 1 Firstly, cut out the jelly fish body shape from corrugated card using the templates. 2 Glue three coloured lollipop sticks on the back of the jellyfish body to make the tentacles. Next wind a pipe cleaner around a pencil and slide it off. This will make the pipe cleaner into a spiral shape. Glue into place on the back of the body in between the lollipop sticks. 3 Next glue on the large pom…

KEY: HB HARDBACK ★ PB PAPERBACK ★ BB BOARD BOOK Milly Cow Gives Milk Deborah Chancellor and Julia Groves RRP £10.99 (HB) www.scallywaygpress.com The first, in a topical collection of four titles, helping children to understand where their food comes from and how precious it is. Follow Milly Cow as she grazes on grass, guzzles on gallons of water and gives us fresh milk to drink. Age 3 years + We say… Packed with bold illustrations this fun, fact-filled story book will spark the interest of the whole family, as it aids the understanding of all the hard work involved in producing the food that we eat. Zoom (collection of 2) Dinosaur Adventure Susan Hayes & Sam Rennocks Rainforest Adventure Susan Hayes & Susanna Rumiz RRP £10.99 (BB) www.whatonearthbooks.com An…

1 Carefully remove any labels from the cheese box. Put masking tape around the join of the cheese box to seal it. 2 Paint white all over and, once dry, paint green and leave to dry. 3 Cut out a body, head, claws and tail from pale green foam. 4 Cut out a yellow card circle and glue to the top of the cheese box. 5 Cut out 7 hexagonal shapes from orange and green foam. 6 Glue the hexagonal shapes to the top of the yellow circle. 7 With puffy paint, go around the inside edge of the hexagons. Add a dot of gold paint to the centre of each one and leave to dry. 8 Glue the body to the underside of the cheese box. 9 Glue on…

STORE CUPBOARD ■ Soap dispenser bottle ■ White, lilac, yellow and cerise paints ■ Medium paintbrush ■ Orange felt tip pen ■ Yellow pom poms in different sizes ■ Small pom poms or tissue paper scraps ■ Googly eyes with eye lashes ■ Bright pink pipe cleaner ■ Silver glitter glue ■ Strong glue ■ Scissors 1 Clean and dry the soap dispenser bottle. Remove any labels. 2 Draw on your butterfly design with a felt tip pen. 3 Paint the wings white, leaving spots of bottle free. Leave to dry. 4 Paint with coloured paints and leave to dry. 5 Glue on pom poms and wiggly eyes. 6 Cut a pipe cleaner in half and in half again. Bend the ends and curl them to create antennae. Glue to…