Amplify! Blog

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. 

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

Early literacy advocate Jennifer Barker shares how we can support literacy development by reading to children, along with simple ideas to foster a love of reading.

Outdoor learning should be an everyday part of all early education programs. We share some suggestions for how you can get children outdoors no matter what the weather is like, and how you can move through barriers to outdoor programming.

St John the Baptist ELC in Woy Woy has taken a proactive approach to ensuring that children have the opportunity to connect and appreciate the natural world every day by incorporating two bush kindy sites into their program.  ECT Leah Goncalves shares a reflection on the many ways it benefits children at her centre.

We share insights from an intensive study designed to understand what happened during the pandemic for students already at risk of educational disadvantage, to identify the needs that have arisen for them, and to propose evidence-based solutions. Of particular relevance to Amplify readers are the four priority action areas around what can work to support children’s learning, particularly in the context of lock-downs.