It is snack time at Shooting Stars Nursery at St Mary the Virgin Primary School in Dorset. As the children munch pieces of fruit, they look at laminated pictures of dinosaurs, cars and other familiar items. They ask each other, ‘What’s your favourite?’ then pass the card to a neighbour.
Deputy manager Lucy Stevens introduced the ‘snack chat mats’ in 2018 after completing Incredible Beginnings training. Developed in the US, it aims to help practitioners build positive relationships with children, to support language development and prevent difficult behaviour.
Ms Stevens chose the course to develop her skills in supporting emotional and behaviour issues. ‘We had a few children that were slightly more challenging and we were going to be getting a few more,’ she says.
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