Safe Spaces, Supported Minds: Supporting emotional wellbeing in the early years
This practical on-demand course explores how early years environments shape children’s emotional wellbeing, regulation and development. Across two linked sessions, you’ll learn how to create environments that support safety, connection and exploration, helping young children feel secure, build early regulation skills and engage in play and learning.
No previous Thrive training is needed.
Duration
Approx. 1 hour
Format
On demand
Access
90 days' access, for one delegate
Price
£50 + VAT
Safe Spaces, Supported Minds: Supporting emotional wellbeing in the early years
Overview
In the early years, children are at the very beginning of developing the skills they need to manage emotions, build relationships and engage with the world around them.
This course explores how the environments we create – physical, relational and cognitive – shape that development from the earliest stages. Rather than focusing only on behaviour, it helps you understand what young children’s nervous systems need in order to feel safe, settle and explore.
Across two practical sessions, you’ll explore how sensory experiences, routines, play and adult interactions influence children’s ability to regulate. You’ll also build a clearer understanding of executive functions and how these early skills develop through everyday experiences and play.
Safe Spaces, Supported Minds: Supporting emotional wellbeing in the early years
Benefits
Develop your understanding of early childhood regulation and take away practical ideas you can use in everyday practice.
- Deepen your understanding of early childhood development and regulation.
- Build confidence in recognising what may sit beneath behaviour.
- Understand how co-regulation supports long-term development.
- Understand the role of play in emotional and cognitive growth.
- Feel more equipped to respond with attunement and care.
- Create calmer, more supportive early years environments.
- Improve children’s engagement, play and social interaction.
- Reduce sensory and emotional overwhelm.
- Strengthen relational practice across teams.
- Support a consistent, developmentally informed approach.
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Programme details
What you'll learn
Explore how environments, relationships and play can support regulation and development in the early years.
You’ll explore:
- How the stress-regulation system develops in early childhood, and why feeling safe is shaped by both relationships and environment.
- How sensory factors such as sound, light, movement and space can affect young children.
- The role of supportive relationships and co-regulation in building self-regulation.
- How executive functions begin to develop and why these skills can vary from moment to moment.
- How child-initiated play supports thinking, flexibility and emotional development.
- Practical ways to design environments that reduce overwhelm and support exploration.
How the course works
This one-hour on-demand course is delivered across two linked sessions, each building on the last.
Session 1 focuses on the physiological and relational environments, exploring how sensory experiences, routines, relationships and co-regulation shape children’s sense of safety.
Session 2 builds on this by exploring the cognitive environment, including executive functions and the critical role of play in early development. You’ll also reflect on the role of the adult and how your own regulation shapes the emotional climate.
The course is practical, reflective and grounded in real early years practice.
Safe Spaces, Supported Minds: Supporting emotional wellbeing in the early years
Who this course is for
This course is for professionals working with young children in early years settings, including nurseries, preschools and reception classes.
- Early years practitioners
- Nursery and preschool staff
- Reception teachers and teaching assistants
- SENCOs and inclusion staff
- Childminders
- Early years leaders
“Creativity and play can give children the means to express their emotions far more articulately than through words.”
Viv Trask-Hall | Head of Theory and Practice at Thrive
on-demand learning
Start your course
Course fee: £50 + VATLearn at your own pace, with 90 days’ access from purchase.
- Approx. 1 hour
- Start straight away
- No previous Thrive training needed
No. You don’t need to be a Thrive School or have completed any previous Thrive training to take this course.
Each purchase gives one delegate access to the course. You can purchase places for as many team members as you need.
If you’re looking for broader whole-staff development, you can also explore our All Staff Training for Early Years. This is a separate, setting-facilitated offer with a choice of 3-hour units covering different themes.
Yes. It focuses on simple, realistic strategies that can be used immediately in early years environments.
By focusing on regulation and development, the course helps you understand what may sit beneath behaviour and consider responses that support children’s development over time.
Play is the primary way young children develop thinking, emotional and social skills. This course shows how to use it intentionally to support regulation and learning.
No. This course does not count towards the annual Thrive CPD hours required to maintain your Licensed Practitioner status.