Meaningful learning opportunities relating to understanding the world rely on rich and stimulating resources.

Consider what you have

Rich and well thought out resources make a real difference to the learning opportunities on offer to the children. They enable children to re-enact what they have experienced, to refine their thinking and test ideas they may have. An example of well thought out, imaginary world, may be a farm with animals that are male, female, and includes their offspring in a range of varieties (such as Saddle Back, Oxford Sandy and Black, and Gloucester Old Spot for pigs).

The audit will help you to think about your provision in terms of different elements from the Understanding the World strands.

Resources Audit (pdf)

Making your own resources

Resources do not need to be complex – and there are many ways you can creatively look to extend children’s learning without having to spend excessively. By focusing on their interests, you can often create resources that they will love that are both bespoke and unique, and with which you have countless possibilities. We will continue to add possible examples of how this might be achieved during the course of the project.

Vehicle badges

Children often like identifying certain vehicles, whether by colour, shape, or make, and so car badges offer an interesting extension of this as they too come in all shapes and sizes. You could photograph a selection of different badges then you could laminate them and make a flip-book to try and find them around your locality, or you could play a matching game with two sets, or lead to a roleplay of selling the pictures or the pretend cars themselves.