Features

Enabling environments: Let's explore ... Trucks and diggers

See how some of children's favourite playthings can build the foundations for further learning when you provide the best resources in each area of provision in your setting, with suggestions from Helen Bromley.

There cannot be many adults who have not been intrigued by young children's fascination for trucks and diggers. What is it about these machines that captivates young children, many of whom become walking encyclopaedias on the subject?

Perhaps it is their sheer size, or the unusual ways in which they move, or even their capacity to perform a multitude of complex tasks with apparent ease. Maybe it is their monster-like appearance that fills children with curiosity about what they do and how they work.

Wherever the fascination begins, there can be no doubt that parents and carers will actively support their children in such an interest. Toys and books will be bought and borrowed and relevant television programmes and DVDs will be watched, shared and discussed. For such reasons alone, these mesmerising machines deserve a place in the world of the early years setting.

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