In many early years settings today, practitioners are seeing a growing challenge.

  • Some children are hesitant to join group activities.
  • Others are finding it difficult to communicate their ideas or engage with peers.
  • For those with additional needs, participation can feel overwhelming – often requiring adult support to access even simple group experiences.

At Soar Childcare and Education Ltd, this was a familiar picture.

With a small group of 10 mixed-age children, practitioners were navigating a range of interests, confidence levels and communication abilities. Like many settings, they were looking for a way to bring children together – something that would support communication, while still feeling joyful, inclusive and manageable within a busy day.

That’s where Little Magic Train became part of their practice.

 

The journey… from the very first sessions, something began to shift.

Children who had previously chosen not to join group activities began to move closer, watching, listening… and then joining in. What started as small moments of curiosity quickly grew into active participation.

Over time, this developed into something much more significant.

  • Children moved from non-participation to active group engagement.
  • From limited communication to spontaneous use of language.
  • From relying on adult support to increasing independence within the group.

These changes didn’t happen through pressure or expectation, but through a shared experience that felt safe, familiar and engaging.

The practitioner shared that “The children were completely engaged, and as we do more of them, they anticipate what is coming next. They join in with joy and start to add Magic Train features into their independent play. Because it is done as a group, pressure is low for the children, so they can learn with joy.”

 

The structure of Little Magic Train played a key role in this.

Through repeated storytelling, movement and rhythm, children were given consistent opportunities to practise communication in a meaningful context. For children with communication difficulties, this repetition became especially powerful, allowing them to revisit and build skills over time in a way that fitted naturally into the flow of the day.

Practitioners began to notice not just participation, but progress.

Children were experimenting with new vocabulary, confidently using words such as “minuscule” and “mammoth”, and even discussing ideas like Mount Everest during their play. Language was no longer something being prompted – it was beginning to emerge independently.

The practitioner shared that “we have children talking about Mount Everest and using minuscule and mammoth as we teach new words for big and small every time we do a new adventure and grow and shrink our train.”

 

The impact extended beyond the sessions themselves.

Children became increasingly engaged and started to anticipate what would happen next, showing growing confidence and understanding of routine. The themes and language from the sessions began to appear in their independent play, demonstrating how deeply the experiences were being embedded.

Because the sessions were delivered as a group, the pressure often associated with participation was removed. Children were able to observe, join in at their own pace, and build confidence within a shared, supportive environment.

For some children, this made a profound difference.  The practitioner shared that “we have a little one who will not join in with movement activities such as dancing, but if doing The Magic Train, he will.” An important step in both engagement and confidence.

 

Importantly, this approach also supported the wider needs of the setting.

It enabled practitioners to engage all children together, without relying on 1:1 support. It created consistent, daily opportunities for speech and language development, while supporting children across a range of abilities, including those with SEND.

This made it not only effective, but practical and sustainable within a real early years environment.

 

At Soar Childcare and Education Ltd, this meant more children joining in, more language being used, and more confidence growing – one journey at a time.

 

For settings accessing EYPP funding, impact is particularly significant.

  • Little Magic Train supports measurable progress in communication, engagement and participation.
  • It enables inclusive practice, aligns with Ofsted priorities around language and interaction, and provides a consistent, evidence-informed approach that can be embedded across the setting.
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