By CELA 13 Aug, 2021 Ideas for supporting children's learning during lockdowns After speaking with many of our members over recent weeks to offer support through challenges related to the latest COVID outbreak, we continue to be blown away by the ideas and strategies ECEC professionals are putting into place to support children and their learning, whether at the service or at home. CELA early education specialist and former ECEC Director Kate Damo shares a few more ideas to help you keep up the inspiration levels for children and families, and an overview on how families can facilitate learning through play while learning from home. Read More
By Rachel Ho 9 Aug, 2021 Reflecting on why early learning matters, and what it means to trust a child’s innate motivation for learning Organised by Early Childhood Australia, Early Learning Matters (ELM) Week provides a great opportunity to tell our communities how high-quality early education and care supports children to be confident, enthusiastic learners, building a foundation for wellbeing and achievement throughout their lives. In acknowledging the importance of early learning during ELM week in July, educator Rachel Ho reflected on how she can continue to grow her practices and pedagogy further, with a focus on what it really means to have faith in the innate knowledge children are born with when facilitating children’s learning. Read More
By Victoria Mackinlay 9 Aug, 2021 Let’s get outside: Surprisingly interesting tree bark activities and facts Tree bark might not come to mind immediately when thinking of inspiring outdoor activities, but for award-winning children’s author Victoria Mackinlay, this rough pearl of nature sparked an idea for her latest book, and hours of fun adventures and investigations in nature with her daughter. Victoria shares interesting and mindful bark-related activities and facts to support outdoor learning in services, which could also inspire activities and investigations for families who are keeping children at home due to COVID. Read More
By CELA 1 Aug, 2021 Let's take a look into the window of tolerance Tom and Erin Pascall, ECEC professionals with a psychology background, share how we can expand the window of tolerance for children and the importance of understanding our own window of tolerance. They also offer helpful skills for getting through periods of dysregulation. Read More
By Deborah Hoger 1 Aug, 2021 Representation matters, here’s how you can conduct a bookshelf audit Being deliberate and intentional in our book choices, and actively including books with diverse characters, is beneficial to all children. Regular CELA writer and Indigenous early education resource specialist Deborah Hoger shares why a book audit is important for fostering inclusion, and provides four easy steps for how you can conduct a bookshelf audit in your service. Read More
By Karthika Viknarasah 26 Jul, 2021 How we can introduce numeracy in the early years ECEC Director and CELA trainer Karthika Viknarasah shares how numeracy and maths can be approached in the early years, why it's an important part of early years development, and how we can make it visible to families. Read More
By Hayley Bates 26 Jul, 2021 The science of playing with your food - and how to do it mindfully Children are often told not to play with their food, and while we do need to consider the ethics, there are many benefits to allowing children to play with their food when done mindfully. Read More
By CELA 19 Jul, 2021 How will you celebrate the International Day of Friendship? Did you know that Friday July 30 is International Day of Friendship? Knowing that someone, somewhere in the world cares for us has never been more important than now. Read More
By CELA 18 Jul, 2021 Tips for communicating with families during challenging times We speak to Donna Goetz, Director of Laverton Community Children’s Centre in Victoria, about how her team have optimised their communication with families during a year of lockdowns. We also share tips for how to communicate in times of crisis, and how to approach oppositional situations. Read More
By CELA 12 Jul, 2021 The power of networking: How a Directors’ group is providing emotional support through the pandemic CELA member Lauren Maguire, Director of Wallum Community Preschool and Family Centre in NSW, tells us how her local Directors' Network has helped her to work through the changes and pressures she's experienced through the pandemic, and shares some strategies that others may find helpful. Read More