Reimagine Childhood

"The more active we are, the healthier we are."

This quote from our guest today, Renee Terry, perfectly portrays her passion for fitness and physical well-being—inside and outside of the classroom. As the owner of Stretch-N-Grow West Texas, an organization that provides children with exciting exercise opportunities including dance, fitness, gymnastics, music, soccer, sports, and yoga, Renee's mission is to empower children to engage in daily physical activities that they truly enjoy. Renee's background as a special educator provides her with a unique perspective on physical activity and its benefits for whole-child development.

During this episode, Renee discusses the importance of physical movement throughout the day and provides practical ways to incorporate active exercises into the classroom.

To learn more about Stretch-N-Grow, visit their website HERE.

Don't forget to follow us on Instagram @earlychildhoodchristiannet for more classroom tips and tricks!

Our guest, Kelly Martin is a Registered Play Therapist and Licensed Professional Counselor at her private practice The Playroom Lubbock. Kelly and her team at The Playroom Lubbock are dedicated to nurturing development, creativity, self-direction, responsibility, self-control, and emotional well-being in children and adolescents, while also strengthening parent/child relationships.

During our conversation today, Kelly discusses strategies for helping children regulate their emotions and reminds us of the importance of trusting relationships in children's emotional well-being. She also equips us with tools to regulate our own emotional states so that we can teach children how to do the same.

Learn more about the work Kelly and her team does at The Playroom Lubbock HERE.

Connect with The Playroom Lubbock on Instagram HERE and Facebook HERE.

Don't forget to follow us on Instagram @earlychildhoodchristiannet for classroom tips and tricks!

Beth Cannon is a nationally-recognized speaker, trainer, and coach whose expertise is helping early childhood leaders transform their staff into high-performing, collaborative teams. As both an educator and entrepreneur, Beth offers a unique perspective on Early Childhood leadership and equips her audience with practical ways to efficiently and effectively run their programs.

During this conversation, Beth discusses how the most successful leaders combat burnout (it has a lot more to do mindset than you might think), and how implementing effective systems can help you reduce stress and overwhelm. She also reminds us of the powerful impact that leaders who show up with excellence have, and how professional development opportunities should inspire connection and understanding, not just learning.

Beth has an incredible resource called Manuals to Modules where she teaches you how to turn your paper employee manual into online modules to reduce training time and regain your sanity! Learn more about it HERE.

Connect with Beth on Instagram HERE and visit her website HERE.

Don't forget to follow us on Instagram @earlychildhoodchristiannet for classroom tips and tricks!

Our guest today, Jessica Jabali, is an Early Childhood and Special Education professional and advocate. With a Bachelors of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders and Deaf Education, Jessica has spent the past 15 years working alongside children with hearing loss and Autism Spectrum Disorders. Jessica's passion for empowering communication skills and learning through play in nature shines through her current role as the Lead Outdoor Classroom Teacher at First Baptist Georgetown Weekday Education.

During our conversation, Jessica discusses how outdoor classroom spaces foster development across domains and shares her list of essentials for creating a great (not just good) outdoor learning space. She also talks about why risky play is beneficial for building children's autonomy, and reveals three essential rules for ensuring outdoor learning occurs in a safe environment.

Want to learn more about outdoor learning spaces? Check out The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast—a great resource for all things outdoor learning. Jessica recommends Episode 119: We Cannot Learn Sitting Still and Being Quiet with Dr. Carla Hannaford.

Don't forget to follow us on Instagram @earlychildhoodchristiannet for classroom tips and tricks!

As a Licensed Professional Counselor, co-author of two books: Loved and Cherished and Make Up Your Mind, and host of the podcast called "Raising Mentally Healthy Kids", Michelle Nietert has a passion for sparking conversations about mental health in the childhood years.

During our conversation today, Michelle discusses practical ways that early childhood educators can help children be emotionally, mentally, and physically healthy. She shares about the role of movement and physical activity in mental health, and gives advice for approaching BIG emotions with little children. While her focus is on children's mental health, her wisdom is applicable for all ages (seriously, I took a page of notes while listening).

P.S. Michelle is releasing a preschool book series about bringing BIG emotions to a BIGGER God! The first book is titled God, I Feel Sad: Bringing Big Emotions to a Bigger God and it releases next week - April 4th! Pre-order now on Amazon HERE or anywhere books are sold! The audiobook also includes some guided calming strategies and affirmations!

Visit Michelle's website HERE for more information about the impactful work she does.

Check out our course Navigating the Emotional World of Children with David Thomas, LMSW for practical tips on approaching emotions with young children.

Don't forget to follow us on Instagram @earlychildhoodchristiannet for classroom tips and tricks!

Our guest today, Jessica Hendrickson, is the kids pastor at City Church in Melissa, TX and mom of three wonderful girls. As a former church weekday education director and author of the blog Kid Min Mama, Jessica is passionate about teaching the gospel to children and having a lot of fun while doing it!

During this conversation, Jessica shares practical ways to intentionally share the truth and life of the gospel with children in order to build spiritual foundations necessary for lasting relationships with God.

Jessica has TWO courses available in our Course Library: The Wonder of His Word (FREE for ECCN members in 2023) and Using the Bible with Preschoolers.

Visit her website HERE for tons of high-quality resources and simple ways to share the gospel with children.

Lifeway's Levels of Biblical Learning is another great resource to help you share the gospel in a developmentally appropriate way.

Don't forget to follow us on Instagram @earlychildhoodchristiannet for classroom tips and tricks!

"Children can't play without learning and can't learn without playing."

This quote from our guest today, Stacy Benge, perfectly illustrates her passion for encouraging classroom practices that foster developmentally appropriate learning through play. As an early childhood speaker and author, Stacey's mission is to shift early childhood educators' approach to curriculum from teacher-driven to child-led.

In our conversation, Stacy discusses child-lead curriculum and shares practical tips for implementing it in your classroom. She also highlights the connections between physical development and literacy and reveals practical classroom practices that will help you foster early literacy (without constantly reciting the alphabet).

Connect with Stacy on Instagram HERE and visit her website HERE.

Click HERE to watch the video Does Crawling Matter? referenced in this conversation.

P.S. Did you know that ECCN offers on-demand, high-quality training courses? Head over to our course library and check out Stacy Benge's course on Child-Centered Learning HERE.

Don't forget to follow us on Instagram @earlychildhoodchristiannet for classroom tips and tricks!

Our guest, Amanda Morgan, is a nationally-recognized speaker, author of the blog Not Just Cute, and mom of four incredible boys. As a firm believer that the children we teach deserve so much more than just cute, Amanda has made it her mission to bridge the looming gap between researchers and educators by sharing current research in practical, digestible ways.

In our conversation today, Amanda discusses the powerful impact of intentional teaching and shares simple yet transformative ways to practice it in your classroom. She also challenges you to slow down and recognize that childhood is meant to take time, and that there is purpose to be found in the process.

Amanda has graciously given ECCN exclusive pricing on her Why We Play letters—a printable collection of letters that explain the why behind play for parents, administrators, and community members. Click HERE for more information.

Check out Amanda's website HERE and connect with her on Instagram HERE.

Don't forget to follow us on Instagram @earlychildhoodchristiannet for classroom tips and tricks!

What if we told you your work with young children is changing lives and having a lasting impact on our next generation?

Welcome to Reimagine Childhood brought to you by Early Childhood Christian Network—where we equip you with the tools you need so you can confidently care for and teach young children.

We know early childhood is prime time for all development and, yet, we often overlook our critical role in providing optimal learning experiences. In every episode, you'll find seasoned experts sharing their passion and expertise in a way that is easily applied to everyday experiences in the classroom and anywhere else you're involved with young children. We want to protect and celebrate early childhood in all its wonder and imagination, rather than rushing through it to get "prepared" for the next stage.

The Reimagine Childhood podcast is here to remind you that the work you have been called to is instrumental in building this next generation of children into Jesus-loving, well-adjusted, well-rounded, joy-filled humans who will change the world for the better! YOU are a part of that by what you do each day.

So….how will you reimagine your approach to early childhood? We'd love to invite you on this journey with us!

To learn more about what we do at Early Childhood Christian Network, visit our website here: https://earlychildhoodchristiannetwork.com/.

Connect with us on Instagram here and on Facebook here.