Hamish & Milo Foundation: Early Years PSED Programme
A nurturing, play-based SEL programme for children aged 3-5, supporting personal, social and emotional development from the very beginning.
Hamish & Milo Foundation helps young children build the social and emotional foundations they need to feel safe, understood, connected and ready to thrive.
Created specifically for nursery and reception, the 10-week programme supports children to understand themselves, recognise and express feelings, develop confidence, manage big emotions with the support of trusted adults, build positive relationships and experience a strong sense of belonging.
Grounded in child development, attachment-aware and relational practice, emotion coaching and co-regulation, Hamish & Milo Foundation is carefully aligned with the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED) framework.
Through creative activities, puppets and role play, sensory experiences, circle times and guided reflection, children build the foundations for emotional wellbeing, relationships and future learning.
Because children learn and thrive when they feel safe, seen, heard, valued and that they belong.
Strong foundations for emotional wellbeing
We know just how crucial the early years are for children’s social and emotional development. Young children are learning to recognise and express feelings, communicate their needs, manage impulses and frustrations, build trusting relationships, develop confidence, recover from challenges and begin to understand the feelings and perspectives of others.
These skills do not develop in isolation. Children need safe relationships, emotionally available adults and repeated opportunities to explore and practise social and emotional skills through meaningful, developmentally appropriate experiences.
Hamish & Milo Foundation gives early years practitioners a structured, practical and nurturing way to support this development.
The programme helps children to:
The programme also provides an important foundation for future Hamish & Milo primary SEMH programmes and wider social and emotional learning across the school community.
A programme built for how young children learn
Children learn through relationships, play, repetition, movement, creativity and connection. Hamish & Milo Foundation brings these together in engaging, developmentally appropriate sessions that encourage children to explore themselves, their feelings and their relationships with others.
Familiar Hamish & Milo characters, sock puppets, stories, creative activities, sensory experiences and emotional language make learning accessible and memorable, while a consistent structure helps create the predictability and emotional safety young children need.
The programme is suitable for whole-class delivery, small groups, early intervention, targeted SEMH provision, inclusion and transition support and can be adapted to children’s developmental needs. Across the 10-week programme, children are supported through a carefully sequenced journey from understanding themselves to connecting with others.
They explore:
Amazing me. Amazing us. Growing together.
Supporting EYFS personal, social and emotional development
Hamish & Milo Foundation has been carefully aligned with the EYFS prime area of Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED) and supports the development of:
Hamish & Milo Foundation provides a structured approach that helps practitioners embed emotional language, relational practice and social and emotional learning through meaningful experiences.
Demonstrate the difference you’re making
Understanding children’s progress matters. Social and emotional development can be difficult to capture, but the Hamish & Milo Foundation includes the Pathfinder identification and impact measurement tool to help practitioners recognise developing confidence, emotional awareness, communication, relationships and regulation.
Foundation also includes 12 months’ access to Hamish & Milo Navigator, our impact reporting dashboard, so you can record Pathfinder scores, track progress and demonstrate the impact of your provision over time.
Part of the wider Hamish & Milo approach
Hamish & Milo Foundation is the beginning of the Hamish & Milo journey. It establishes the social and emotional foundations, language and relational approach that children can continue to build upon through the Hamish & Milo primary programmes.
Alongside our primary programmes and resources, practitioner training, family support and Navigator impact reporting, Hamish & Milo Foundation creates a joined-up pathway for social and emotional development from the early years onwards.
