Episode 003 – Nature Play with Jen and Narell from Birdwings
Episode 3 of our podcast "The Inspired Educator" is now available and ready for your listening pleasure!Our brilliant buddy Jeff ...
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Episode 002 – Risk with Kate Higginbottom
Episode 2 of our brand new podcast "The Inspired Educator" is now available and we are pretty excited! Our brilliant buddy ...
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Episode 001 – Physical Play with Belinda Turner
We are so excited to launch our brand new podcast "The Inspired Educator". Our brilliant buddy Jeff A Johnson, over ...
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Read it like you mean it!
Today, (19th September 2019) it is Australian Reading Hour day! Now, I know I am probably biased - given that ...
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Stop Looking for the Short-Cut!
Over the last decade, the expectations placed on services and educators appear to have grown rapidly. There are curricula and ...
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The value of imaginative play outdoors for school aged children
Two boys arrive at our TimberNook program full of stories of online gaming - stories that seem somewhat older than ...
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Knowing vs Growing: How vulnerability can evolve our practice
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” —Maya Angelou Have you ever found yourself in an early childhood ...
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Why does it sometimes hurt instead? (Guest Post)
Never mind I’ll find someone like youI wish nothing but the best, for youDon’t forget me, I begI remember you ...
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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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