Blog — Play

Screen time, the necessary evil. Particularly at this very point in time with the need to balance work, running a household and keeping young children active and working loosely towards some form of a grounding for the start of their lifelong educational journey.

I thought I’d share with you, the details of my constant battle with this necessary evil.

As I sit here and type this, I’m surrounded by the noisy, happy, but extremely noisy play of four kids under the age of 6. Don’t get me wrong, I’m super stoked that they are happily engaged in an activity. All laughing and all joining in together. However, my ears are paying the price!

My first instinct is to shout, in a slightly louder, deeper voice so that I can be heard over the racket of course, “Quiet! Use your inside voice!” But I hold back and take a moment to check my response and here’s why...

In my role as an early childhood teacher I have often heard about children (especially boys) who are not ready for formal learning when they turn five and are considered “ready for school.” This is where the curriculum provided in Early Childhood can assist some of our smallest learners by laying the groundwork for learning in the early years. This idea is by no means linked to theory but is rather my personal approach to this idea when my own two-year-old recently developed a huge interest in numbers and mathematical concepts… When I noticed my son asking me more and...

When you think back to play in your own childhood what do you remember? How did you learn about and explore the world around you? Can you remember the feeling of the wet grass on your bare feet or the gooey mud as you created your own outdoor restaurant complete with mud pies and leaf and flower salads all stirred with sticks?There has been a shift beginning to emerge in Early Childhood centres and homes recently with a return to wooden and natural toys. This is developing with an increase in the information we are getting about the importance of...