Working With Under Twos
Working With Under Twos
A significant amount of a child’s brain will be developed before they turn two, and with more children now accessing funded early years provision earlier than before, providers have an opportunity to positively influence the outcomes of children from a younger starting point. Practitioners working with the youngest children must ensure that a purposeful environment and high-quality interactions are used to support the prime areas of development, and leaders must make certain that practitioners working with children under two years of age have the experience and training opportunities to provide babies with the best possible start. (Click here for training platform)
Practitioners working in the baby room are often the first adults to care for this child, besides their primary carer giver. Attending a setting for the first time can be an emotional experience for both the baby and their care giver. It is important that practitioners build strong and trusting relationships with families, giving them the confidence to contribute to the learning and development of their children.
Additionally, a large proportion of the day will include care routines such as nappy changes, various nap times and feeding. Therefore, it is vital that practitioners working in the baby room have relevant experience and opportunities to access specific training.
The EYFS states the following requirements for children under the age of two (click here for the EYFS):
- There must be at least one member of staff for every three children
- At least one member of staff must hold an approved level 3 qualification, and must be suitably experienced in working with children under two
- At least half of all other staff must hold an approved level 2 qualification
- At least half of all staff must have received training that specifically addresses the care of babies
- Where there is a room for under two-year-olds, the member of staff in charge of that room must, in the judgement of the provider, have suitable experience of working with under twos
- There should be a separate baby room for children under the age of two. However, providers must ensure that children in a baby room have contact with older children and are moved into the older age group when appropriate.
Learning and development
Personal Social and emotional Development
Relationships and attachments between adults and children are the foundation to ensuring good personal, social and emotional development. Attachments are the emotional bonds that young children develop with the significant adults in their lives such as family members and their key person. As they grow, research tells us, that children with secure attachments engage in more pretend play, sustain attention for longer and have healthier relationships than children who did not benefit from these at a young age.
The EYFS states that every child should be assigned a key person. The key person should be the primary adult for the child when attending the setting. The key person should build a strong attachment with their key child and ensure they attune to their needs. The key person will work with the child’s main caregiver to ensure the child’s unique needs are met. (Key person audit link)
Babies thrive in a loving, nurturing homely environment where their needs are met promptly. All practitioners (not just the key person) should be attuned to every child’s needs.
Positive Relationships and Key Person | Early Years (buckscc.gov.uk)
Communication and Language Development
How we communicate with babies has a great impact on their lifelong learning. From a very early age, babies will be interested in looking at faces and listening to voices. Crying and making noises are important as this is how babies learn to control use of their vocal cords. Crying lays the foundation for speaking. As time moves on, babies will use crying less often and begin to make sounds and gestures to communicate.
When babies make a certain sound or noise, adults should copy the sound and wait for the baby to make another. When doing this, you are engaging in a ‘serve and return’ interaction and teaching the concept of turn-taking.
Singing songs and rhymes with babies is an easy way to support language development and research shows, children who learn rhymes from an early age learn to read quicker. Rhymes can be sung throughout the day and help to promote a language rich environment. Additionally, care routines such as nappy changes and hand washing are a perfect time to talk and sing to babies on a one-to-one basis.
Help your baby learn to talk - NHS (www.nhs.uk)
Supporting communication development in the baby room.docx (sharepoint.com)
Physical development
All babies should be provided with opportunities to be active throughout the day, in a variety of ways. As well as having a benefit to their health, exploring the outdoor environment supports the child’s holistic development. A well planned for outdoor environment provides different learning opportunities; including physical risks such as climbing and digging. When planning outdoor areas, providers will consider the physical challenges the children will experience, which will in turn, support their physical development. Physical activity Guidlines for children under five years
Tummy time must be actively encouraged, with all children receiving a minimum of 30 minutes of tummy time a day. Regular tummy time ensures babies have the opportunity to develop their core muscles and reach their physical milestones.
Tummy Time Poster.pdf (csp.org.uk)
The environment plays a big part in supporting baby's physical development. Practitioners must ensure the environment provides enough space for babies to practice new skills such as rolling and crawling. Once babies can crawl, they should have safe, secure furniture to pull themselves up to standing position. Babies must not be forced to stand, sit or walk before they are ready. Bouncers and walkers should be avoided as they can encourage children to walk on their toes.
Sensory tactile play is important to developing fine motor skills; exposure to different materials to hold, squeeze, pull, pour and mould stimulate the muscles in a baby’s hand. Tactile sensory play must be planned for and always supervised by an adult and babies will naturally put things in their mouth to explore.
0587---messy-play.pdf (cambscommunityservices.nhs.uk)
Care Routines
Weaning
Weaning is the process of introducing solid foods to children and starts roughly at 6 months old. Weaning can be a daunting experience for care givers; therefore, it is vital practitioners work with the baby’s primary carers to ensure children are weaned safety.
Weaning - Start for Life - NHS (www.nhs.uk)
Example menus for early years settings in England: part 1 (publishing.service.gov.uk)
Sleeping
It is essential that providers work with families to ensure babies and young children’s sleep requirements are met. Please see the NHS guidelines for how much sleep babies need. Helping your baby to sleep - NHS (www.nhs.uk). It is vital that safe sleep guidelines are followed, and sleeping children are monitored closely. It is also crucial that this information is regularly discussed and shared with parents.