The practitioner's role
Develop children's understanding of positional language, such as over and under, by encouraging them to talk about what they are doing and by modelling language in adult-led activities, free play and daily routines.
Keep on travelling
* Re-enact a story about an imaginary journey outdoors, for example, travelling under the tree, over the grass, under the washing line and over the leaves.
* Set up an obstacle course indoors and travel across it, climbing over benches, under and over climbing frames and under ropes.
Keep on moving
* Invite the children to follow instructions, for example, to stretch their hands up over their heads, down under their knees or over their eyes.
* Play your own version of musical statues. Hang strips of coloured tissue at intervals from the ceiling, with one strip for each child. The children dance around to music and when the music stops, they find a strip of tissue to stand under. Only one child can stand under each strip. Remove a strip at a time and let the children who are out sit and watch.
* Play 'musical bean bags' by spreading bean bags on a carpet and inviting children to dance around them. When the music stops, the children find a bean bag to jump over. Continue by removing the bean bags one by one.
* Invite children to watch as you make a teddy bear move. Model the language for them, for example, 'Look, teddy is jumping over the chair, hiding under the pillow, hopping over the carpet etc'. Have the children take turns to make teddy move, talking it through.
Keep on guessing
* Choose three pairs of contrasting objects, for example, two red bricks, two model elephants and two plastic plates, and hide each object under a cushion. Invite the children to take turns to try to find a matching pair by turning over two cushions at a time. If the child is unsuccessful, cover the objects again and invite the next child to try. Talk about how the objects are under the cushions and how the children must turn the cushions over to find them.
* Hide a teddy somewhere in the room and let the children find it by following your clues, for example, 'wriggle under the table', 'jump over the cushion' and 'look under the doll's blanket'.
Under the sea, over the bridge
* Use the word 'under' as you play with children at the water or sand tray, for example, talking about how fish are swimming under the water or shells are hidden under the sand.
* Draw a line across the middle of a large sheet of card to represent the surface of the sea and invite children to create a collage picture with sand, fish and other creatures under the sea and birds, clouds and boats over the sea.
* Make bridges from blocks and ramps for the children to move small-world vehicles and characters under and over.
* Build a bridge from large climbing cubes and invite the children to re-enact the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff, with the goats trip-trapping over the bridge and the troll sitting underneath.
* Create a small-world landscape with mountains, a river and bridge and a variety of people, animals and vehicles. Encourage the children to create and act out stories involving various characters and animals. Ask questions such as 'Why are the people/animals going over the mountain/under the bridge?'
Rhyme time
* Sing rhymes that include the words 'over' and 'under', for example, 'Hey Diddle Diddle' and 'Five Little Ducks'.
* Spread a blanket on the ground and invite ten children to lie on it in a row. Sing 'Ten in the bed' as the children roll over and out of the bed one by one.
* Share books such as Over the Moon by Charlotte Voake (Random House), Hector Protector and As I Went Over the Water: Two Nursery Rhymes by Maurice Sendak (Harper Collins) and The Bear Went Over the Mountain (Bunny Reads Back) by Rosemary Wells (Scholastic).