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Case study: Adina

Adina, a three-year-old girl at Woodlands Park Nursery Centre, loves music, dance and painting. Her mother, Claire, says that Adina particularly loves spinning around, and that her paintings have recently included a lot of circles and vertical lines. She loves dressing up, wrapping herself in capes and sarongs, and creating little dens out of draped materials where she has picnics with her baby sister and her teddies. Adina likes watching medical dramas on television and this has stimulated some elaborate play with her doctor's set. Adina's key person, Jenny, plans a series of experiences in nursery to support Adina's creative development. She also ensures that these plans will be appropriate for Francesca, another child in her key group who has profound and multiple learning difficulties.

Adina's key person, Jenny, plans a series of experiences in nursery to support Adina's creative development. She also ensures that these plans will be appropriate for Francesca, another child in her key group who has profound and multiple learning difficulties.

The children are given large pieces of light-coloured paper and dark paints so they can create patterns. Adina creates large swirling spirals and Francesca, who has impaired vision, can see them because of the strong contrast between paint and paper. Jenny and her key group act out Mr Gumpy's Outing by John Burningham (Puffin Books, 4.99), and Adina loves singing 'Row the boat' and pretending to fall into the water with all the other children. Francesca can row the boat when Jenny holds her and loves being toppled gently on to the floor. She is able to flap her arms like a chicken to join in with pretending to be an animal.

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