GUEST POST: Fostering Resilience in Family Day Care
"Careful!!” A man shouts nervously at my one year old as he runs toward him while looking around for his ...
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GUEST POST – Encounters: Rediscovering Nature with Children
Naturalist John Burroughs has written that the ability to fully appreciate the wonders of nature depends on the capacity to ...
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Can 1:1 time combat “challenging behaviour”?
This week my middle child started school. For the first time ever my youngest is now at home with just ...
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“He had a GREAT day!”
He had a great day!" When they arrive in the afternoon to collect their child from their early education and care ...
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What’s the deal with the birthday wall?
I’m just going to be blunt – I don’t get the whole concept of a birthday wall. Never have.The oversized ...
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The Photo Generation
These are my three-year-old's sparkly shoes. They are her new favourite shoes - a $2 find at the local op-shop ...
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Her Story – Guest Post by Linda Tandy
I sat watching the children. They were restless and destructive. I know the deconstruction schema is a ‘thing’ so that ...
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GUEST POST: The Parent – The Social Media Gatekeeper
Allow me to pose a question; would you take your eyes off your child at the local park, turn your ...
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GUEST POST: Creating The Perfect Backyard for Children on The Autism Spectrum
Early in a child’s life, parents safety-proof their homes to ensure that the most common injuries do not happen to ...
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Doing “the scary thing”!
Last night I went to a talent show at my son’s school. Now, I will be the first to admit ...
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7 of our Favourite Early Childhood Instagram Accounts
We love Instagram. It's highly visual and really inspiring. We love sharing on instagram.... but more than that - we ...
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Easy, Natural Playdough!
Are you a playdough master? Or... perhaps you are like me and the thought of making playdough fills you with ...
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3 Tips for The Child Who Doesn’t Want to Share!
She found the terracotta pipes and began to build. Lining them up, end to end, it was clear that she ...
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To the Over-Protective Parent {Guest Post}
To the over-protective parent...Firstly I would like to acknowledge that just because I have an early childhood education degree and ...
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3 Questions NOT to ask Children at Play!
This week we launched our exciting new TimberNook program. This amazing program, which is the brainchild of US Paediatric Occupational ...
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Imitation – Not Just Flattery!
Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing - Salvador DaliThey sit side by side painting. He is ...
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Relationships don’t just matter – they are VITAL!
From the moment they are born, children seek out connection with the adults in their world. They grasp their fingers ...
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And then they grew up…
This weekend I was standing in line at a store with two of my little ones. I was distracted with ...
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A Place of Yes!
Last week I was delighted to visit a service that is preparing to open - the beautiful Our Place Play ...
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I can do it!
A few weeks ago I watched my youngest navigate the climbing structure at a local playground. She is 2.8years and ...
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Photo Day – Memory Making or Play Interrupting?
This week is photo week at my daughters preschool. Getting the little envelope home and reading the instructions reminded me ...
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What’s in a name?
"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" Famous words from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and words that ...
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Why we all need to unplug and slow down!
A few weekends back, I went camping with the family. We headed out to a 6000 acre cattle farm with ...
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Interaction v Interference
It was a sunny, Winter morning and the children were playing outdoors. A group of children had invented their own ...
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Fidget Spinners – What’s with the hype?
In the last week my Facebook news feed has been flooded with the words "fidget spinner." Apparently as a Mum ...
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Why we need to stop hijacking children’s play under the guise of “interest based learning”
[perfect_quotes id="2573"]Lately I have been doing a lot of thinking about interest based learning. As someone who worked with young ...
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The Art of Problem Solving
Yesterday afternoon as we spent some time outdoors, I watched my littlest (who will be 2 on Saturday! How did ...
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Quit the Judgement!
This week a YouTube clip started doing the rounds, showcasing the "struggles" of "child care workers." (and no, I am ...
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Why “the village” matters for children too!
Yesterday we went house hunting with my parents. After over 35 years in the same home, they are looking to ...
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Inside the mind of a toddler…
I have a toddler. An unpredictable, inquisitive, amazing little human. Some days she drives me to the brink of insanity ...
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Hey “grown ups” – just PLAY!
Twice in the last week we have had a picnic dinner in the park. One of the joys of daylight ...
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THIS is process
Well, it's that time of year. Christmas is just around the corner and the craft projects are being shared left, ...
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Self-Directed Play and Disability (GUEST POST)
Self-Directed play is a time for children to learn, explore and make sense of the environment and world around them ...
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Will They Remember?
Source: Unknown (via Pinterest) - Please note, I think they space is great and would love to see an "in ...
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Instead of dwelling on reasons we can’t do things… let’s look at how we CAN!
It was 2006 and Tash and I were working in a community based service. As a team, we had established ...
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Trusting Babies to Take Risks
Last week I took my three children to the local wetlands centre. After a big walk and some bird spotting ...
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They’re not just cute!
Yesterday, my children found a bird egg in the backyard. It wasn't cracked or broken and they worried that it ...
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Paint… not just for painting!
Yesterday marked the start of school holidays in our household and with a six year old, three year old and ...
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Build it and they will come (and maybe trash it) let them build it and they will play!
In the last blog post They Wrecked It I talked about the lengths we educators sometimes go to set up beautiful, ...
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“They wrecked it!” – REFLECTING ON THE AESTHETICS OF PLAY SPACES
This morning I stopped myself just in time. I was outside with my three little ones and I happened to ...
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Step back… the kids have got it!
On the weekend we ventured to Sydney for a family getaway. On the last day we stopped by the playground ...
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Educators are confident and involved learners…
On Friday, while in the car together, Tash and I began discussing the fact that over the last couple of ...
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The Importance of Writing for a Purpose…
This weekend I managed to sneak a little time to myself to read "Unearthing Why" , the current book for ...
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Should we all just “chill out”?
I could never be accused of not having an opinion. And I usually can't keep it to myself either! Last ...
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Let them tell their own story!
One of the best things about the work we do is when we get a few of our trainers in ...
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Reflecting on Reflective practice (and why “breaking up” is good!)
As with many of my blog posts, this is inspired by some very interesting discussions and comments I have been ...
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3 Ways to respect a child’s need for comfort…
In the last few weeks I have been reflecting on security items or comfort items and their presence in early ...
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Stop… just stop!
I write this fearing that I may sound like a broken record or that I may soon become known as ...
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Play – Just do it!
Yesterday I shared a post on our Facebook page that encouraged adults to play in nature and it got me ...
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Literacy Levels of Educators - Yes, it does matter!
Disclaimer - I love reading, writing, spelling and all things associated with the written word!Recently I have found myself wondering ...
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Art and The Fine Line Between Guidance and Interference
I have never made any secret of my disdain for stencils and structured, adult driven craft experiences being labelled as ...
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7 Ways to Create A “Homelike” Environment
Last night a question on an Early Childhood Facebook page made me stop and think. It was about how to ...
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Moments of Magic
Childhood is magical. Well, at least it is supposed to be. The unfortunate truth is that for many children there ...
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It’s not a fad…7 ways to engage in nature play
We are passionate about nature play. It is evident in what we write, what we share, the training we deliver, ...
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Is it really up to us to defend our practice?
For many years as an educator and director I was a firm believer in defending my practice and that of ...
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The importance of “smell” in the Early Childhood years…
Last week I left the office and decided to go for a walk around the lake. I set off and ...
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Why we need to rethink group times…
One of the great things about what we do at Inspired EC is spending time in different services, giving us ...
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5 Ways to Fight the Downward Push of Academics
I have officially had enough. The downward push of academics into early education is making me feel frustrated. Frustrated that ...
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Letting Go…
This past weekend our family headed away for a few days of camping. It was everything that I was craving ...
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Tis the season… to abandon our philosophy?
Well, it is December. The Christmas season is well and truly underway and my Facebook and Pinterest feeds are filled ...
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Embracing the Now!
I have many pet peeves. Anyone who knows me well knows that there a lots of ...
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When good forums go bad!
I love the Internet. I love that I can find out anything about everything (thank you Google). I love that ...
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Make it Meaningful!
So it is Mothers Day. This is probably not the best day to write this post, however I just have ...
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Culture needs to be created…not transported!
Many years ago I began hearing about the amazing educational approach in Reggio Emilia, Italy. I ...
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If a play experience is not photographed, documented and analysed – did it really happen?
Let me begin by saying that documenting children's play and learning is an incredibly important aspect ...
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Why outdoors?
This image and quote says it all... perhaps the real question is "Why not outdoors?"Part of ...
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Rough and tumble play…does it push your buttons?
Who remembers how fun it was when you were entwined in rough and tumble play with your parents or siblings? ...
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The Benefits of Baby Wearing
As many of you would know I am currently on maternity leave with my second bub. She is a precious ...
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Sharing…is it really a reasonable expectation?
This week has seen me return to teaching after 7 years as a Director of a Long Day Care Centre ...
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When kids make you cry
Twice in the last month I have cried at work! Well, it could have even been more than that, but ...
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Just a pile of sticks?
_Earlier this week one of our amazing educators bought in a stack of branches that had recently been cut down ...
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