HELLO! Starting now: Alistair Bryce-Clegg's keynote on 'Celebrating the Child, Creating the Magic in Early Years'! A true pioneer in the field, @ABCDoes’s expertise and passion for Early Years education will leave you feeling energised and empowered. #EYPlayParty #ToddlePlay

Wow, what a fantastic range of places our participants are from! England, Vietnam, Austria, India, Japan, USA, Bangladesh, South Africa, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia...phew, it's already hard to keep up! So inspiring to see the vast geography that the love for EY haas brought together!

Starting off his career, @ABCDoes did not really want to work with the "younger children". Turns out, it was a life-changing experience for him, and we're so grateful for that, because that brings him and his wealth of experience for us to learn from at this #EYPlayParty!

We have to keep the child at the centre of the learning journey that is being created for them. They're not just learning phonics and maths, they are learning to be human beings! We need to learn how children learn, and how to create a space that helps them learn. @ABCDoes

Children quickly build emotional attachments to learning experiences, and it is important to frame these in the most positive way possible. When we get children who are "loving it", that's when EY educators have maximum opportunity to light the spark and help them learn @ABCDoes

Right away, @ABCDoes emphasises the importance of keeping young learners engaged. Playing and exploring, active learning, creating and critical thinking are all key components. These can help greater attainment in children #EarlyLearning #PlayfulPedagogy #PedagogyAtPlay

@ABCDoes PLAY IS CRITICAL. Play is where the best learning and engagement takes place - most brain activity occurs during play. Too often play is deprioritised by policy and curriculum. "Children in early childhood should have unlimited opportunity to play...and explore" @ABCDoes

In the future, most people are likely to have 3-4 different careers. To navigate this successfully, creative and critical thinking skills are essential. And play is best placed to facilitate that for children, to prepare them for their future. #FutureReady #PowerofPlay

How can we continue the provision for a child’s learning in the absence of an adult? Carefully curated, focused spaces that can facilitate learning can help to extend children's learning beyond what they are already familiar with #ContinuousProvision #EarlyYears @ABCDoes

Where do children go when they are not with us? How can we maximise the potential for learning there? Create a space based on the needs of the children - consolidating what they know and challenging their thinking, while minimising risks. #ToddlePlay #EYPlayParty @ABCDoes

Writing areas may not help with continuous provision of writing - children who go there tend to colour in, or play "school". However, writing opportunities can occur across the learning space: as children lie on their fronts, by a post box, with toy Transformers & so on. @ABCDoes

Rather than a singular maths area, it's better to have math scattered across the learning space and through varied experiences. This one has reflection, refraction, sorting, etc all based in outdoor material. Rather than one focused area, embed the learning throughout @ABCDoes

Here's some material that could work as continuous provision. This facilitates language, geography, pretend play, active learning. Critically, they should have a mix of fixed material, as well as some ambiguous material to help children develop #EYPlayParty #DeconstructedRolePlay