Introduction

Time And Place are accepted dimensions of the early years curriculum. Children talk about past events in their own lives and those of their families, listen and respond to stories about the distant past and learn to differentiate between past and present, using time vocabulary (QCA 2000: 94–5). They observe, find out about and evaluate their own environment, identify features of the place in which they live, and they find out about different environments through story, using appropriate vocabulary, (pp. 96–7). The importance of learning through play runs throughout the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage (QCA 2000).