Shine On - an Early Childhood Education Podcast

Find yourself doing the same learning experiences over and over? Looking for some inspiration on different activities you can try? Welcome to the Educator Toolkit series from Shine On Podcast, where our Shine Bright educators share their practice, inspiration and ideas. First up - fine motor skills and group games! 

Thank you to Jas, Belinda, Katie and Shez for sharing their practice with us! Do you have a part of your practice you'd like to share with our Shine On listeners, or an educator who you think would be great to hear from? Let us know over on our socials or by emailing us [email protected]

They say it takes a village to raise a child... but how do we build the village?

Wendy Irving and Mim Brown join us in this episode to discuss the benefits of the Shine Bright Supported Playgroup model and other family-centered projects run by Communities For Children Bendigo. 

Throughout the conversation we’ll explore Wendy and Mim’s important roles within the community, what their projects look like day-to-day, how they support children, families and community, and how they work through the challenges they face.  

To find out more about their important work and other projects discussed in this episode, check out these websites below:

https://www.c4cbendigo.com.au/

https://www.shinebright.org.au/c4c/

https://www.c4cbendigo.com.au/for-professionals/projects/

Welcome to this special episode of Shine On, where we explore Advice From Little Experts.

We know that child’s voice is crucial to high quality early childhood education, so in this episode, we took some questions from educators and children, and asked our little experts for their input. You’ll hear a busy classroom in the background, children at work, and the beautiful chaos of learning with children.

The questions our little experts pondered are:

• how do you show you're being a friend to someone?
• what is something you would LOVE to do every day?
• if two children wanted to play with the same toy, what should your educator do?
• what do you need your eductaors to do to help you when you might be having a bit of trouble saying goodbye to your parent or grown up in the morning?

Have a question you'd like us to put to our little experts? Send us an email on [email protected] or reach out to us via our social media!

In this episode, Alex, Crystal and Sophie are recording together for the first time in over a year! We’ll catch you up on what’s next for the pod, what we’ve been up to and share some early childhood recommendations. We’ve got some exciting episodes planned which we are SURE you will love!

Head over to our social media @shineon_podcast to tell us the early childhood resources you can’t get enough of!

Resources discussed:

The Spoke – ECA blog 

Play School Show Time 

@thedailyeducator Instagram page 

ABC Kids Listen App  

Curious about simple and creative ways you can use an iPad for documentation in early childhood programs? Listen in as Rachel Minns  from Tech Play Teach talks us through tips and tricks you can start using right now.

Rachel is an experienced early years educator with a passion for integrating technology in purposeful, age-appropriate, and creative ways. As an Apple Professional Learning Specialist, she empowers educators to amplify children’s voices and agency through digital tools, sparking curiosity, wonder, and joyful learning experiences for young children.

You can find examples of the wonderful strategies Rachel has shared here: http://bit.ly/4eHhV9T 

Need a new book recommendation? Alex and Sophie have got you covered with five titles that are sure to be a hit with the children.

Listen in to see why we love Come Over to My House by Sally Rippin and Eliza Hull, Owl Babies by Martin Waddell and Patrick Benson, Finding Our Heart by Thomas Mayor and Blak Douglas, The Book With No Pictures by BJ Novak, and The Five Rules of Friendship with Jess Sanders (with thanks to Affirm Press for sending this review copy to Sophie!) 

Vicki Hall is in conversation with Sophie and Alex, discussing gender justice and the significance of this work in early childhood education.  In a time where gender-based violence is on the rise in Australia, the significance of this work cannot be overstated. Gender equity starts in early childhood, and in this episode Vicki talks us through how they are standing up for children – and how you can too.

Over the last four years, Vicki and her team have been implementing an intentional gender justice curriculum at their kindergarten. This involves raising awareness of and dismantling the pervasive gender stereotypes we see at kindergarten and engaging in myriad ways with the children and families to achieve this goal.

Vicki is currently Co-Director and Teacher in Unit 1A at C&K Paddington Community Kindergarten in Queensland. Vicki has been an early childhood teacher for many years, and loves the challenges and joy in teaching and learning every day. Vicki has worked in @cank.au affiliated kindergartens, Queensland State preschools, Early Education and care in Sydney and Branch C&K Kindergartens.

Vicki was a tutor in early childhood education at QUT whilst completing her Master of Education. Her master’s thesis investigated young children’s reflection and metacognition, and she is a strong advocate of reflection as a way of knowing and learning for young children.

 Suggested resources:

‘Supporting gender diversity in early childhood classrooms - practical guide by Encian Pastel et al

‘Raising them’ by Kyl Myers

‘Gender in Early Childhood Education - Implementing a Gender flexible Pedagogy’ by Jo Warin

‘Gender Expansion in Early Childhood Education – building and supporting pro-diversity spaces’ by Rachel Chapman

‘Parenting beyond pink and blue – How to Raise your kids free of gender stereotypes’   Christia Spears Brown 

BBC documentary ‘No more girls and boys, can our kids go gender free?’

Youtube ‘Beyond the Blue and Pink toy divide’ Elizabeth Sweet

On this episode we hear from Ana-Luisa Franco from Little Scientists. Come and hear fantastic examples of STEM in early childhood, the inquiry cycle, and Little Scientists recent experience partnering with Play School!

Ana-Luisa Franco is the Training Facilitator and Content Developer at Little Scientists. As an Early Childhood Teacher, she believes in fostering educational environments that encourage exploration and thoughtful learning. With over 20 years of experience in early childhood education, she has held a variety of roles and is a passionate advocate for inquiry-based learning, slow pedagogy and infant and toddler curriculum.

Alex and Sophie chat with Koralynn Dodds, Early Years Manager of Berrimba Childcare Centre in Echuca. 

Koralynn is a Yorta Yorta, Wiradjuri and Maori woman who has been an early childhood educator for 7 years. She is the mother of 8 young children, and attended Berrimba childcare herself as a child and now the Early Years Manager Koralynn has a strong passion for culture and children, and has been involved in early years committees to help support outcomes for children in the early years spaces. 

Resources mentioned in the episode:

https://www.snaicc.org.au/

https://www.vaeai.org.au/

https://www.vacsal.org.au/

https://bubupwilam.org.au/

https://yappera.com.au/

https://www.aweandwonder.com.au/

https://www.8ways.online/

Welcome to the Shine On Book Club! Alex and Sophie share some book recommendations that could be great to use in your early childhood educational programs. 

(These books are recommendations only, please use your discretion when deciding whether or not these will be right for your children).