As I innocently watched Bluey with my children the other day, my one-year-old daughter crawled over and pulled herself up against the couch, beckoning for me to pick her up. As I lazily dragged her up onto my big belly she buried her face into my chest, for what I thought was a cuddle… Boy, did I get the shock of my life as she took a big chomp out of my skin.
[…]Do you ever wish your kids could understand just how much you love them? Have you ever wondered why the things that make you feel loved may not work in the same way for your child? As parents, even though our children sometimes drive us crazy, we love them unconditionally; but how could we express love in a way that they really understand.
As learners, no matter how old or young we are, we all have unique skills that lay a foundation for how we learn. These skills are called dispositions for learning. They are the underlying attributes that enable us to learn. No one has created a concise list that everyone agrees on.
“So, are you looking forward to the School Holidays?” This is my favourite question to ask families as the term starts to end. Every parent replies with a range of differences and the same similarities. The similarities are usually a tone of uncertainty and an expression of resignation.
At First Steps, we always seem to have quite a few boys who like to be involved in Rough-and-Tumble play, and this can often make the educators supervising uncomfortable because they are worried about the boys hurting one another.
We all experience moments like these; when your toddler has just tipped their whole bowl of cereal across the dining room table, or they are in the pantry covered in jam and tomato sauce they have been mixing in a bowl, or perhaps they have decided to move the entire contents of their wardrobe from the cupboard to their bedroom floor.
As parents, we often think that play is just play. But as an educator, we see play as so much more than just fun. In fact, research and evidence has proven that varying types of play is vital for our child’s learning and development in their early years.
[…]Playdough can be found in every early childhood classroom as it is a favourite amongst young children. When a child plays with playdough the experience is always positive as there is no right or wrong way to do it so they feel success with their creations. What is it that makes this wonderful substance such a valuable resource in the early childhood setting and what do children learn while playing with it? […]
What do children learn when playing with bubbles?
Playing with bubbles is absolutely the best fun when playing with children. It doesn’t matter what age the child is, the enjoyment is always wonderful to see as children blow, chase or make bubbles. Pop, pop, pop, we say as they chase and pop a bubble. The laughter when they manage this is magic. […]
