• Help children as needed to do what they are trying to do, without taking over or directing.
• Join in play sensitively, fitting in with children’s ideas.
• Model pretending an object is something else, and help develop roles and stories.
• Encourage children to try new activities and to judge risks for themselves. Be sure to support children’s confidence with words and body language.
• Pay attention to how children engage in activities -- the challenges faced, the effort, thought, learning and enjoyment. Talk more about the process than products.
• Talk about how you and the children get better at things through effort and practice, and what we all can learn when things go wrong.
• Provide stimulating resources which are accessible and open-ended so they can be used, moved and combined in a variety of ways.
• Make sure resources are relevant to children’s interests. • Arrange flexible indoor and outdoor space and resources where children can explore, build, move and role play.
• Help children concentrate by limiting noise, and making spaces visually calm and orderly.
• Plan first-hand experiences and challenges appropriate to the development of the children.
• Ensure children have uninterrupted time to play and explore.
Support children to choose their activities – what they want to do and how they will do it.
• Stimulate children’s interest through shared attention, and calm over-stimulated children.
• Help children to become aware of their own goals, make plans, and to review their own progress and successes.
Describe what you see them trying to do, and encourage children to talk about their own processes and successes.
• Be specific when you praise, especially noting effort such as how the child concentrates, tries different approaches, persists, solves problems, and has new ideas.
• Encourage children to learn together