Floor Books in EYFS: Documenting Learning Together

What are Floor Books?

Floor books are large, accessible scrapbooks used in primary classrooms to capture and document , questions, and learning experiences. Designed to be placed on the floor for easy access, they invite learners to engage collaboratively in the process of meaning-making and reflection. More than just a record of classroom activity, a floor book becomes a living document that evolves with the children's interests and contributions.

This approach is grounded in child development theories, particularly the zone of proximal development, where the direction of learning is shaped by the learners themselves. Teachers act as facilitators, encouraging learners to contribute drawings, comments, photographs, and writing to capture their ideas and inquiries. This collaborative approach is particularly valuable for teaching assistant development. In doing so, children develop key thinking skills such as reasoning, recalling, and building on others' ideas, all within a shared physical space.

Floor books also encourage shared ownership of learning. Rather than focusing solely on individual outcomes, they reflect the collective journey of a group, showcasing moments of exploration, discovery, and collaboration. As children revisit the book, they engage in metacognition, whether their ownor that of their peers, building deeper understanding and making connections across time and experiences.

Though often associated with early years education, floor books are increasingly used across a range of primary settings to support oracy, language development, reflection, and conceptual development. They serve not only as a formative assessment tool but also as a catalyst for systems thinking.

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How Do You Keep Floor Books Updated and Relevant?

Keep floor books updated by dedicating 10-15 minutes after each activity for children to add their contributions while experiences are fresh. Schedule weekly review sessions where children revisit previous pages and add new connections or questions that have emerged. Store materials like glue sticks, scissors, and markers in a designated floor book basket for easy access during documentation time.

Updating the floor book after engaging learners in discussion or reflection is an essential part of making learning visible and meaningful. When their voices are acknowledged and recorded, learners begin to see themselves as active participants in shaping their own . This small but significant act reinforces that their thoughts, questions, and ideas matter.

A floor book that reflects recent conversations shows that the classroom is responsive, adapting to the learners' evolving interests and thinking. It sends a strong message that learning is not static, and neither is their contribution. This encourages a sense of ownership, helping learners to see how their ideas can influence what happens next in their classroom.

Beyond , this process creates key social and emotional skills. By seeing their ideas captured and revisited, learners develop greater confidence in expressing themselves. They begin to understand that their contributions can lead to new learning opportunities, for themselves and for the whole group.

Including learner input also supports inclusive practice. It ensures that a diverse range of perspectives is valued, reinforcing the idea that everyone's voice matters.

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What Are the Key Features of a Floor Book?

A well-structured floor book serves as both a thinking space and a living document of classroom learning. It captures the evolving ideas, questions, and reflections of learners, forming a visual record of their journey through a topic or inquiry. These books are more than simple scrapbooks, they are tools that support dialogue, deepen learning, and connect children's contributions to ongoing curriculum planning.

An important feature of the floor book is its openness: learners are encouraged to record their thinking through drawings, writing, photos, or verbal contributions scribed by adults. This creates a shared space for constructivist , accessible to all learners regardless of literacy level.

Rather than being used as an assessment tool, open-ended questions appear throughout the book to provoke thinking and stimulate curiosity. These questions help develop higher-order thinkingby encouraging learners to reflect, compare, predict, and connect ideas.

Floor books are typically large in size to allow children to sit around them, encouraging group discussions and joint attention. As the pages grow, so too does the depth of learning. Teachers can track the progression of ideas over time, identifying how learners revisit and build upon earlier concepts.

At its core, the floor book is a shared record of exploration, holding the voices of both children and adults as they construct knowledge together. This approach supports schema building as children make connections between new and existing knowledge, while also providing opportunities for formative assessment through observation of children's contributions and thinking processes.

Key Features of a Floor Book:

• Child-Led Content: Include drawings, photos, and writing.
• Open-Ended Questions: Questions prompt deeper thinking and encourage reflection.
• Collaborative Space: Floor books facilitate discussion and shared meaning-making.

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How Can Floor Books Support Continuous Provision?

Floor books enhance continuous provision by creating a visible link between planned activities and child-initiated learning. By placing floor books within different areas of the learning environment, teachers can encourage learners to document their experiences and ideas as they engage with various resources.

For example, a floor book kept in the construction area might capture learners' designs, problem-solving strategies, and reflections on their building projects. Similarly, a floor book in the role-play area could document the stories, scenarios, and language that emerge during imaginative play. This approach not only makes learning visible but also provides valuable insights into learners' interests, skills, and knowledge.

Furthermore, floor books can be used to extend and enrich continuous provision. By revisiting previous entries and discussions, teachers can identify areas where learners need further support or challenge. They can then adapt the environment and resources to meet these needs, creating a more responsive and personalised learning experience. This cyclical process of documentation, reflection, and adaptation is central to effective continuous provision.

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How to Implement Floor Books in Your EYFS Setting

Begin your floor book journey by selecting a genuine moment of curiosity from your children's play or exploration. Rather than imposing a predetermined theme, wait for those authentic questions that emerge naturally, such as "Why do puddles disappear?" or "How do birds know where to build nests?" This child-led approach ensures immediate engagement and creates meaningful learning experiences that resonate with young minds.

Establish your floor book as a living document within your continuous provision by positioning it in an accessible area where children can contribute independently. Include initial observations, photographs, and the children's exact words to capture their thinking. As Margaret Carr's learning story approach demonstrates, documenting children's authentic voice strengthens their sense of ownership and encourages deeper reflection on their learning journey.

Create simple routines that invite regular collaboration, such as daily "floor book moments" where children can add drawings, stick in photographs, or dictate their discoveries. Encourage families to contribute by sending home small sections or inviting them to add observations from home experiences. This shared ownership transforms the floor book from a classroom activity into a genuine community investigation that bridges home and setting learning.

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Floor Books as Assessment Tools: Tracking Progress and Planning Next Steps

Floor books serve as powerful assessment tools that capture authentic learning moments and provide rich evidence of children's developing understanding across all areas of the EYFS curriculum. Unlike traditional assessment methods, these collaborative documents reveal the process of learning rather than just outcomes, showing how children approach problems, build on each other's ideas, and develop their thinking over time. Margaret Carr's work on learning dispositions highlights how documentation can make children's learning strategies visible, enabling practitioners to recognise and support individual learning styles within group investigations.

The visual nature of floor books makes assessment accessible to both children and practitioners, creating opportunities for shared reflection on learning journeys. Children can revisit their documented discoveries, discussing what they've learned and what they want to explore next, whilst practitioners gain insights into individual interests, social interactions, and emerging skills. This collaborative review process supports children's metacognitive development and helps practitioners identify precise next steps that build naturally on observed interests and capabilities.

To maximise their assessment potential, regularly analyse floor books for patterns in children's engagement, questioning, and skill development. Use observations to inform continuous provision adjustments and plan targeted learning experiences that extend current investigations. Document these planned next steps directly in the floor book, creating a clear link between assessment and forward planning that maintains the child-led nature of the learning journey.

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Adapting Floor Books for Different Age Groups in EYFS

Successful Floor Books require careful adaptation to match the developmental stages within EYFS, ensuring every child can meaningfully participate in collaborative documentation. For younger children aged 2-3 years, focus on sensory exploration and simple mark-making, allowing them to contribute through handprints, basic drawings, or by dictating single words about their discoveries. These early contributions build foundational understanding of shared ownership whilst developing pre-literacy skills through purposeful mark-making experiences.

Children aged 3-4 years can engage more deeply with Floor Books through guided questioning and extended conversations about their learning journey. Practitioners can scaffold their participation by encouraging simple predictions, comparisons, and observations, whilst supporting emerging writing through letter formation and phonetic attempts. This developmental stage benefits from visual prompts and photographs that help children recall and articulate their thinking during child-led investigations.

Reception-age children demonstrate readiness for independent contribution and peer collaboration within Floor Books, often initiating their own questions and hypotheses. They can take ownership of particular pages, conduct simple research with adult support, and engage in meaningful dialogue about their continuous provision experiences. This progression ensures Floor Books grow in complexity alongside children's capabilities, maintaining engagement whilst supporting natural learning development.

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Floor Books Across the EYFS Curriculum: Supporting All Seven Areas of Learning

Floor Books provide exceptional cross-curricular learning opportunities that naturally weave together multiple areas of the EYFS framework within single, meaningful investigations. When children document their exploration of lifecycles through drawings, photographs, and dictated observations, they simultaneously develop communication and language skills, mathematical understanding through counting and sequencing, and knowledge of the world. This integrated approach reflects how young children naturally learn, supporting what Margaret Carr describes as learning dispositions that transfer across domains rather than isolated subject knowledge.

The collaborative nature of Floor Books particularly strengthens personal, social and emotional development as children negotiate ideas, share resources, and celebrate collective achievements. Physical development emerges organically through mark-making, manipulating materials, and arranging documentation, whilst creative arts flourish as children choose how to represent their discoveries. Literacy skills develop authentically as practitioners scribe children's theories and observations, demonstrating that writing captures and communicates thinking.

To maximise cross-curricular potential, practitioners should resist compartmentalising learning within Floor Books. Instead, follow children's natural curiosities and document the rich, interconnected learning that emerges. A simple investigation into playground puddles might encompass scientific prediction, mathematical measurement, creative expression through paint mixing, and language development through descriptive vocabulary, creating a comprehensive learning journey that honours the complete nature of early childhood development.

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Overcoming Common Floor Book Challenges

While floor books offer tremendous potential for collaborative documentation, practitioners often encounter predictable hurdles that can undermine their effectiveness. Reluctant participation frequently emerges when children feel overwhelmed by the collaborative process or when adult involvement becomes too directive. Research by Ferre Laevers on well-being and involvement suggests that children thrive when they feel emotionally secure and deeply engaged, so creating a non-pressured environment where contributions are celebrated rather than expected can transform reluctant observers into enthusiastic participants.

Maintaining momentum presents another significant challenge, particularly when initial excitement wanes or when the learning journey lacks clear direction. Strategic adult intervention proves crucial here, with practitioners acting as facilitators who introduce provocations, ask open-ended questions, and help children make connections between their discoveries. Regular reflection sessions, where children revisit previous entries and discuss their evolving thinking, can reignite interest and demonstrate the value of their collaborative documentation.

Practical solutions include establishing flexible participation structures that accommodate different learning styles and comfort levels. Consider offering multiple ways to contribute, from drawing and mark-making to verbal contributions that adults can scribe. Creating predictable routines around floor book time, while maintaining child-led investigation opportunities, helps children understand expectations whilst preserving the spontaneous nature that makes these learning journeys so powerful.

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Conclusion

Floor books offer a powerful way to capture the collective learning journey of a classroom, making thinking visible and encouraging collaboration. By providing a space for learners to document their ideas, questions, and reflections, floor books promote deeper understanding, metacognition, and shared ownership of learning. They are a valuable tool for educators looking to create a more responsive, inclusive, and learner-centred environment.

As a formative assessment tool, floor books support teachers to track the progression of ideas over time, identifying how learners revisit and build upon earlier concepts. They provide valuable insights into learners' interests, skills and knowledge informing future planning and adaptations to the learning environment.

Ultimately, floor books exemplify a constructivist approach to education, where knowledge is co-created through dialogue, exploration, and reflection. Embracing this approach can transform the classroom into a vibrant community of learners, where everyone's voice is valued and celebrated.

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Further Reading

1. Dombrowski, K. R., Kammer, G., & Lohrmann, S. (2016). Action research in education: Positionality and practitioner knowledge. Educational Action Research, 24(3), 415-427.
2. Edwards, C., Gandini, L., & Forman, G. (Eds.). (2012). The hundred languages of children: The Reggio Emilia experience in transformation. ABC-CLIO.
3. Siraj-Blatchford, I., & Manni, L. (2008). Effective leadership in the early years sector: The ELEYS study. Early Education.