2 Year Old Curriculum Goals

Regulate emotions by finding ways to cope

Why?	Children thrive when they feel safe, valued and loved. Co-regulation with trusted adults supports children’s ability to self-regulate. This involves the ability to recognise and name strong feelings, adapt and bounce back when things get difficult. The development of self-regulation is essential to support children’s academic ability and to develop children’s emotional and intellectual well-being.
First milestone: children make a strong relationship with their key people. Increasingly, they separate confidently from their parent/carer at the start of the session and become involved in their play. They use their key people as a ‘secure base’ throughout the session, ‘touching base’ as/when needed.	Key people establish a warm, nurturing and responsive relationship. Adults are sensitive to children’s cues and provide physical and emotional support when children are experiencing strong emotions. Key people provide a safe environment and consistent routine. Adults speak calmly and offer affection (as appropriate to the unique child). Adults are co-regulating with children.
Component	Spend up to 3 hours in nursery, managing their emotions with support.
Second milestone: through co-regulation children learn new vocabulary to describe feelings. They use facial expressions and body language to express themselves. With scaffolding children can label how they feel with words and/or gestures. This helps them to manage strong feelings they may have.	Adults will be calm and reassuring when helping children manage their emotions. They pay attention to their own feelings and reactions and their own coping and calm-down skills. Adults will label the feeling and explain in simple terms using why they think they might be feeling that emotion. They make links to the Zones of Regulation, starting with happy and sad, gradually introducing the zones through stories. Adults support children to notice how their bodies feel. They comment, describe and narrate. Adults model different facial expressions and body posture, and how these are tied to feelings. They use ZOR visuals and mirrors with children to practise making facial expressions. Adults have interactions based on feelings both when the child is calm and when they are not.
Component	Engage in an interaction with their key people about feelings. With support use a word or point to a visual aid to identify a feeling in themselves and someone else (happy, sad or cross)
Third milestone: children feel secure, are beginning to use calming strategies when prompted and are confident to turn to adults for help when experiencing strong feelings. When calm they will be able to pull the face associated with simple feelings and/or identify these feelings in the pictures of others.	As children play and learn in nursery they move from expressing their emotions though behaviour to expressing their needs and emotions with words. As children and adults share books, they are supported to reflect on how somebody might be feeling and why. Adults purposely teach and model skills like ‘waiting’ during play and routines explicitly supporting children to understand this concept using visuals. They use simple words, visuals, books and puppets with children to help them communicate their feelings and needs. Adults model strategies when children are feeling calm so they can develop an understanding of what to do when they experience strong emotions. Children are provided with opportunities to practise strategies through role play.
Component	Join in with a calming strategy with support from an adult
Final milestone: Children are beginning to recognise, name and express their feelings in a healthy way. This enables them to build strong relationships with an increasing ability to tolerate and accept others. Children begin to regulate their emotions with support from an adult by calming down when experiencing strong feelings. This enables them to begin to express themselves in appropriate ways and respond to challenges. Adults sensitively reduce the amount of support they give to children as they begin to regulate their emotions independently.
Vocabulary: uncomfortable, comfortable, happy, sad, worried, cross, tired, calm, frustrated, overjoyed, zones, regulation, emotions, feeling

Have a back and forth exchange with an adult while sharing a book

Why?	Communication is fundamental to all learning and underpins all seven areas of the early years curriculum. All children need to have the opportunity to have high-quality back and forth interactions to develop their language, listening, social interaction and cognitive development. Engaging children actively in stories and picture books in a language rich environment will enable our children to embed new words in a range of contexts.
First milestone: First milestone: children communicate with adults and friends using non-verbal communication. They can pay attention when others are speaking.	As children spend time in nursery they are encouraged to engage and communicate non-verbally, using facial expressions, gestures and eye-contact. Their key people spend extended periods of time sharing their focus and modelling non-verbal communication.
Component	Communicate their needs, feelings or ideas nonverbally
Second milestone: children learn the rules of conversation through warm and engaging interactions. (With support they can actively listen, take turns in the interaction, respond to questions, share focus and/or eye contact).	Children will take place in back-and-forth interactions as a natural part of their time in nursery. They are engaged in warm and engaging interactions with adults during play, at the snack table, when changing, and in small group story times. They are supported to have back and forth interactions with peers when playing.
Component	Begin to show an interest in a picture book. Engage in a verbal or nonverbal back-and-forth exchange with their key person.
Third milestone: children demonstrate active listening by giving the speaker their attention and hearing what has been said before speaking themselves. They listen to the ‘serve’ that an adult or peer gives and with support ‘return the serve’ with a verbal or non-verbal response.	Children will take part in play that requires them to practise listening to others everyday. Adults will model active listening and narrate the actions that they are demonstrating (eye contact, nodding, smiling). Role-play will be used as opportunities to practise listening in serve and return conversations. As children become more skilled at listening, adults will share books that interest them, encouraging them to share their thoughts and ideas. Adults will support through narrating and modelling how to respond.
Component	Listen carefully to what others are saying with support. With support, respond with a comment.
Final milestone: Children share their thoughts and ideas when looking at a book with an adult in a small group or individually. They listen actively to responses from the adult. They take part in a back-and-forth exchange with an adult whilst looking at a picture book for at least 3 turns. This enables them to hear new language in context, practice using language within a social interaction and receive feedback on their communication and language from adults.
Vocabulary: nodding, conversation, chat, attention, interesting, thinking, noticing, illustration, ideas, share, turn and talk

Managing my body with increasing spatial awareness

Why?

Physical activity is vital in children’s all-round development, enabling them to pursue happy, healthy and active lives. Gross and fine motor develops throughout early childhood, starting with sensory explorations and the development of a child’s strength, co-ordination and positional awareness. Children need to have an awareness of their bodies to develop special awareness and have the time and opportunity to practice physical skills.

First milestone: children demonstrate awareness of their surroundings. They move their body throughout the day and practise large movements, such as waving, kicking, rolling, crawling and walking.

Children are able to find their way around nursery. They know where things are and can find them independently. For example, where their peg is for their coat and bag, and where to wash their hands.

As children spend time in nursery they are encouraged and supported to engage in activities both inside and outside. Their Key People spend extended periods modelling how to manage the space and equipment. Adults model moving their bodies in different ways and negotiation the environment so children can use it independently. Children are encouraged to copy these movements.

Component

Negotiate the space around them safely and with purpose

Second milestone: Children explore the classroom and garden with support from their key people. They begin to take risks and ask for help when needed.

For example, they might hold out a hand for an adult to help them whilst balancing on the beam. Children will explore different types of equipment and spaces. For example, they crawl through tunnels and climb into and out of large boxes.

As children become more independent, they are encouraged to try a range of equipment. Adults support and encourage children to climb unaided and to stop if they do not feel safe. Children are provided with lots of opportunities to move freely and on different surfaces.

Adults join their play and use spatial words to describe what they are doing with their bodies. Adults provide children with reassurance and encouragement to keep trying when they are finding something difficult. Adults sing action songs to model different ways of moving their bodies and to support learning of specific words related to space and movement.

Component

Fit themselves into different spaces

Third milestone: Children can run safely negotiating obstacles. They are beginning to use stairs independently. They climb onto equipment with increasing independence and confidence.

As children become better at moving their bodies around the physical space their confidence to navigate challenges increases. Adults increase opportunities for more risk taking and challenge by providing various materials and rearranging them at different heights etc. They support the children to think and talk about risk and the things they can do to keep their bodies safe.

Adults provide children with many opportunities to practise and develop their skills.

Component

Climb onto low level equipment and jump off with two feet.

Final milestone: Children explore the space freely, taking some risks without an adult.

They manage their body and are confident to engage in physical activities. They are aware of obstacles and avoid these when moving around the space. They join in with action songs and copy movements.

Children develop an awareness of their own bodies, exploring space, investigating and manipulating objects, enjoying hiding and exploring different viewpoints. They have knowledge and skills to move and interact with the physical space around them with confidence.

Vocabulary: Negotiate, Adjacent, Underneath, between, through, over, in front of, before, after, upside down, opposite.