Development matters

• Articulate their ideas and thoughts in well-formed sentences.
• Connect one idea or action to another using a range of connectives.
• Use talk to help work out problems and organise thinking and activities, and to explain how things work and why they might happen.
• Develop their small motor skills so that they can use a range of tools competently, safely and confidently.
• Explore the natural world around them.
• Explore, use and refine a variety of artistic effects to express their ideas and feelings.

See Development Matters (non-statutory curriculum guidance) – contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. 

Early learning goals

Communication and language 

ELG: Speaking 

• Participate in small group, class and one-to-one discussions, offering their own ideas, using recently introduced vocabulary.
• Offer explanations for why things might happen, making use of recently introduced vocabulary from stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems when appropriate.

Physcial development 

ELG: Fine motor skills 

• Use a range of small tools, including scissors, paint brushes and cutlery.

Understanding the world

ELG: The Natural World

• Explore the natural world around them, making observations and drawing pictures of animals and plants.

Expressive arts and design 

ELG: Creating with materials 

• Safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function.
• Share their creations, explaining the process they have used.

See Statutory framework for the early years foundation stage, 2021.