What’s love got to do with it?

What’s love got to do with it?

‘Half way down the stairs is a stair where I sit There isn’t any other stair quite like it. I’m not at the bottom; I’m not at the top So this is the stair where I always stop’ (Milne, 1932, p147). There are approximately 194…
Play-based learning can set your child up for success at school and beyond

Play-based learning can set your child up for success at school and beyond

As the new school year begins, many families are deciding where to enrol their child in preschool or school. Preschools and schools offer various approaches to early education, all promoting the benefits of their particular programs. One…
Live and learn: living spaces

Live and learn: living spaces

As summer heat drives us inside we revisit concepts from an ECA Research in Practice Series, Living Spaces—Indoor learning environments written by Luke Touhill. Young children’s play is so much deeper than the ‘game’ visible to adults…
Supporting language development in the early years

Supporting language development in the early years

Take a moment to imagine what it would be like to look at the words on this page and not be able to comprehend the meaning these words have collectively. Perhaps you do not have to imagine. According to the 2016 Census, 21 per cent of Australians…
Resilience and relationships—the impact of trauma and the healing nature of love

Resilience and relationships—the impact of trauma and the healing nature of love

Trauma can be split into two categories: simple and complex. When a singular traumatic incident occurs in a child’s life (for instance a car accident), this is considered a simple trauma. But when trauma becomes repetitive and pervasive, particularly…
Routines: Opportunities for learning and connecting

Routines: Opportunities for learning and connecting

Routines are a big part of our lives. They give us order and stability and the reassurance that comes from reliable, consistent patterns of activity. They support us to regulate our lives in a world that is often fast-paced and busy. And they…
Children’s right to play and its benefits

Children’s right to play and its benefits

Play. We think we all agree on what it is when we talk about it. But it has no agreed definition (Burghardt, 2011; Sutton-Smith, 1997), and unless we can describe what play is—and is not—we will struggle to describe how it leads to learning.…
Find the time for meaningful documentation

Find the time for meaningful documentation

The age old debate in children’s services about the time available for the completion of documentation versus time spent with children has been long standing in our sector. This often divides the sector as some view that you must either choose…
Play is vital for children’s mental health and wellbeing

Play is vital for children’s mental health and wellbeing

Originally posted in 2015, this post was updated in August 2020.  Play helps children to develop healthy bodies, minds, social and emotional capacities, thinking and learning abilities. Play is essential for children. Play can be pretending,…
Collaboration for inclusion

Collaboration for inclusion

Collaboration is vital to inclusion for young children with developmental delay or disability, but it doesn’t always happen easily. Early childhood educators are well positioned to nurture collaborative partnerships with families and communities…
Health benefits of gardening for children

Health benefits of gardening for children

Being outside and involved in activities in the fresh air with gentle sunlight—such as gardening—is an amazing experience for many people. But did you know that gardening can also have a great effect on the development of various skills…
How animals can help autistic children

How animals can help autistic children

Daniel the “emotional support duck” is a pretty big deal, both in the animal and human world. His 15 minutes of fame began after he was spotted on a flight in the US – from Charlotte to Asheville, North Carolina – waddling around the…