What is the best way of providing children with opportunities for playing and exploring, active learning and creating and thinking critically?

In short, what is the most effective way of meeting the requirements of the new EYFS curriculum?

In many ways the new framework is better than the old one. It simplifies assessment for a start. There are no longer 69 boxes to be ticked for each child.

Gone is the requirement that 80% of assessment must be from child-initiated activities. (Not that we’re advocating a return to teacher-led activities. But – admit it – sometimes trying to catch children demonstrating that they know how to do something, and having pen and pencil to hand at just the right time to record it, was a challenge!)

There are other important changes. Gone are the six key areas. In their place there is now much more emphasis on the three prime areas, those that lay the foundations for children’s school readiness and future progress: language and communication, physical development and personal, social and emotional development.

Literacy, mathematics, understanding the world, and expressive arts and design (as they now call creative development) are still very much part of the curriculum, but are now called specific areas.

One thing we can guarantee the new EYFS curriculum does – it makes all your old planning documents out-of-date!

That’s where our Activities for 3-5 Year Olds series comes in.

The 10 books in the series all contain enjoyable play activities designed to develop children’s important preschool skills and a deeper understanding of the world around them. They also help develop key skills in the three prime areas. Even better, each activity clearly shows how it links to the new areas.

The books’ topics comprise: All About Us, Gardening, Caring & Sharing, Pets, Colours, Shopping, Families, Water, Food and Weather.

All the books in the Activities for 3-5 Year Olds Series contain tried-and-tested play activities. They are an invaluable source of easy-to-use ideas for all early years settings, from preschools and nurseries to reception classes and day nurseries.

You can order the Activities for 3-5 Year Olds Series in any of these ways:

• On our website
• By phone on 01449 766629
• By fax on 01449 767122
• By email to orders@tradecounter.co.uk
• By post to Brilliant Publications, c/o Trade Counter Distribution, Mendlesham Industrial Estate, Norwich Road, Mendlesham, Suffolk, IP14 5ND.