Tag: Child Learning & Development
Nature versus Nurture?
This is an age old question. Every year more and more studies are published to show that childhood development is influenced by a variety of factors. Whilst parents supply the gene pool for children, everyday activities and environment have a major impact on childhood development. Everyone is born with a complex system of brain circuitry, but how that circuitry is...
The Damage of Gender Stereotypes At a Young Age
Parents gender stereotype their children before their baby is even born. If it is going to be a boy the room is painted blue and has airplanes, if it is a girl it is pink with princesses. Ironically Gender Spectrum report that at the beginning of the 19th century the opposite was true and blue was considered more feminine while...
Shyness in early childhood with Dr Robert Coplan
Developmental psychologist Dr Robert Coplan from Carleton University in Ottawa, discusses shyness in early childhood. What is shyness, and what are some strategies for supporting shy children?
The Power of the Word (Teaching inspiration from the voice of Blinky Bill)
“You can give children a life-sentence that is empowering, or a life-sentence that is disempowering.” For our early learning web series Mat Time we talked to Robyn Moore, who created the voice of the iconic Australian cartoon character, Blinky Bill, about the power of words. Robyn is an educator who is passionate about life long learning and has some truely inspirational stories...
Yoga and mindfulness for children
Yoga and mindfulness are so valuable for both children and adults alike, especially children who have experienced trauma. For our early learning web series Mat Time we caught up with Nicky, who has taught yoga to refugee children in refugee camps in Greece. She offers some great tips for how to introduce yoga and mindfulness to young children. Subscribe here...
The Gut-Brain Connection (Nutrition in Early Childhood)
Ask many children today where they think food comes from and their answer will be ‘the supermarket’. Whole food eating for families is one of the best things we can do for children to have a healthy diet. A good place to start is by talking with children about where food comes from! We interviewed Hadley from The Remedy Project:...
Experimenting with science for kindergarten and early learning
Children are natural scientists, always asking why, endlessly curious about the world around them. There are infinite ways we as educators can ignite their imaginations and feed their natural desire to experiment. These are just a few ideas for supporting science for kindergarten and early learning in your centre, school or home. Before each experiment, try asking the children what...
Including all children – the criteria is breathing
Recently on our new early learning web series “Mat Time” we interviewed Janet Dixon, who is an early learning educator and mentor, as well as a researcher, author and advocate for including all children. We talked to Janet about the skills early childhood teachers already have to be inclusive of all children and to be supportive of the families of...
Supporting a child’s transition from kindergarten to school
Recently on our new early learning web series “Mat Time” we interviewed Carol Hartley, who is the head teacher at Mangere Bridge Kindergarten in Auckland, New Zealand. Carol was part of a 10 year research project about supporting children from early childhood to primary school, and helped author a book on transitions called ‘Crossing The Border – a community negotiates...
Reading with children to improve communication and early literacy skills
Recently on our new early learning web series “Mat Time” we interviewed speech and language therapist Amanda White about using books to develop communication and literacy skills. Amanda told us that it’s never too early to start reading with children and babies, and shared some really helpful tips for both educators and parents about how to make reading enjoyable, as...