How Amazing me, Amazing us supports the EYFS

Amazing me, Amazing us supports Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED) across Nursery and Reception, with clear links to current Development Matters guidance.

Through play-based experiences, emotional language, co-regulation, guided social interaction and nurturing relationships, the programme supports children’s developing self-awareness, emotional regulation, confidence and relationships.

The programme provides opportunities to support relevant areas of Development Matters for children aged 3 and 4 years and children in Reception, while contributing towards the PSED Early Learning Goals (ELGs).

Hamish & Milo Foundation children with teacher

Self-awareness

Through the programme, children begin to:

  • Talk positively about themselves and their abilities
  • Recognise and name things they like, enjoy and are good at
  • Express preferences, interests and opinions
  • Develop confidence to speak in a small group
  • Begin to identify and name their own feelings
  • Notice similarities and differences between themselves and others
  • Feel valued, listened to and important within the group
Building a Tower

Development Matters links

3 and 4-year-olds

  • Develop their sense of responsibility and membership of a community
  • Become more outgoing with unfamiliar people, in the safe context of their setting
  • Show more confidence in new social situations

Children in Reception

  • See themselves as a valuable individual
  • Express their feelings and consider the feelings of others
  • Identify and moderate their own feelings socially and emotionally

Self-regulation

Through the programme, children begin to:

  • Recognise and name different emotions
  • Understand that all feelings are acceptable
  • Learn simple calming and soothing strategies
  • Begin to manage impulses and emotional reactions
  • Accept support from trusted adults when upset
  • Develop awareness of how feelings can affect behaviour
  • Practise co-regulation through adult modelling and support
Girl Starry Sky

Development Matters links

3 and 4-year-olds

  • Find solutions to conflicts and rivalries
  • Talk with others to solve conflicts

  • Talk about their feelings using words like ‘happy’, ‘sad’, ‘angry’ or ‘worried’

  • Understand gradually how others might be feeling

Children in Reception

  • Express their feelings and consider the feelings of others
  • Identify and moderate their own feelings socially and emotionally

  • Think about the perspectives of others

  • Show resilience and perseverance in the face of challenge

Managing self

Through the programme, children begin to:

  • Develop confidence to try new activities
  • Persevere with simple tasks and activities
  • Follow routines and group expectations
  • Make independent choices within activities
  • Begin to reflect on what helps them feel calm and safe
  • Take pride in achievements and contributions
  • Develop a sense of agency and capability
Hamish & Milo Foundation Boy with sock puppet

Development Matters links

3 and 4-year-olds

  • Select and use activities and resources, with help when needed

  • Increasingly follow rules, understanding why they are important

  • Remember rules without needing an adult to remind them

Children in Reception

  • Show resilience and perseverance in the face of challenge

Building relationships

Through the programme, children begin to:

  • Build positive relationships with peers and adults
  • Play cooperatively with others
  • Practise sharing and turn-taking
  • Use kind words and actions
  • Recognise positive qualities in friends
  • Develop empathy and awareness of others’ feelings
  • Celebrate and include others within the group
  • Repair and reconnect following small conflicts with support
Friends with picture

Development Matters links

3 and 4-year-olds

  • Play with one or more other children, extending and elaborating play ideas
  • Find solutions to conflicts and rivalries
  • Develop appropriate ways of being assertive
  • Talk with others to solve conflicts
  • Understand gradually how others might be feeling

Children in Reception

  • Build constructive and respectful relationships
  • Express their feelings and consider the feelings of others
  • Think about the perspectives of others

About this alignment
Development Matters is non-statutory curriculum guidance for the EYFS and is intended to support, rather than replace, practitioners’ professional judgement. The links above identify relevant areas of Development Matters supported through Amazing me, Amazing us and should not be used as an assessment checklist.

Development Matters on GOV.UK
Source: Department for Education, Development Matters: Non-statutory curriculum guidance for the early years foundation stage. Reviewed: September 2026

Supporting the Early Learning Goals (ELGs)

Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED) within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is assessed at the end of Reception through three Early Learning Goals (ELGs): Self-Regulation, Managing Self and Building Relationships.

Amazing me, Amazing us provides playful, relational experiences that help children build the developmental foundations that underpin their ongoing progress towards these emotional, personal, and relationship skills goals.

Self-regulation

Through the programme, children begin to:

  • Recognise, express and talk about their feelings
  • Begin to manage emotions and impulses with appropriate adult support
  • Develop attention, listening and participation
  • Work towards simple goals and persevere when things are challenging
  • Consider how their feelings and behaviour affect themselves and others

Managing Self

Through the programme, children begin to:

  • Develop confidence to try new experiences
  • Develop independence, resilience and perseverance
  • Follow routines, boundaries and expectations
  • Make choices and develop a growing sense of agency
  • Develop a positive sense of themselves as capable and valued individuals

Building Relationships

Through the programme, children begin to:

  • Build positive relationships and friendships
  • Play and work cooperatively with others
  • Share, take turns and listen to others
  • Develop kindness, empathy and sensitivity to others
  • Consider the feelings and perspectives of others
  • Develop ways of resolving and repairing relationships following conflict