The source of some of Amplify’s most popular articles on excursions, Su Garret of Explore and Develop Annandale, returns with a story about taking the children on bird watching excursions from their inner Sydney service all the way to Central Australia, without even needing a permission slip! Read Su’s story now to find out how […]
Amplify has often explored ways of thinking about outdoor education, with stories like this one on excursions, this one on nature and anxiety, and this one on children’s attitudes, among our most-read. We’ve also carried many reflections and provocations that point out the elephant in the room: trendy approaches that could do with deeper consideration, […]
Welcome back to Amplify in 2019. We’re starting the year in traditional style, looking forward and back. Looking ahead, there’s a story tapping into the New Year resolutions many of you are making to improve your own and the children’s physical activity and guess what? Research is saying that improving educator and parent activity is […]
Last week’s article from Sarah Riddell explored what it means to support a child with trauma and suggested actions including building your knowledge of referrals for families to help their children. If you have these contact numbers accessible all of the time, and ideally the name of someone within that support service, you can more […]
Sarah Riddell returns to Amplify this week to share her understanding of the causes, signs and support actions for children who have experienced some form of trauma. As Sarah says, the first thing to accept is that this is a complex area, but her guide and suggestions will simplify your professional role and this article […]
Preschool Graduation Last week, Danielle Bopping shared part one of this two-part reflection + advice article about the practice of early learning graduation ceremonies. In the first part, Danielle set the context for graduations through the ages and the dressing up – for adults and children – that accompanies them. That article looked at the […]
Creative craft activity or craptivity? Another season, another round of educators vigorously sharing ‘so cute’ handprint craft activities in online professional groups, with an equally vigorous howling down from those opposing the practice as adult-directed and anti-children’s agency. It seems like a simple enough argument but the complications include this kicker frequently used by defenders of […]
Nobody else but the rosebush knows How nice mud feels Between the toes. From the short poem Mud, by Polly Chase Boyden Mud, mud, glorious mud, goes the old music hall song*, and mud play in mud kitchens has become a standard feature of many early childhood services. ACECQA’s document for the Early Years Learning […]
We recently shared on Amplify the expertise of learning specialist Kerrie Maguire in developing an early childhood education service Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). When we shared the story on the CELA Facebook page, your responses confirmed that creating a RAP is a high priority and linked to your Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) goals. There’s nothing […]
