Nursery World - Go for growth (1)

Children are naturally curious and spend much of their time trying to make sense of the world around them. A topic about growth gives children lots of opportunities to satisfy that curiosity through activities based on first-hand experiences that encourage exploration, observation, problem-solving, prediction, critical thinking, decision-making and discussion. This broad, stimulating topic will enable practitioners to offer the children exciting and challenging experiences across the six areas of learning, both indoors and outdoors.

This broad, stimulating topic will enable practitioners to offer the children exciting and challenging experiences across the six areas of learning, both indoors and outdoors.

A sense of time

Many of the experiences relating to growth will help children to explore the complex concept of the passing of time and to differentiate between past and present, in meaningful ways.

Children should be given opportunities to consider the passing of time throughout the day and from day to day, as well as showing growth, development and change over longer periods of time.

Sprouting beans, germinating seeds and growing fast shooting plants such as amaryllis bulbs enable children to witness growth over a relatively short period. Longer term projects such as watching sunflowers develop from seeds to flowers to seed heads and observing trees changing throughout the seasons give children more challenging insights into longer periods of time.

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