Curriculum

Ideas for exploring the physical sciences in early childhood settings.

An introduction to the role of children's funds of knowledge in curriculum design.

An introduction to the role of inquiry in curriculum design.

How using mathematical language in early childhood education supports young children's understanding of mathematical concepts.

The importance of culture in children's early maths learning.

How noticing and learning about patterns contributes to children's developing mathematical understanding.

The importance of stories for literacy and identity, and the many ways to share stories in early childhood education.

An introduction to the various embodied and nonverbal modes that young children use to communicate.

Understanding why challenging behaviour occurs and how to respond to it.

How teachers can actively support children’s sustained engagement with complex creative arts.

How the visual arts support children’s cognitive development.

An overview of the research on how children’s artistic skills and ability develop over time.

An introduction to the research on supporting and promoting early literacy in early childhood settings, along with strategies for practice.

Symbolic magnitude comparison and adding and subtracting quantities using number words or written numerals.

Fixing, copying, extending and abstracting patterns.

Learn how to identify and guide spatial visualisation, form perception and visual/spatial working memory.

How to recognise and develop children’s early interest in and enthusiasm for maths in early childhood settings.

A brief introduction to the structure, aims and values of New Zealand’s early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki.

An introduction to the wide range of skills that encompass the communcation strand, and strategies for supporting the development of children’s communication.

The benefits of attending to young children’s sense of belonging and features of practice that support and develop it.

The key skills involved in the exploration strand and how to support and enable them.

The main ideas underpinning the contribution strand and how to build and enable children’s contribution in early childhood settings.

An overview of the principle of family and community and strategies for building meaningful relationships with families.

The key concepts underpinning the wellbeing strand of Te Whāriki and practices for supporting children’s wellbeing in early childhood settings.

An overview of the different aspects of children’s learning and development that contribute to their holistic development.

An introduction to the principle of relationships and their crucial role in early childhood education.

An introduction to the principle of empowerment and some specific practices for empowering young children and their families.

Understanding object counting, subitising and numeral knowledge.

An overview of the key changes to the 2017 update of Te Whāriki and what they mean for practice.

A closer look at rote counting/ordinal relations and numerical identification.

How to spot and check understanding of magnitude comparison and simple arithmetic.

Why assessing communicative interactions in early childhood settings is critical to supporting children’s learning and development, and some strategies for how to do it.

An introduction to early or emergent literacy and how early childhood teachers can support its development in young children.

A set of questions to help early childhood teachers gauge and develop their own emotional awareness and wellbeing.

A range of strategies to help early childhood teachers build a positive and enriching social and emotional climate in their settings.

An introduction to the concept of social and emotional competence and why it is so important for children’s learning, development and wellbeing.

The importance of emotional knowledge and wellbeing, and how teachers can support it in early childhood education.

A range of strategies to help teachers build and develop children’s social competence in early childhood education.

Specific advice on responding to instances of conflict between young children in early childhood settings.

Practical strategies to help children learn to self-manage in early childhood settings.

Strategies for talking to young children about developing and holding a growth mindset.

What the research says about the visual arts and how they contribute to children’s learning and development, as well as some practical tips to help teachers and children express themselves through the visual arts.

How to talk to young children about resilience and a set of strategies to help them start developing their resilience in early childhood settings.

An introduction to the concept of working theories and their implications for curriculum design in early childhood programmes.

A closer look at the role of the teacher in promoting and supporting the development of children’s working theories in early childhood education.

A set of strategies that teachers can use to support and promote the development of children's communication in the early years.

An introduction to communication in the early years and why it is so important.

Ideas to support the design of effective activities and environments for children in early childhood settings.

Exploring the research behind how young children learn and how to use this knowledge to inform curriculum design.

Why it is so important to talk to very young children, and specific strategies to use when communicating with infants and toddlers.

Professor Karen Malone shares insights from her research with teachers into ethical practices for engaging with nature in early childhood settings

Dr Rebecca Hopkins supports teachers to broaden their conceptualisation of literacy, and their intentional practices

Back by popular demand, Dr Gai Lindsay hosts a practical visual arts workshop focused on how teachers can incorporate gelli plate printing into their early childhood contexts

Dr Daniel Lovatt returns to share some extended examples of how teachers can support children’s working theories.

Dr Anna Winneker explores why children will exhibit challenging behaviour including a discussion of specific emotional or behavioural disorders, and how teachers in early childhood contexts can respond positively and effectively to children.

Dr Gai Lindsay provides a practical session focused on supporting teachers with their own art-making as well as their pedagogy around the visual arts in early childhood education.

Professor Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles and Dr Maia Osborn from Southern Cross University, Australia share findings from their research into teaching and learning science and STEM concepts through play-based pedagogies and nature play

Professor Marek Tesar (University of Auckland) and Dr Vicki Hargraves discuss the importance of incorporating children’s voices in to curriculum design and implementation in early childhood settings.

Dr Daniel Lovatt (Aro Arataki Early Childhood Centre) and Dr Vicki Hargraves discuss how children use working theories to make sense of their world, and offer practical advice for teachers.

Dr Gai Lindsay, Dr Sarah Probine, and Dr Rachel Denee talk about their research about the role of early childhood teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs in their visual arts practices.

Dr Erica Zippert talks about how to support children to explore and develop their understanding of foundational maths skills involving numeracy, patterns, and spatial understanding.

Watch Greta Bull-Crossan discuss ways musical play can be supported and empowered across infant, toddler and preschool age groups.

Dr Anna Winneker focuses on strategies to understand why particular behaviour may be happening and how to prevent and respond to incidents when they occur.

Claire McLachlan from Federation University Australia explores how literacy can be fostered in early childhood settings.

Dr Sarah Probine (Manukau Institute of Technology) and Jacqui Lees (of Pakuranga Baptist Kindergarten) discuss how rich visual arts practices can be developed through collaboration and creativity.

Dr Louisa Penfold discusses why materials and aesthetics are important in children’s learning, and offers strategies for designing play spaces based on contemporary art practices.

Exploring different resources, tools, and professional learning processes to support teachers to promote children’s social-emotional learning

A discussion about the elements involved in setting up a local curriculum and look at ways to work with Te Whāriki (2017) to make this happen authentically.

Alison Sutton from Talking Matters talks to Vicki Hargraves about the importance of early language to lifelong learning.

Dr Karyn Aspden and Linda Clarke from Massey University discuss their research into the teaching practices that support social-emotional competence of infants and toddlers.

Emma Quigan from Talking Matters talks about what they have learned from their research with mothers and their children about babies’ exposure to language.

This course explores the development of literacies in the early years and how teachers can support young children to understand and express themselves in multiple ways.

This online course supports early childhood teachers in the intentional teaching of mathematics for infants, toddlers, and young children through play and planned activities, and describes the mathematical content that young children need to engage with in their early years.

Key strategies for promoting the development of children's oral language and communication.

The building blocks of early literacy and how teachers can support its development.

Key insights from a webinar with Professor Karen Malone of Swinburne University.

Key insights from a webinar with Dr Rebecca Hopkins from AUT.

Key insights from our second webinar with Dr Anna Winneker on supporting children with challenging behaviour.

The key ideas from our webinar with Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles and Maia Osborn on exploring scientific concepts and STEM learning through nature play.

The key insights from our webinar with Marek Tesar exploring the vital role of children's voices in early childhood education.

Key insights from our webinar with Daniel Lovatt on enriching children's working theories in early childhood settings.

Key insights from our webinar with Gai Lindsay, Sarah Probine, and Rachel Denee on the importance of teacher self-efficacy in teaching the visual arts.

Key insights from the webinar on early numeracy with Erica Zippert.

Ideas and insights for musical exploration and experiences in early childhood settings from our webinar with Greta Bull-Crossan.

Key insights from our webinar with Anna Winneker on responding to and preventing challenging behaviours.

Key insights from our webinar with Professor Claire McLachlan.

Practical ideas from our webinar on the visual arts in early childhood education with Dr Sarah Probine and Jacqui Lees.

The key ideas from our webinar with Dr Tara McLaughlin and Karen MacKay on social-emotional learning.

Key lessons from Anne Meade and Meg Kwan on designing an authentic, local curriculum

An exciting provocations to get your child drawing, which can tempt even the most reluctant artists

A list of stories that are available as audiobooks that we think make for great listening

Get outside to collect objects for a match game, and develop your child’s skills in observing and recording

A fun experiment using red cabbage water as a pH indicator to test the acidity or alkalinity of liquids, with surprising results.

Emphasise the adventure of books by creating a reading den!

A “magic” drawing trick which will appeal to reluctant and keen artists alike, and which can be adapted for a range of creative and imaginative purposes.

Learn how to make stop motion animation videos (as easy as taking photos), and there is no end to the fun and creativity you can have!

Make the most of everyday family cooking for learning opportunities for your child

Reading books with your child is an incredibly powerful way of supporting your child’s learning. We’ve put together a list of stories that are available as audiobooks (one for each day of the week) that we think make for great listening - week 3

An engineering challenge involving plenty of design, thinking and problem-solving, limited only by window space and the number of toilet roll tubes you provide!

Make simple cakes in a mug and experiment with the recipe to find out what different ingredients do

A soothing, sensory medium for play, with lots of possibility for creativity, imagination and fun for all ages

Challenge your child to design a simple board game, then find out how much fun it is to play!

Observe reversible change by melting and solidifying chocolate, and eat your results!

Reading books with your child is an incredibly powerful way of supporting your child’s learning. We’ve put together a list of stories that are available as audiobooks (one for each day of the week) that we think make for great listening - week 2

A series of fun and easy activities that you can do with your toddler.

An activity to encourage careful observation, comparison and investigation outdoors, either in your back garden or out on a walk.

Bring a playful element to snack time by challenging your child’s creativity and construction skills

This is a simple idea that you can vary in so many ways, and practise lots of different concepts and ideas at the same time

Build and race lego cars with this idea that invites plenty of design and engineering and encourages a variety of different possible solutions

Reading books with your child is an incredibly powerful way of supporting your child’s learning. We’ve put together a list of stories that are available as audiobooks (one for each day of the week) that we think make for great listening

Playing with ice offers children a lot of potential for exploration, experimentation and physical manipulation and the fun lasts until the ice is all melted

A staple for play, playdough appeals to a wide range of ages and has unlimited potential for creative expression.

A fun activity for predicting and experimenting as well as an opportunity to explore some complex scientific concepts, and afterwards, you get to eat the materials!

Get outside and into nature regularly, with nature study ideas to focus your observations and learning.

A simple idea for applying paint which can inspire lots of experimentation and creativity!

Take part in a community initiative and get some exercise in the process!

This kind of gloop is a fascinating medium which has a unique texture, a mixture that is part liquid and part solid. Children of all ages enjoy exploring its properties, and playing with gloop is relaxing and calming.

A simple activity to get started that can get kids (and adults) fired up for hours of entertainment, with endless possibilities for modification and extension!

Discover how one early childhood centre approaches a project-focused curriculum.

Exploring the local community provides many valuable learning opportunities,

See how one teacher’s interest in fashion design led to the development of a cross-curricular focus on design thinking.

Explore how a kindergarten uses extended projects to embrace and celebrate children’s exploration.

Developing routines and rituals helps give children a sense of ownership of the daily programme.

Explore how children’s wonderings and questions can spark inquiries and cross-curricular learning.

How children’s interests, wonderings and questions can create authentic community partnerships.

Using one teacher’s background in fashion design to inspire children’s interest in sewing and design.

Using science for children to learn how to protect and nurture their environment.

Valuing children’s right to advocate for their own and others’ ideas.

Gardening opens up a wide range of opportunities for science, sustainability, and social emotional learning.

Engaging in Rongoā Māori in early childhood settings.

As children explore the world, around them, there are countless opportunities to explore their ideas and build their understand.