Physical experiences encourage children to develop their coordination skills, helping them to control their body movements to perform a task or skill. They support children in being able to use their arms and legs in unison. This is known as bilateral movement. Cross lateral movements are also supported where children are encouraged to cross their midline, for example taking their arm across to the other side of their body. Cooking is a very sensory experience where children have the opportunity to smell, feel and ultimately taste different ingredients. Use scientific terms such as solid and liquid and describe the textures of what you are making. Encourage the children to smell each of the ingredients they are using and use descriptive language to tell you about them.

Here at Busy Bees, we follow the EYFS framework. But our expertise, experience and skill set allow us to go one step further for your child. For starters, here's how: Take a few playdough or biscuit cutters with you to the beach or outside in your sand pit. Show your baby how they can use the cutters to make shapes in the sand! Talk to your baby about the cutters they are using Encourage your child to crawl to the first item, provide them with sufficient time to explore this. Consider any allergies your child may have before starting this experience. This playdough recipe also works with gluten free flourCooking provides children with opportunities to try out using real tools, such as knives, graters and citrus squeezers. By allowing children an element of risk in these activities, they will learn how to use tools safely and start to understand safety measures. Each recipe gives specific direction to support the use of more ‘risky’ tools. Ensure there are no sharp shells or stones where you are playing and support your baby in washing their hands thoroughly after playing in the sand Cooking provides many opportunities for children to use and understand mathematical language. For example, ordinal language such as “First we need the flour, next we need the cheese”. Children are able to take part in weighing and measuring and these practical activities will help children to experience what less and more, full and empty look like. You can encourage your child to predict and estimate; “How long do you think the ice lollies will need to be in the freezer before they are frozen?” or “How many more scoops of flour do you think we need to fill the cup?” Children will have many opportunities to practice counting with meaning, for example when they count out how many tablespoons of oil they need or count out paper cases in a muffin tray. Practicing these skills and hearing these terms in meaningful experiences will support children to understand them better.

UP and Active with Buzz is a physical programme designed specifically for Busy Bees to support children with their physical skills and development. At the centres, educators have access to a range of physical experiences they can carry out with the children, along with professional reading to support their understanding of physical development. At home, parents are able to access UP and Active experiences to further support their children's gross motor development and fitness. Find out more about physical development below.You are then ready to play ice cream shops with your toddler! Invite your child to prepare bowls of ice cream dough for their customers, encouraging them to count out how many scoops of each flavour the customer would like to buy! During cooking, children will have the opportunity to use both their fine and gross motor skills, for example chopping, stirring, whisking, cutting, sieving and pouring. All these experiences will support children in developing the control and muscle movements that are needed for handwriting. Children who can walk on their own should be physically active for at least 180 minutes (3 hours) throughout the day. This should be both indoors and outdoors, ensuring children receive a balance of light activities as well as energetic activities.