Play and Practice in the Early Years Foundation Stage

Natalie Canning is a Lecturer in Education - Early Years at The Open University. Her background is in playwork and social work, particularly in supporting children to explore personal, social and emotional issues through play. She has published a number of articles relating to professional development and the early years and has presented at national and European conferences. Her main research is in the area of children's empowerment in play and she is currently involved in research on developing children as autonomous learners. She has taught across a variety of Early Childhood undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

Introduction - Natalie Canning PART ONE: A UNIQUE CHILD Case Study: Playing with Cardboard Boxes - Natalie Canning Identifying Unique Qualities in Play - Natalie Canning Celebrating Children's Play Choices - Natalie Canning Including and Enabling All Children as Individuals - Mandy Andrews PART TWO: POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS Case Study: Play and Family Support in a Children's Centre - Rosie Walker The Role of Play in Supporting Positive Relationships - Mandy Andrews Parental Partnerships - Michael Reed and Rosie Walker Making Connections between Home, the Setting and Key Workers - Sue Callan with Carole Ellis and Helen Richards PART THREE: ENABLING ENVIRONMENTS Case Study: Using Indoor and Outdoor Spaces - Natalie Canning Exploring the Possibilities of the Play Environment - Natalie Canning Play Environments in Practice - Natalie Canning Inspiring Environments for Inspirational Play - Natalie Canning PART FOUR: LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT Case Study: Going to the Moon - Natalie Canning Playing and Learning: Ways of Being in Action - Karen Appleby Creative Play for Flexible Learning - Natalie Canning The Need to Measure Play? - Natalie Canning Conclusion - Natalie Canning

'This book is a well conceived, carefully formulated, coherent and cohesive treatise on different aspects of playful pedagogy. Using the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) as a focus, it challenges practitioners to question the EYFS, but is realistic about the need for practitioners to put play into their practice. Full of useful, practical and theoretical scaffolding for practitioners who want to (and should) play more with children, it covers all the major areas of play' - Professor Emeritus Janet Moyles, Early Years & Play Consultant