Category: Inspiration
Inspiration, tips and fun stuff
Insights into the updated National Quality Framework 2018
Research shows quality education and care early in life leads to better health, education and employment outcomes later in life. The early years are critical for establishing self-esteem, resilience, healthy growth and capacity to learn. Quality education and care shapes every child’s future and lays the foundation for development and learning. The National Quality Framework (NQF) introduced a new quality...
Better Books: Grandparents and Grandchildren
What kinds of families do the children in your early childhood centre or local community live in? If everyone you know has just a mum, a dad, and children, in their house, then they will find themselves well represented in children’s literature. But if they have any other pattern, you’ll have to make an extra effort to make sure...
3 phrases for a sexism free childhood
‘Use your walking feet, please!’ ‘Gentle hands, remember?’ ‘Use your words.’ If you live or work with small children, you will have plenty of these repeatable phrases up your sleeve. It’s good to have brief and catchy things to say, often, to pass on our values and help children learn, practise and remember healthy ways of behaving. Here...
Tips for Tramping with Toddlers
Have you heard of vitamin N? According to author, Richard Louv, the N is for nature. He’s written several books about the value of nature for healthy development and quality of life, such as Vitamin N: The Essential Guide to a Nature-Rich Life and Last Child in the Woods where he introduced the term “nature deficit disorder.” There is an...
Kaitiakitanga: Children as Champions of Nature, for Nature
Kaitiakitanga: Children as Champions of Nature, for Nature By: Brigitte Alamani (Head Teacher | Daisies Early Education and Care Centre) Background Daisies is a family owned long-day education and care centre in Johnsonville, Wellington, that is licensed for 30 children a day. We are a mixed aged centre, catering from 9 months to school aged children. Our pedagogy embraces New...
The Benefits of Tramping with Children
“It’s Tuesday Adventure Day! Where do you want to go today?” My 4-year-old turned to her friend to begin a serious discussion about their favourite local day walks. In the end, they voted on a track through nearby farmland rumoured to have new lambs. My daughter and I have been doing Tuesday Adventure Days since she was just a baby,...
Self care part 2
In part two, the thread of self-care continues with some ideas about control, choices, and saying yes. In this two-part blog, I talk about self-care as not being a ‘one-shot deal’- it is more a bunch of little things repeated time and time again to ensure that you are at your peak. In part one, I talked about ideas about...
Self Care
Self-care is one of those trendy ideas right now. It’s a funny mix with people who are ‘typically Kiwi’, and are ‘just getting on with it’, and for the most part that’s ok. But, sometimes it’s not. Leading up to Christmas, I find it an ideal time to reflect on what I can manage, and what I have to do...
Putting the love into Christmas
What do you want your children to remember about family Christmases? The world is a pretty diverse place so Christmas will mean lots of different things to us, but I bet your list has ‘love’ on it, and something about having a lovely time together. The reality for lots of parents, of course, is that as well as all that...
Healthy recipes for children
Finding new, delicious and nutritious recipes for young children can be a struggle at the best of times. We have created a printable selection of recipes that have been tried and tested by some of our youngest scrutineers. This involved testing using all of their senses, and we can safely say the selected recipes passed with flying colours! Cauliflower Tots Healthy Fruit...