Trade secrets of early childhood educators

Every occupation has its own trade secrets. We are lifting the lid on 10 little known facts about early childhood educators! In our heads, we high-five ourselves when we make it to the end of a book without interruptions. It’s the teachers equivalent of an olympic gold medal. Legendary status, a historical moment reached by few. In public we secretly...

/ January 23, 2017

How imaginative play helps children learn

Many of the memories I have of my childhood include my two older sisters, who are close in age to me, and we played together often. On weekends and school holidays we would distract ourselves for hours, often outside on the small farm we grew up on – climbing old water tanks or spending hours in the cattle yards, pretending...

/ January 18, 2017

Children and technology

The use of technology by children has changed rapidly in a short period of time. Many children as young as 3 years own their own devices, but how are they using this technology and what sort of learning is happening with it? Watch this interview with researcher Dr Joanne Orlando about how children are actually using technology at home, and...

/ January 15, 2017

Art explorations for early learners

Art is often about the process, rather than the product – which is particularly important to remember when doing art activities with young children. As early childhood educators, we’re all familiar with the idea that if the end products all look identical, there probably hasn’t been much learning, creativity or imagination taking place. Pre K + K Sharing put it...

/ January 5, 2017

Supporting children to be charitable

Christmas can be a time when the focus can be on the giving and receiving of gifts, but it can also be a time where we help to instil in children a developing sense of empathy for others less fortunate, an opportunity to be charitable in meaningful ways. Donating money to a charity is a fantastic thing to do, and...

/ December 19, 2016

The workout for children: A different kind of Village

Our latest guest post is from Beth Clements from Affinity Education Group in Australia. Beth is a passionate educator who works as a consultant in the Early Years framework with a mission to empower educators to change the lives of children one connection at a time. A child arrives into this world with knowledge and capabilities, they are wired to...

/ December 14, 2016

Supporting an effective transition to school

The end of year is a busy time for everyone, so we’ve prepared a few practical tips from experts to help you save time and create the best outcomes for children. In the run up to holidays children are excited, parents are frantically trying to prepare and educators’ workloads increase as they prepare to farewell a group of children. Across...

/ December 5, 2016

Taking LEAD childcare to the next level – improving quality outcomes for children and families

This blog post is written by Michelle Tuffley from LEAD Childcare. We have 15 services throughout Queensland and have been using paper-based documentation to record children’s learning for many years.  In July 2016 we made the decision as an organisation to go online.  This decision came about after all our services went through the assessment and rating process and we...

/ December 4, 2016

More exciting science activities for young children

Our team of early childhood educators have created a new range of DIY science activities for you to try with your children, at home or in your centre. For more early learning inspiration, subscribe to the Storypark YouTube channel <=

/ November 28, 2016

Resources to support children after an earthquake

A large earthquake is an extremely terrifying and unsettling act of nature that even we as adults, can find impacts on us in the days and weeks afterwards. It is only to be expected then, that children of all ages can also be affected in a range of ways. It is hard to know exactly how each child may process...

/ November 13, 2016