Social development – the process by which a child learns to interact with those around them – isn’t just about making friends. It’s a combination of key skills that includes communication, self-awareness, behaviour regulation, building self-esteem, conflict resolution and more.

A unique aspect of the Reggio Emilia approach is how it creates an environment that addresses complex developmental stages through age-appropriate opportunities and atmospheres. This is as true for social development as it is for well-being, behavioural and other cognitive traits – and just as intricate.

Enter any Reggio classroom and one of the first things you’ll notice is children working and playing together. The philosophy encourages child-directed interaction. Of course, if a child needs some time out or a bit of alone time, they’re free to do so. But humans are naturally gregarious, migrating towards others, shared interests and exploration.

And therein lies the basis of social development. The approach utilises child-led learning, a process that’s inspired through:

• A stimulating environment: Reggio areas are anything but boring! The approach firmly believes in the ‘environment being the third teacher’. Expect a classroom filled with colour, texture, natural objects, walls covered with children’s projects, an outdoor area, and everything being easily accessible for small hands and little people.
• The ‘hundred languages of children’: refers to the endless opportunities humans have for expression, such as drawing, writing, dancing, colouring, construction, dancing and more. Reggio classrooms also have a dedicated area or room for the arts, known as ‘the atelier’, where expression in all of its glorious forms is encouraged.
• A non-structured curriculum: The lack of a rigid learning structure is one of the greatest strengths of the Reggio approach. Instead of teachers following a predetermined timetable, the timeline emerges according to the questions and interests of the children. Learning experiences are built around these, creating an environment whereby children can enjoy shared (and individual) experiences that present further curiosity and discovery.

Such learning encourages interactions. These support every aspect of social development, including the vital opportunities to experience and learn conflict resolution Any group of children will see the odd disagreement occur. Discovering how to spot potential friction and increase emotional awareness (both in themselves and others) is a crucial element of building social skills.

Children who are in an environment that encourages collaboration in subjects that interest them are in a hugely advantageous situation. One child’s enthusiasm can spark a whole new road of exploration. The inevitable questions this will bring is yet another facet of learning how to interact with others – and even mild disagreements add to how each child builds their own emotional resilience.

Reggio classrooms also celebrate diversity. Learning about other cultures is both fun and educational. Don’t be surprised if your child comes home brimming with enthusiasm about Diwali, Oktoberfest, Mardi Gras, Yi Peng, Holi or any other festival that their peers might be celebrating.

The Importance of Finding Your Fit

Social interactions are also influenced by self-esteem. Learning about the world and how they fit into it isn’t something that a child is expected to fully understand by the time they go to school/leave for uni/get their first job (insert any life-defining event), but it is linked to how a child feels about themselves.

Fostering positive self-worth is a key element of social interaction – something that’s influenced in many tiny ways. Whether it’s another child or children being interested in their ideas, seeing a group project proudly displayed, building friendships, getting praise from a teacher or simply being comfortable in a group of others, these all have an important effect on how an individual feels about themselves.

In turn, this builds confidence, promotes communication and arms a child with the crucial building blocks of social interaction that they will take forward as they navigate into older childhood, teenage and, eventually, their adult years.

It can’t be stressed enough the impact that social development has on all other areas of life. From confidence to positivity, communication to future academic prowess, the Reggio Emilia approach places a huge amount of focus on helping every child and personality build the skills upon which the future wonderful adult can blossom.

The classrooms at Evoke Early Learning are wonderful examples of Reggio Emilia in action. From toddler care to Kindergarten, our centres are filled with the joyful sounds of children learning these key social skills. But don’t just take our word for it...! We’d love to show you why our early childhood educators love what they do. Book a tour today and see why so many parents and caregivers entrust the most precious members of their family into our daily care.

Critical thinking has always been important. But in the rapidly changing landscape of the 21^st century, it’s become a fundamental necessity that drives both personal and professional success.

The art of critical thinking isn’t learned overnight. In common with all skills, it begins at a basic level and builds over time. Proven childcare approaches, such as Reggio Emilia, can play a vital role in creating the positive building blocks of emotional, cognitive and social abilities from which great critical thinking can flourish.

What is Critical Thinking and Why is it So Important?

In a nutshell, critical thinking is the ability to make decisions based on objective and rational analysis of information. It’s about challenging data, rather than simply accepting it, recognising both external and internal bias, using reasoning and evaluation to come to a judgement.

Today’s rapidly evolving and challenging world means this has never been so vital. Critical thinking helps a person to:

• Be adaptable:  The ability to review, evaluate and revise information increases a person’s resilience.
• Communicate effectively: Critical understanding leads to logical presentation of ideas and the ability to engage in positive dialogue.
• Be a great problem solver: By breaking complex challenges down into smaller parts for evaluation and action.
• Make informed decisions: In both personal and professional situations.
• Better navigate an increasingly complex technical environment: Critical thinking is a key skill that helps a person separate fact from fiction and propaganda.

From employment opportunities to personal satisfaction, developed critical thinking skills impact virtually every element of life.

How the Reggio Emilia Approach Provides the Foundations for Great Critical Thinking

If we break down the attributes of critical thinking into six easy elements, the link to the Reggio Emilia approach immediately apparent.

1. Curiosity: The open-ended, child-led learning method encourages further exploration. Children are empowered to follow their natural instincts, make decisions about what to do next, test out theories (will that stack of bricks topple when another is added?), revisit, go off on a tangent…
2. Questioning: No parent or caregiver needs any reminding that children question everything. This is a key element of critical thinking, with many a child amazing those around them with the insightfulness that simplistic reasoning can lead to. (Ah, to see through the eyes of a child again…).
3. Observing: Again, children have an uncanny knack of picking up on what’s happening around them. From noticing the actions of their peers to spotting patterns and inconsistencies, observation skills are encouraged both through Reggio environment and educator interactions.
4. Reasoning: To use our stack of bricks example, why did it topple? Will it happen again? What actions are needed to prevent it happening? The basics of cause and effect come into play.
5. Communication: We’ve already determined that good critical thinkers can rationally and effectively communicate with others. The Reggio Emilia approach places a huge emphasis on the multiple forms of expression, with cognitive abilities honed through fun activities including art, dance, music, drama, drawing and more.
6. Reflection: One of the unique elements of Reggio is how children are encouraged to think about and communicate their learning and thoughts. This helps with the development of analytical skills, self-awareness, emotional control and how to regulate their own thinking.

Critical thinking is a learned skill, one that absolutely is best honed from a solid foundation of attributes that begin building during the early years. Evoke Early Learning is committed to providing the right simulating, home-from-home environment that continues the great work that parents and caregivers do in raising their children.

This is evident through our entire spectrum, from nursery through toddler and pre-Kindy and into our Kindergarten classes. And we’d love for you to see us in action.

Book a tour today at either our Clayton or Albert Park Centres. We can’t wait to meet you… Discover more about our values and contact our team for a chat today.

The art of communication encompasses far more than just the spoken word. From body language to gestures – and everything in between – humans use multiple ways to directly and indirectly exchange information with those around them.

One of the primary principles of the Reggio Emilia approach is the ‘one hundred languages’ of children. This is a symbolic phrase that encompasses not only the transmission of information, but how incoming data is perceived and understood. It’s about understanding, sharing feelings and thoughts,

the art of expression and the many (many!) ways that this can be done.

Children have an infinite potential to wonder – to see things in their own unique way and to explore the multiple ways of seeing and being that are personal to their character.

The Reggio Framework Responds to These ‘Languages’

Early Reggio Emilia education centres around this approach and utilises the power of the child’s ability to wonder. This can be expressed in multiple different ways – or languages – including:

• Dancing.
• Singing.
• Movement.
• Painting.
• Drawing.
• Sculpting.
• Construction.

All of these have one thing in common – the art of expression. When a child experiences something that piques their curiosity, they will naturally want to explore it further. This plays a pivotal role in the whole Reggio Emilia concept – and is magnified by providing children with the tools to do so.

Multi-faceted, multi-sensory environments are key. This is why early educational facilities that follow this approach are filled with objects and items that are tactile, natural, colourful and – vitally – easy for children to access. This reaches into every element of life in a Reggio early learning school. From sensory gardens to sandpits, natural art projects adorning the walls to the atelier area for creative expression, everything is designed to inspire children to follow their instincts.

The educator’s role is to listen, observe and provide avenues for further expression and exploration. For instance, a child listening to music might start to sway to the beat. Having the space to take this one step further, perhaps using dance to process and communicate the emotions that the music is evoking is something to further explore. Maybe this might evolve into character play, dressing up or joining in with playing instruments. There are no hard and fast rules, the direction of travel is dictated by the child with educators playing a peripheral part that encourages further investigation.

The art of communication is both subtle and assertive. From quietly choosing a different shade to colour a picture to shouting out in joy at a surprise discovery, children ‘speak’ to the world at large in so many different ways. The critical takeaway is that educators, parents and caregivers act as guardians of this pathway - not directing the way of travel, but supporting, nurturing and providing the opportunities for the child to process what they see and feel and allowing this to guide their personal educational pathway.

At Evoke Early Learning, our childcare philosophy is that every child is powerful, capable and full of curiosity. This is mirrored in our age-centric nursery, toddler and kindergarten programmes, each of which is staffed by talented early childhood educators who are passionate about providing children with the best start In life as possible.

But don’t just take our word for it – come and see for yourself. Book a tour today at either our Albert Park and Clayton centres to see our wonderful staff in action.

One of the true joys of human nature is that everyone is unique. Whilst every child has a leaning towards certain temperamental traits, this is also something that’s shaped during the crucial early years.

For both educators and caregivers, understanding what drives children – their interests, their best way of learning, how they deal with challenges etc - is key to adapting different approaches to best support their personality. Getting this right helps lay the vital foundations, as laid out by the Early Years Learning Framework, upon which the child can flourish into the wonderful adult that they have the potential to become.

Understanding Temperament

While this is a rather in-depth subject and it’s important not to expect any child to fit into a neat little personality box, considering the following behaviour traits is important to working out effective early learning approaches that might best suit.

For instance, is the child:

• Bold or shy: How do they cope with new situations? Do they jump in with little encouragement or do they need more support to become comfortable?
• Adaptable: Do they happily cope with change or is deviating from the usual routine a challenge?
• Extremely active: Are they constantly on the go or are they more inclined towards the quiet life?
• Predictable: Such as wanting food at roughly the same time each day, having regular bowel habits, sleeping and napping at regular times, etc. Or is there little pattern to their behaviours?
• Easily startled: Do out-of-the-ordinary things upset the child? Bright lights, loud noises, different experiences etc… Do such things bother them or are they blissfully unaware?
• Highly reactive: When stimulated, is the child’s reaction big or is it more muted and low-key?
• Easily distracted: Do they change track with the slightest of encouragement or are they more likely to concentrate on what they’re doing once started?
• Persistent: Do they carry on with something even if it’s challenging? Or do they get easily frustrated and give up?
• Moody: Are their moods generally positive and stable or do they have a more serious, introspective nature?

All of these characteristics give huge clues as to how to best support a child’s early learning efforts. Once this is understood, then educators and caregivers can adopt proven methods that stimulate their unique learning style.

Tailored Learning for Different Temperaments

Learning styles can be generally categorised in three ways:

1. High-energy
2. Low-energy
3. Slow burner

High-energy learning includes fast-paced games, lots of physical activity and those that take place outside. Low-energy environments include reading corners, sensory areas and perhaps more individual tasks. Slow burners are those that introduce new things gradually, perhaps slotting in an additional element to a fun activity once the child has become comfortable with the initial task.

While the three learning styles aren’t mutually exclusive, they can be used to adapt techniques that best suit how the child interacts with the world.

For instance, children with high activity levels might learn best through a combination of energetic play and stimulating, hands-on learning. Those who have lower energy levels might still enjoy bursts of higher activity tempered with more low-key options and a place to retreat for time-out when they need it. Those who are more cautious often benefit from watching before actively joining in. Children who get easily overwhelmed might find it easier with a staged learning approach that breaks tasks into smaller steps.

These are just some examples of how small adaptations can be incorporated into the learning journey. A key element for the adult is to observe and assess. As a child grows in confidence, so their learning styles might also change. Seeing a child evolve and develop a newfound confidence in their abilities is delightful to behold. This might mean that, for instance, a child who has previously benefited from slow burn or low-energy activities might feel ready to dip a toe into some of the higher-octane activities of their peers.

However, the opportunity to dial back should always be left open to them—it’s the child who decides on how and when to experience different learning environments.

At Evoke Early Learning, we embrace the Reggio Emilia approach – one that’s wonderfully adaptable to all personality traits. We celebrate each child’s individuality, working with them at a pace that they feel comfortable with and enjoy—and that’s right across the board, from nursery, through toddler and kindergarten.

But don’t just take our word for it – come and see us in action. Book a tour today and discover why we really do offer the best home-from-home for the most precious members of your family.

The diverse community in which we live is one of the most delightful elements of Australian life. Cultural awareness and diversity are vital social skills – and there are so many ways that parents, caregivers and early childhood educators can integrate this into activities and the educational curriculum to promote this from a young age.

Children naturally mix with everyone and anyone – and learning the traditions and backgrounds of other cultures is a fascinating learning journey. The following looks at eight ways that not only embrace the wonderful differences between us, but are a whole lot of fun too…

1. The power of dance and music: All children love music. From the moment a toddler first begins to sway or nod to some great sounds, the lure of the beat tempts both the conscious and subconscious mind. The diversity of World Music – from African drums to Brazilian samba – and everything in between, is an incredible landscape to explore with young children.
2. Crafty crafting: Learning traditional crafts is something that children love getting hands-on with. Indonesian batik is a great example – and don’t forget our wonderful homegrown Aboriginal art and crafts. The colours, patterns and sheer diversity of shapes and objects to decorate make a wonderful basis for the imagination to flow. Other great crafts to enjoy with little ones include the Japanese flower arranging art of Ikebana, Kenyan Maasai beadwork or the Mexican craft of brightly painting fantastical wooden creatures, known as Alebrijes.
3. Explore the world on a globe or map: Games like, Guess the Country (or capital city) bring an awareness of the planet we live on. You can interject it with other natural phenomenon, such as what animals live where, pictures of famous landmarks or watching fun videos about festivals and traditions from around the globe.
4. Get cooking: Children adore helping in the kitchen. Double up the fun by introducing different cuisines – and of course, letting little ones help with all the important aspects, such as measuring, mixing and, naturally, the piece de resistance… Tasting!
5. Getting in the festive mood: There’s always a celebration going on somewhere in the world – and what better way to build cultural awareness than to bring it into the home or classroom? Dress up in traditional costumes, make and serve meals, listen to songs and music… Even better, find a local celebration and take the children along to enjoy.
6. Learn a few words: You’ll be surprised how quickly little ones can pick up simple elements of another language. Learning to say hello in other native tongues, for example, is hugely fun – and they can use it when they meet anyone with such a heritage.
7. Discover traditional games from different countries: Most Australian children will be familiar with Skippyroo Kangaroo, but adding in other traditional games from across the globe is a great way to build cultural diversity. Examples include Ounch Neech (a type of tag from Pakistan), Corre, Corre la Guaraca (a catch-me-if-you-can game from Chile) and Ten Ten (a clapping game from Nigeria).
8. International story time: Storytelling can be both passive and active – and when you add in traditional children’s tales from around the world it adds a wonderful extra discovery element. Encourage little ones to act out the characters, dress up or add their own imaginative flair to embellish the story.

Evoke Early Learning Centres take full advantage of the wonderful world we live in, with activities that celebrate the incredible diversity around us. Our philosophy is firmly rooted in inclusivity and the values of all – and we know just how much our children love how our educators promote the exploration of different cultures, traditions and languages.

We’d love for you to see us in action. Book a tour today and come and meet us face-to-face.

Discover more about our values and contact our team for a chat today.

Emotional resilience is a key life skill. It’s the ability to cope with life’s inevitable ups and downs in a healthy, pragmatic way. Educators, parents and caregivers play a crucial role in helping children develop this – and many simple methods can be integrated into everyday life, both at home and through a great early learning curriculum.

The Importance of Emotional Resilience

Emotional resilience is all about how a person handles stress and adversity. It’s not about avoiding such trauma, it’s about developing the mechanisms to cope, which, in turn, promotes long-term psychological and emotional health.

There are many things that adults can do to help children navigate and regulate their emotions. One of the most important is to lead by example. Children learn a huge amount simply by watching those around them. Practicing healthy emotional behaviour is a powerful method of teaching the skill.

For example, talking through your feelings in a child-friendly fashion, such as: “I’ve had a bit of a difficult day but it’s OK. I’m going to relax, think about it, concentrate on the positives and work out a way forward”. Positive actions like this demonstrate the crucial steps of emotional resilience which are:

• The recognition and acceptance of a challenge.
• That it’s alright to feel this way.
• The steps you take to deal with it – AKA, problem-solving strategies.

5 Strategies to Help Children Foster Health Emotional Resilience

 

As with any skill set, learning to manage emotions is a journey. Caregivers can recognise development in many ways. This includes a child growing in confidence – especially when navigating new situations. They also begin to understand the complexities of social interactions, showing empathy and becoming aware of other people’s emotions. As emotional resilience grows, so does the child’s ability to handle disappointing situations without becoming too disheartened.

Adults can help nurture the learning process in many ways.

1. Demonstrate and teach coping mechanisms: A major part of learning emotional resilience is finding a suitable way to work through overwhelming situations. Simple breathing techniques, visualising a favourite calm place or (for slightly older children) counting to 10 when experiencing big emotions are easy ways to insert a break into a challenging moment. Whatever method you introduce to your child, it should be practiced when all is calm. That way, you can remind them of an already familiar strategy when it’s needed.
2. Practice and encourage open communication: Talking about emotions – whether you’re a child or an adult – needs to be done in a safe space. Let your child know that they can always speak to you about their feelings. It’s important to validate what they say, whatever this might be. This is a powerful method of teaching that it’s ok to voice what they feel, rather than (consciously or subconsciously) suppressing their emotions. Asking open-ended questions promotes self-understanding and encourages a child to work out exactly what they’re feeling – something that can be very complex as the brain continues to form during the early formative years.
3. Allow your child to take (healthy) risks: Dealing with failure is a vital element of self-development. Every learning journey is peppered with disappointments. But it’s learning to push on that’s key. Encourage your child to take such risks through elements like trying new things, balance challenges (e.g., How long can you stand on one foot?), learning to ride a bike… You get the idea. While there will inevitably be setbacks and resulting frustration, support and encourage them to keep trying. That way, a child begins to discover that challenges are not something to shy away from and that they have the ability to overcome them.
4. Encourage the art of problem-solving: As caregivers, it can be hard not to immediately dive in if a child experiences difficulties. But rather than fixing it for them, it’s important to help them to think about how they might do it themselves. For example, if they’ve had a spat with another child, gently probe about how they might do something differently next time. Or, if that tower of bricks keeps falling, ask them what they could change to have a different outcome.
5. Encourage positive self-talk: it’s natural for a child to think they’re not good at something when they fail. But these thoughts can be either negative or positive – and it’s the adult role to help reframe this into the latter. When a child says that they’re no good at something or that they can’t do it, help flip this negative self-talk into a positive by saying something along the lines of, “Yes, but this is new to you and you’re going to get better”. Our internal dialogue is very powerful and positive mind frames are built from a young age.

The Emilio Reggio approach is a childcare philosophy strongly built around a fun learning process that helps children build emotional resilience. At Evoke Early Learning, our wonderful early childhood educators are committed to helping your child get the very best start in life - and are a natural extension of the great work done by parents and caregivers.

Come and see us in action by booking a tour at either our Albert Park or Clayton centres.

Messy play brings a multitude of benefits – and, of course, children love it! Getting down and dirty isn’t just about creating chaos (although the aftermath can take a bit of clearing up), it crucially plays an integral part in many areas of childhood development. That’s why highly successful early learning curriculums, such as the Reggio Emilia approach, integrate this important method into everyday childcare life.

What is Messy Play?

 Messy play is so much more than disorder. It’s about getting hands-on with a wide variety of textures and materials – and, in doing so, stimulating the senses. You might also hear it referred to as sensory or adventure play.

Examples of messy play include:

• Playing with sand.
• Squishing clay.
• Making mud pies.
• Sticking glitter and shiny shapes.
• Finger painting.
• Sorting stones into piles.
• Planting seeds.
• Pouring water.

 

Why Messy Play is So Important to Childhood Development

In early childhood, the brain is constantly developing and creating new neural connections. The more this is stimulated, the better. Touch is such an important sense - and using the hands and fingers to feel and manipulate different and materials helps promote this. But the benefits go much, much further than just stimulating this single sense.

Messy play contributes to so many areas of development, including:

• Improving fine motor skills: Using the hands and fingers (and feet and toes, if you like) helps develop dexterity and hand-eye coordination. It also promotes vital muscle development.
• Tactile understanding: Learning the differences between materials and what to expect before they’re touched. Cool stones, light-as-air foam, rough material, the squish of mud – messy play plays a huge role in discovering the delightful contrast or similarities of how things feel.
• Smell and taste: Children explore new experiences through all their senses – including putting them in their mouth. Using food items, such as jelly or pasta, to play with and taste fosters important connections between the senses.
• Social development: Experiencing messy play with others is a great way to promote social interactions. Talking about shared experiences, surprise discoveries, pushing each other to try something new… These are all powerful methods of how children learn the art of communication.
• Promoting curiosity and learning: Every new exposure leads to further discovery. The joyful realisation that clay changes shape as it squishes through your fingers or the amazement of seeing that a stone sinks in water, but paper floats, encourage further exploration and questioning. It helps build a foundation of curiosity and a love of learning that will be carried forward as the child grows.
• Building confidence: Messy play helps children learn new skills – and this is driven by what interests them. As they explore sensory play, the confidence to try new things and investigate pathways increases. In turn, this lays the building blocks on which determination and responsibility can grow.

 

Integrating messy play into everyday life is great for both the child and the caregiver. All it takes is a little bit of preparation, such as wearing appropriate clothes and having the materials at hand, for a successful outcome.

At Evoke Early Learning, messy play is an integral element of our toddler and kindergarten programmes. Enrolling your child is a simple process – one that generally commences with booking a tour and seeing our great team in action.

Explore our childcare philosophy and contact us today for more information.

Sensory play is one of the most effective ways parents, caregivers and early childhood educators can aid brain development in young children. These crucial formative years are a time of incredible change, with thousands of neurons – the brain’s informational channels – being created each day.

Exposing little ones to multiple sensory experiences each day is key – and the following looks at 8 excellent methods of doing so.

8 Great Sensory Activities

The key to helping young children form neural pathways is all about stimulating the five main senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. The below-mentioned activities boost multiple senses, plus they also help development in other vital areas, such as:

• Language and communication skills: It encourages verbal interaction and conversation, as well as the art of questioning and further learning.
• Social skills: Enjoying sensory play with others is a great way to stimulate positive social interactions.
• Developing motor skills: Both gross and fine motor skills are learned through simple acts of touching, holding, moving and even tasting objects.
• Independent play: The very actions of such activities help lay the foundations upon which independent play and actions are built.
• Problem solving: Many sensory activities, such as messy play and open-ended tasks, create minor challenges that children need to overcome. This is a very important first step towards developing key critical thinking skills.

The following sensory play ideas are easy to implement, stimulate multiple senses and are a great deal of fun.

1. Making mud pies: Messy play at its finest, making mud pies hones the sense of touch, visual stimuli and even hearing as little ones pour water into the gloop and enjoy the sound of mud squishing through their fingers.
2. Food tasting: Trying a range of different items as a game not only stimulates taste, but touch, sight and smell too. It’s also a great way to foster an adventurous approach to food, as well as helping children learn which tastes they prefer.
3. Sensory bins: Fill containers with different items (cotton wool, rice, sand, dry leaves, small pebbles etc) and let your little ones look, feel and smell the difference between them. You can even play this game blindfolded for an alternative that concentrates on senses other than vision.
4. Bubbles! Who doesn’t love bubbles…? Small or large, they’re a great way to stimulate vision – as well as touch when little ones try to grab and burst them.
5. Sandpit play: Whether it’s a large, custom-made sandpit or a smaller box just for the hands or feet, playing with sand is a great way to stimulate touch and vision. Add some water into the mix to add an extra dimension as to how this alters the way sand feels and handles.
6. The wonders of Mother Nature: Going on a nature walk is always a hit and offers so many options for sensory stimulation. From feeling the wind on your skin to seeing different colours, tasting the tang of salt (if you’re close to the ocean), the different smells or tasting fruits that you might find along the way.
7. Finger painting: Hugely popular and incredibly fun, finger painting stimulates touch and vision (and has the added element of getting really, really messy, something kids of all ages enjoy).
8. Music time: Banging on drums, blowing on instruments, listening to wind chimes, plucking a guitar string… Add in some movement or dance and the whole activity means vision, sound and touch all get a healthy dose of stimulation.

Sensory play is given the utmost priority at Evoke Early Learning centres. Our custom-built facilities at both our Albert Park and Clayton locations have indoor and outdoor areas tailor-designed for teacher-led and independent play.

Book a tour to see us in action or contact our friendly team today to find out more.

Most of us have cherished memories of favourite childhood stories. It’s common for children to want to hear their best-loved ones told over and over – and the reasons for this go far deeper than simply enjoying a good tale.

Storytelling has been used since the dawn of time to both entertain and instil deeper, important values and messages. This makes it a powerful tool, and one that can help build social skills, empathy and even problem-solving abilities during the crucial formative years.

The Wonder of Words

Sharing story time with children is wonderful for everyone involved. Adults and children alike enter a world with endless possibilities. It’s a key way to bring familiarity to easy words, such as names of animals, simple verbs and everyday items.

But words are so much more than this. They have the power to bring awareness to a whole range of human emotions, evoke imagination, foster empathy and help children explore the complexity of a wide range of social skills.

More than a Language

Great stories don’t just use words, they transport the listener, reader or orator into a whole different world. You only need to watch children become transfixed as they follow such adventures, and it’s this potency that offers so much educational potential. As children listen to and form connections with the characters in the story, they then serve as role models that promote many different life skills.

Some examples include:

• Communication: Even without realising it, as children hear how their favourite (and not so favourite) characters communicate with others in the story, they benefit from these interactions. Listening to how they deal with challenges, get help from others, live and learn from both failure and success imparts strong messages. This knowledge translates to beginning to build real-world skills, such as conflict resolution and emotional expression, that story time can help children understand.
• Empathy: When a child becomes engrossed in a story, they don’t just hear the words – they live them. They can identify with the characters, experiencing their emotions and feelings almost as if it were real. In a way, they are, as the child feels the interactions within their imagination. Research shows that story time can activate the same neural connections as real-life experiences, which is vital for the development of young brains.
• Perspective: Most children’s stories revolve around strong characters and relationships. These teach wonderful lessons about friendships, navigating difficulties and, very importantly, seeing things from a variety of perspectives.

Using stories to grow social skills is a potent educational tool that can easily be integrated into everyday life. From bedtime stories to interactive apps or sitting on a grandparent’s knee and listening to their life experiences, stories come in many different guises.

Upscale the fun and learning aspect by:

• Including interactions, such as animal noises, songs, acting parts, wearing costumes, using instruments and props… The choices are endless.
• Sharing family stories – they don’t all have to be fiction. Indeed, sharing family experiences is hugely beneficial, fostering a sense of belonging and is a great way to strengthen multi-generational connections.
• Integrate technology into the mix. Mindful use can both enhance a story and help children navigate their first steps towards learning important tech skills.

At Evoke Early Learning, storytelling takes centre stage at pivotal points throughout the day. Stories fit into so many areas of early childhood education. From the classic book read to using an art project to showcase a tale, or maybe using storytelling songs for dance and creative movement, never a day goes by without taking full advantage of a fictional world.

This applies to our nursery, toddler and kindergarten programmes, where the joy of stories are intertwined into our entire childcare philosophy.

Discover more about our enrolment process and come and see our talented early childhood educators in action.

Problem solving is a true life skill – one that depends on the foundations created during the formative early years. Building strategies into preschool learning experiences that promote this is a key element of educational approaches, such as the Reggio Emilia philosophy.

5 Great Examples of Promoting Problem Solving Skills During Early Childhood

Activities that encourage exploration of a challenge are great ways to introduce problem solving at a young age. Encouraging critical thinking can be done in many ways, including asking open-ended questions, using stories that showcase characters working through challenges and fostering a landscape where the child is encouraged to vocalise their thoughts and feelings.

It’s also important to integrate plenty of problem-solving opportunities into everyday life, play and interactions.

Some easy examples include:

1. Sorting objects and putting them into piles: Critical thinking begins in the simplest of tasks. You could sort through a mix of buttons, for example, where your child could group them by size or colour. Simple problems, such as. ‘Does the big yellow button go in the yellow pile or the large pile?’, helps form the basis of independent thinking.
2. Make an obstacle course: Age-appropriate physical challenges are both fun and thought-provoking. Should they climb over the barrier or crawl under it? How should they turn their body to squeeze through that gap? You can also let your child help build the course, therefore having to analyse what might be an obstacle that’s too hard or something that’s way too easy.
3. Den building: This classically fun activity can be as simple or as complex as you like. All it takes is a few cushions and/or cardboard boxes for your child to get creative and start to fashion their idea of an enclosure. Or you could do it outside – perhaps in a wooded area – where your child could collect natural materials and together you could create something more permanent.
4. Baking magic: All kids love to help in the kitchen. Let them take responsibility for some simple tasks, such as counting out how many chocolate buttons go in the cake mix or sifting the flour. You could go through the ingredients you have available and let your child think about what they could make. Even if it goes wrong, which many child-led baking tasks have a habit of doing – it opens a discussion about understanding what happened and how to rectify it for a future attempt.
5. Using natural objects for art projects: Plan a creative project with your child, letting them know that the main materials will be ones they can find outside. Once they’ve decided, accompany your child on a nature walk to collect items you come across. This is a great open-ended task that will be dependent on the objects they find and how they think they might use them to create their masterpiece. Of course, the eventual piece of art might be something completely different from what was originally planned, which is all part of the fun.

The main takeaway about teaching children problem-solving skills is that there are many, many different ways to encourage this. It’s important to support the child as they work their way through challenges, but also vital to give them the time to come to their own conclusions and – crucially – the chance to make mistakes. It’s only from making errors that they can consider how to do things differently next time to avoid the same thing happening.

At Evoke Early Learning, our early years programmes are committed to helping children build a solid foundation for crucial life skills. The teams at both our Albert Park and Clayton centres embrace the Reggio Emilia approach, allowing children to learn the basics of key life skills through the joy of self-guided play. Discover more about us and book a tour to see us in action.