| Dedication | viii |
| Acknowledgements | x |
| Foreword | xi |
| Preface for the 0-8 series | xv |
| Background: holistic services for whole children | 1 |
| The Castlebrae Community Cluster | 1 |
| Follow-up | 3 |
| Nursery schools | 3 |
| Books for Babies project | 6 |
| Food for Tot project | 7 |
| The children and families centres and the primary schools | 8 |
| 1 | How does learning develop? | 9 |
| Critical periods | 10 |
| Sensitive periods | 11 |
| The world of people | 16 |
| 2 | Mind and brain | 20 |
| Christopher's brain | 21 |
| Consciousness | 25 |
| Development | 27 |
| Learning | 29 |
| 3 | A sense of self | 33 |
| A sense of embodiment--knowing I am me | 33 |
| Who am I in time and space, and why do things happen as they do? | 36 |
| Children with complex needs | 37 |
| The treasure basket | 40 |
| Resilient children | 40 |
| Attachments and a secure base | 41 |
| Me and you | 43 |
| Observing children in natural settings rather than observing children in laboratory conditions | 45 |
| Different theories of mind | 47 |
| The importance of memories | 48 |
| 4 | Social and cultural development | 51 |
| Books creating access to the culture | 52 |
| Walking, talking and pretending | 55 |
| Participating in dances and music | 57 |
| The socio-cultural aspects of developing learning | 65 |
| 5 | Communication | 69 |
| Interaction with self and others | 70 |
| Co-ordination and the brain | 76 |
| Cracking the language code | 77 |
| The way adults and children communicate | 79 |
| Developing spoken or signed language | 84 |
| The sounds of languages | 86 |
| Developing play supporting developing language | 87 |
| 6 | Talk | 92 |
| The rules of grammar | 94 |
| Developing language by talking and listening | 94 |
| Cultivating talk | 96 |
| Asking children questions | 98 |
| How adults are crucial | 100 |
| 7 | Doing real things | 103 |
| Developing the senses and movement | 103 |
| The outdoor garden | 107 |
| Woodwork, a traditional learning experience | 109 |
| Process and product | 111 |
| Understanding how to transform materials | 112 |
| Making sense, adults and children together | 115 |
| Cooking | 116 |
| Feeding the senses: the Food for Tot project | 121 |
| Local outings | 124 |
| Active learning wherever you go, indoors and outdoors | 127 |
| 8 | Why is play important? | 129 |
| Pioneers of play | 130 |
| Theories about play | 133 |
| Theories about feelings and play | 136 |
| Cognitive theories of play | 140 |
| Attempting to define play and pin it down | 143 |
| 9 | The essentials of play | 148 |
| The 12 features of free-flow play | 149 |
| First-hand experience used in play | 150 |
| Making up rules of your own during play | 153 |
| Making products and play props | 154 |
| Choosing to play | 156 |
| Rehearsing and recasting pasts, futures and possibilities | 157 |
| A world of pretend | 157 |
| Playing alone | 159 |
| Playing together | 160 |
| The importance of carrying out your personal play agenda | 161 |
| Being deeply involved during play | 162 |
| Demonstrating recent learning, skills and competencies | 164 |
| Play as an integrating mechanism | 166 |
| Getting to the essentials of play | 167 |
| 10 | Using symbols | 170 |
| Children beginning to be symbol users | 172 |
| Symbols using written words | 173 |
| Personal and conventional symbols | 173 |
| Early reading | 177 |
| The first layer of symbolic behaviour--beginning to read and write | 179 |
| The second layer of symbolic behaviour--becoming an emergent reader | 180 |
| Encouraging children to use a wide range of symbols | 181 |
| Using symbols in role play scenarios | 184 |
| Creating an environment which encourages children to become symbol users | 189 |
| Long, long ago--developing an understanding of historic time | 190 |
| 11 | Learning in childhood and beyond: Charlie's day | 196 |
| Bibliography and references | 213 |
| Index | 227 |
