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Every experience a child (or any of us) has – a conversation, a story read aloud, a puzzle solved with a friend – leaves a trace in their brain. Some traces are fleeting, others, if significant enough, are encoded into lasting memories that shape behaviour and future learning. Learning therefore is intimately tied to memory:…
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A Transformation Through Movement and Learning Early Childhood Educators are frequently challenged to support young children with developmental immaturities. These immaturities can manifest in various ways, such as poor concentration, limited physical ability, speech and language delays, or underdeveloped sensory-motor skills. Seeking high-quality professional development, early childhood teacher Marion Collison, from Goodstart Early Learning –…
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Embedding the Learning Connections Early Years Program In the heart of the Clinton community, Kookaburra Creek Kindergarten has achieved remarkable success establishing the Learning Connections Early Years Program in their centre. The Early Years Program, a neurodevelopmental movement program, has transformed the way the kindergarten engages with the children, fostering growth, connection and enhanced learning…
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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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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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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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Movement is the most essential component of development. A baby innately wants to master control of his movement so that eventually he can move freely in an upright position against gravity. The first visible step to gaining this independence is to achieve head control. A newborn infant has very little head control. If you hold…
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