Adventurous Play - Developing children’s life skills through rich play experiences
Adventurous Play is a practical interpretation of the thoughts and ideas that underpin the meeting of children’s developmental needs, and acknowledges the critical role of providing play opportunities needed by children, particularly in early childhood centres. It presents a wealth of detail on areas such as: how to create and interpret challenging and stimulating play; how to see safety in the context of children’s developmental needs; and, how to enrich the play space. The resource provides the needed link to ensure that children can flourish within an ever-changing environment, varied forms of spaces and varying social configurations, as well as examples shown through photographs.
PAGES: 90 | AGES: 0-5
ISBN: 9781925145243
Working with children aged 2 - 8 and Nature
Children in Wild Nature takes a practical approach to taking children aged 2 to 8 years into the outdoors, describing and exemplifying rich environments in which children will be nurtured and challenged.
There is a growing realisation that children benefit by being involved in ‘wild’ spaces. They need dynamic and complex outdoor environments and opportunities for risk and challenge, to play with abandon, to have first-hand experiences – places where there is adventure, delight, laughter, daring and joy.
This book:
• provides a background to bush, forest and beach schools
• outlines the challenges and benefits
• explores the concept of nature-based practice
• emphasises the importance of free play
• includes a selection of case studies in which educators share their journeys into ‘wild nature’
• provides a starting point for giving nature-based practice a go
It takes richly resourced, vibrant environments for learners to be all they can possibly be, and this has everything to do with connection to the natural world. It is a complex interplay between people, places and things that nurture children’s capacity to learn. Teachers and educators who understand the way children are drawn into learning through dispositions such as curiosity, persisting with things that interest them and then, with effort and practice, build their knowledge and skills, and realise the emotional nature of learning.
PAGES: 100 | AGES: 2-8
ISBN: 9781925145014
A Sense of Wonder - Science in early childhood education
A Sense of Wonder explores the possibilities for experiencing science in early childhood settings, together with practical ideas to inspire educators. It outlines an early childhood science framework divided into four learning areas: biological science, physical science, earth science and environmental science. During early science learning, children are seen as confident, capable, involved learners, eager to observe and explore the world around them. This can be supported by creating an inquiry approach within a play-based program that promotes positive learning.
PAGES: 96 | AGES: 1-5
ISBN: 9781921613579
Maths concepts to enrich children’s experiences
Maths Is All Around You - Developing mathematical concepts in the early years
The development of mathematical understanding occurs in a range of settings. Children are naturally curious and keen to learn about their world, including mathematics, and educators are ideally placed to enhance children’s early mathematical learning. Maths Is All Around Youhas a strong emphasis on a play-based approach. It will help educators explore and investigate maths concepts to enrich children’s experiences and extend their current thinking and learning.
PAGES: 112 | AGES: 1-5
ISBN: 9781921613623
Move from physical dependence to the development of sensory and motor skills
Time to Move - Physical development in the early years: How to observe, assess and plan for progress
Time to Move focuses is on supporting infants, toddlers and young children to move from physical dependence to the development of sensory and motor skills and movement patterns that combine both fine and gross motor movement with increasing integration, skill and purpose. This will enable increasingly complex exploration of their environment and the manipulation and use of a range of tools.
PAGES: 92 | AGES: 0-7 | PUBLISHED: October 2017
ISBN: 9781925145229
Creating Wonder - Practical ideas for using natural and recycled materials
Using simple theory-based information, Creating Wonder celebrates the use of natural and recycled materials to support children as they experience wonder from the creative play and learning opportunities that develop from using these materials.
Including these materials in both indoor and outdoor environments helps children to:
Using natural and recycled materials enables educators to create rich and rewarding environments in a cost-effective way. The many striking visual images in this book will motivate educators to create play and learning environments to delight young children. Links to the EYLF are included, with a focus on the outcomes and learning dispositions of the NQS.
PAGES: 56 | AGES: 0-5
ISBN: 9781925145090
National Quality Standard - Second edition - Towards continuous quality improvement
Comprehensively updated, The National Quality Standard – Second edition, incorporates the changes made to the assessment and rating process conducted through the NQS all of which apply from 2018. The resource assists early childhood educators, in whatever service or setting, to meet the requirements of the National Quality Standard. It covers each quality area, identifying the standards and addressing each element through a number of questions designed to stimulate professional reflection guide discussion and support early childhood educators as they identify their strengths, and plan for improvement. In this way, professional learning plans can be identified and the deployment of limited resources more efficiently targeted.
PAGES: 88 | AGES: 0-5
ISBN: 9781925145236
Comprehensively updated, Exceeding the Standards – Third edition, incorporates all the changes made to the assessment and rating process conducted through the NQS, the seven quality areas and the subsequent changes to the standards and elements, all of which applied from 2018. This new edition includes updated tables outlining how you can achieve exceeding in your assessment and rating as well as comprehensive information on the three ‘exceeding’ themes, which are vital to achieving success. This book is designed to guide you, stimulate your thinking and create robust opportunities for critical reflection.
ISBN: 9781925145342
PAGES: 100 | AGES: 0-5
by Susie Rosback, Bernadette Waters
We all know the value of play and how vital it is for young children’s development. This book is designed to encourage and inspire early childhood educators in all settings to create open-ended play spaces that will provide opportunities for children to investigate, explore, discover, practise, try, fail, succeed, observe, imagine, dream, pretend, share, listen and participate in everyday activities, thus allowing them to develop a sense of who they are and an understanding of the world in which they live.
The book shows a variety of ways in which different spaces can be executed and set up, and describes in detail how these experiences support educators to meet the requirements of the EYLF and the NQS, respond to children’s interests, and understand the benefits of play.
PAGES: 96 | AGES: 0-5
ISBN: 9781921613739
Understand sustainability and successfully incorporate it into learning and practices.
Sustainability in Action in Early Childhood Settings - Understanding sustainability and successfully incorporating it into everyday learning and practices.
This full colour, easy-to-use resource will support early years educators to understand sustainability and successfully incorporate it into everyday learning and practices.
Sustainability in Action will assist educators, managers, coordinators and other staff in all kinds of early education and care settings embed sustainability to meet and exceed the requirements of the EYLF and NQS. The book is for those who are taking first steps in sustainability, as well as those wishing to extend current practices. It is also relevant to playgroups, out of hours school care and school environments, and to lecturers and students in training and tertiary institutions,
Sustainability in Action provides a wealth of interesting information and many captioned photographs. Ten interconnected aspects of sustainability are explored - biodiversity, water, energy, air and transport, waste, children’s wellbeing, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, cultural and social diversity, community and partnerships, and economics - enabling readers to grow their own knowledge as a basis for their actions. Many appealing, practical suggestions are also included for making sustainability part of young children’s everyday education and care.
• Chapters 1 to 3 introduce sustainability and show how it can easily be embedded in early childhood settings through curriculum and pedagogy.
• Chapters 4 and 5 explore ten important aspects of sustainability to provide a valuable foundation for the many actions that are suggested and for others that readers will come up with themselves.
• Chapter 6 offers ways to involve everyone in a setting, whether taking first steps in sustainability or building upon current practices, with interest and enthusiasm for making it ‘just the way we do things’ every day.
Click here to download supporting materials.
PAGES: 118 | AGES: 1-5 | PUBLISHED: January 2016
ISBN: 9781925145069
Theories into Practice - Understanding and rethinking our work with young children and the EYLF
Theories into Practice introduces and explores each of the five major groups of theories described in the EYLF that inform practice in the early childhood field. In doing so, it addresses the need of the early childhood educators to better understand how their practice is underpinned by theories of learning and development. Each chapter deals with a different group of theories, briefly outlining the major thrust of each group and what it might look like in practice. Some of the major theorists are then focused on in turn. Discussion starter topics follow each theorist and questions for reflection that relate more to thinking about the main concepts in relation to practice are included.
The downloadable file Challenging Aspects of Practice (CAP) provides a tool to help educators identify and consider the theoretical perspectives that act to shape their practice. This tool relates to the National Quality Standard: Quality Area 1. It is designed to stimulating thinking and conversation at the individual and centre level to assist in understanding the interplay between theory and practice.
Click here to use the Challenging Aspects of Practice (CAP) activity
PAGES: 76 | AGES: 0-5 | PUBLISHED: February 2015
Understanding Behaviour in the Early Years- A practical guide for supporting each child's behaviour in the early years setting
The word 'behaviour' is often taken to only refer to inappropriate behaviour. However, by opening out our thinking and recognising behaviour as a means of communication we are much more likely to be able to support children’s development more effectively. This book offers essential guidance on:
PAGES: 72 | AGES: 0-8
ISBN: 9781921613692