This week we are excited to welcome Kelly Wilk-Downs to The Preschool Podcast. Kelly is an Occupational Therapist and the owner of Junction of Function. She is certified in the Sensory Integration and Praxis Test and has specialized in working with Autism. Kelly is the developer of Shoe Tying Made Simple and Writing Made Simple products. She has spent most of her career working in the schools where she was responsible for staffing the schools with clinicians and she also owned her own clinic. We discuss occupational therapy and the educational value of toys and games. 

Occupational therapy and the educational value of toys and games

The Preschool Podcast, brought to you by HiMama, is a platform for learning from leading professionals in early childhood education. If you work in a daycare, childcare or preschool setting, The Preschool Podcast will provide you with both practical advice for managing your organization, center or classroom, as well as thought provoking content and insights about the field of early childhood education.

Each week, we chat with leaders in early childhood education, from teachers and educators in the classroom with innovative curriculum approaches, to directors who are excelling at empowering their team, and leaders outside of the child care environment that are passionate about making a positive impact on outcomes for young children.

Our goal with The Preschool Podcast is to provide knowledge and inspiration to the future leaders of early childhood education by speaking with experienced and insightful leaders in the world of preschool and early learning today. At HiMama, it is our belief that leadership within early childhood education is crucial to the future of the childcare sector and, of course, the future of our most important asset in this world, our youngest children.

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  In this episode of The Preschool Podcast with Jo and Maddie, our hosts talk about one of the biggest challenges in childcare: burnout.      WebMD describes burnout as “[A] form of exhaustion caused by constantly feeling swamped. It’s a result of excessive and prolonged emotional, physical, and mental stress. … Burnout happens when you’re overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to keep up with life’s incessant demands.”      Sound familiar?      Jo and Maddie start the episode by sharing their own experiences with burnout, then consider other professions with high burnout rates and how they compare with early childhood education. From there, they discuss why burnout happens and how childcare providers can avoid it with suggestions from HiMama’s Early Childhood Education Blog and the HiMama Helps Webinar Series.   Join the conversation and share your thoughts in  Circle Time!   Additional Resources on Burnout:   [Blog Post]  Overcoming burnout in childcare   [Webinar]   Addressing staff burnout at your childcare center   [Webinar]   How to break burnout in 2021

Episode 3 - Burnout in Early Childhood Education

In the first full episode of The Preschool Podcast with Jo and Maddie, our hosts discuss one of their favorite topics in early childhood education: Process vs Product. What does it mean to focus on the process rather than the product when it comes to making art with young children? Jo and Maddie start with a definition taken from our Circle Time Facebook Group: Product-focused art has a right way and a wrong way to work on the project and typically requires a specific skill and technique to reach that end goal. Process-focused art is when a child is given an open-ended project and they have the opportunity to express themselves through their work. From there, our hosts dive into their own experiences with artwork in the classroom and share their personal educational philosophies. (Spoiler: Jo and Maddie are both Team Process.) Plus, ideas for process-based projects for holidays, communicating the benefits of process art with parents, and striking a balance between giving children the freedom to explore their creativity and preparing them for kindergarten and beyond. Join the conversation and share your thoughts in Circle Time!

Episode 1 - Process vs Product

Welcome to the introductory episode of The Preschool Podcast with Jo and Maddie! Get to know our new hosts as they share their journeys into early childhood education: their first days on the job, the struggles they faced, and their personal philosophies of education. This episode also includes a Lightning Round where Jo and Maddie quiz each other on such hard-hitting questions as, “Coffee or Tea?” “Infants or Toddlers?” and “Circle Time or Free Play?” Check it out, let us know what you think, and share your answers to our Lightning Round questions in the comments!

Episode 0 - Meet Jo and Maddie

In this episode of The Preschool Podcast, we're revisiting our first-ever Preschool Podcast episode from July 2016! Ron Spreeuwenberg has the pleasure of interviewing Debbi Sluys the Director of Growing Together Family Resource Centre in Blenheim, Ontario. Debbi discussed what has changed in early childhood education since she first started in the field. And what has made Growing Together such a successful organization, in particular, the progressive culture that encourages discussion, learning, leadership, and a sense of community.

Revisited: Creating a Culture of Community in Your Preschool

On this week’s episode of the Preschool Podcast, we revisit an episode from last year with Tania Ferrandino, Occupational Therapist and Senior Professional Learning Producer at Learning Without Tears. Tania dives into the importance of play in early childhood education rather than focusing on an end goal such as children writing their names.

Occupational therapy and the educational value of toys and games

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