Creative Activities for the Early Years

Packed full of exciting ideas and powerful visual aids, this book offers field-tested activities to help practitioners encourage and nurture young children′s creativity and imagination. ′An excellent resource for all those working with young children... jam-packed with exciting, inspirational activities that encourage young children to nurture their creativity and imagination while helping practitioners to facilitate what children do naturally... It is a book that celebrates and encourages original thought and action to support learning through exploration and investigation, recognising that creativity is about representing one′s own image and not reproducing someone else′s′ - Early Years Educator ′[I]nspirational... This book is easy to read, refreshing and exciting, and I would recommend it to all those working with young children. It is also useful for students, clearly articulating the reasons for providing well-organised child-initiated creative opportunities rather than adult-directed activities′ - Nursery World It is an interesting and informative manual aimed at those who work with children in the 3-5 years age range, and is therefore most suited to anyone in a Pre-School or Day Nursery setting, and could also be valuable to a Reception Teacher...over all, I found this to be a very useful book′. - National Childminding Association Packed full of exciting ideas and powerful visual aids, this book will help those working with young children to encourage and nurture their creativity and imagination. The book takes examples of what has worked in an early years setting, and transfers these inspirational activities onto the page. The book includes: " practical activities in Art, Dance and Music and ideas on how to link them together; " advice on how to make the most of music, lighting, space and nursery resources; " showing how the work supports the Foundation Stage Curriculum; " ideas for cross-curricular work; " suggestions for recording children′s progress; " advice on how to choose materials, and a list of specialist suppliers. Everyone involved in working with young children should read this book. Nursery practitioners, early years teachers, Sure Start workers, play workers and Children′s Centre staff will find it an invaluable resource. It is also useful for specialist staff in hospitals and other areas of health.

Creative Activities for the Early Years contains over 160 art and music activities for use with children aged 0-5. These tried and tested activites, which include songs, rhymes, and story suggestions, are ideal for use in all early years settings from preschools, nurseries and reception classes through to mums and toddlers groups, day centres and at home.