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How do we help children prepare for the demands of the classroom? The 2018 Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) found that 20% of Australian children entering school are developmentally vulnerable in at least one of the five early childhood development domains – physical health, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills, or communication and…
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Why kids need thrill and adventure in play What is Risky Play?“A risky situation is where the outcome might be unknown. Your child might tackle it in a number of different ways; they might succeed, they might not; they might have a minor injury of some sort … but they’ll learn something along the way” [1]…
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Brain regions responsible for motor control interact with regions involved in self-regulation – movement programs therefore provide strong support for the development of self-regulation skills. What is self-regulation? Self-regulation is our ability to control our thoughts, emotions and behaviours in response to the demands of the environment. It’s the ability to return to a balanced,…
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In a recent article in The Conversation Kate Highfield highlights the importance of looking at the quality as much as the quantity of screen usage by children. The Australian 24-hour movement guidelines (REF) recommends the following quantities: no screen time for children younger than two years no more than one hour per day for children aged 2–5 years no more than…
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A recently published Canadian study has underlined the importance of tummy time for the development of gross motor skills in infants. 1 The study was undertaken by Valerie Carson and her colleagues with a group of 411 parents and their infants in Edmonton, Canada. The study method involved parents recording at ages 2,4 and 6 months the average time…
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Does your child: Constantly trip over? Frequently bump into things and people? Frequently fall from chairs? Play too rough? Use too much force when writing? – or not enough? Enjoys deep pressure or being “squished” Frequently chew on clothing or other inedible objects Have difficulty riding a bike? These are all common signs of poor…
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This week is Healthy Lunchbox Week, an initiative of Nutrition Australia that aims to inspire Australian families to create healthy and enjoyable lunchboxes. Because children consume around 30% of their daily food intake at school, what children eat at school plays a crucial role in their learning and development. The Healthy Lunchbox Week website has lots of great…
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Make the still time better … with these simple movement activities. It’s well established that young children can’t and shouldn’t sit still for long periods of time – children need to move. The benefits of regular brief movement breaks for children in the classroom include: Improved brain elasticity, which allows children to learn more easily,…
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The Australian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines provide the following recommendations for screen time for children [1] – Birth to 2 years – No screen time at all 2 to 5 years – Max 1 hour per day of “high-quality” programming 5 to 17 years – Max 2 hours per day It’s important to note that the guidelines are as much about…
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There’s a lot of pressure on parents and educators these days to encourage healthy eating and optimise learning strategies. Teachers are facing increasing stress to perform however this is greatly controlled by the behaviour and willingness of their class (which is in turn drastically impacted by the food the children are eating). Unfortunately though, parents…
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