Just about every institution these days is looking for creative individuals. Adults who can innovate in high-quality ways and contribute to the progress of science, engineering and the arts. Creative expressions start from an early age. Children express creativity through “pretend play” – an activity that involves using imagination and make-believe. They make up stories […]
In 2008, Queensland had the worst enrolment rates in early childhood education, in the year before full-time schooling, in Australia. Only 29 per cent of children were enrolled for at least one hour per week (Deloitte, 2014, p. 19). As a result of targets set under the National Partnership Agreement on Universal Access to Early […]
Can a dog’s undirected ‘skills’ teach us about STEM learning among children? Is an activity that we don’t understand the same as learning a new skill? In an amusing blog, Daniel Groenewald recently looked at coding, how we might teach skills and what we hope to achieve. Posted on 1 August by Clare McHugh with excerpts from original post by Daniel […]
Educators at Goodstart Red Hill had long admired forest kindergartens from afar, never really considering how that might look in an Australian setting. Then they realised they had an amazing and diverse environment right on their doorstep. Skye Devereaux, Early Childhood Teacher and Educational Leader, writes how Goodstart Red Hill developed their Nature Space program. […]
A little girl was watching her mother prepare a fish for dinner. Her mother cut the head and tail off the fish and then placed it into a baking pan. The little girl asked her mother why she cut the head and tail off the fish. Her mother thought for a while and then said, […]
One of the biggest issues early childhood educators face today is the increasing complexity experienced by families coming into the centres, with young children expressing ‘big’ behaviours. It’s often beyond the scope of what most early childhood educators were prepared for in their training. Before starting primary school teaching, I completed a psychology degree and […]
A large pile of Lego sits on the table, and you watch as young children are actively engaged in creating vehicles. Moments of quick chatter are followed by a quick run around the room to test their latest vehicle, then intense concentration as they try to find the next perfect piece. ‘You need two bad […]
This is part of our series on kids’ health. Read the other articles in our series here. When parents observe shyness in their child, they may wonder if it is normal or cause for concern. For instance, in social situations, the child may cling to their parent, be hesitant to speak, reluctant to interact with […]
‘I have no words.’ ‘I don’t know what to say.’ ‘Words can’t describe how I feel.’ If you have thought or said, any of these statements before … you are not alone. Understanding and then expressing how we feel can be tricky and definitely, takes practice. Providing space and grabbing opportunities to learn, and […]
Young children need a rich range of child-centred, hands-on, play-based experiences and intentional teaching to develop the early learning required for future academic achievement. It is paramount for young children to be engaged in high-quality early childhood education programs if later academic success is to be achieved. In 2013 an alliance was formed between four […]
