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Articles about Early learning activities

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Settling in at childcare: the early weeks

Child care is a new environment for your child, with new people and new routines. Your child’s transition to child care is more likely to go well if you start getting ready for child care well ahead of time. Also, starting slowly is important. For example, if it works for your family, you could start with short days at child care and stay with your child. Then you could leave your child for short periods, building up to leaving your child for a whole day.

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Singing activity for children: songs in a second language

Singing is a fun way to help your child learn and remember words and sentence structure in a second language. When your child sings songs with repeated words or choruses, they get a lot of practice with new words and sentence structures. This helps your child remember these new words. Songs with a cultural or personal significance – for example, songs passed down in your family – can have extra meaning for your child.

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Two children playing on the floor

Exploring play through the gender lens

Play helps shape our child's sense of identity. Maggie Dent, one of Australia’s most popular parenting authors and educators, shines a light on our unconscious biases and how they may reinforce gender stereotypes for boys and girls during play.

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Busy mother with baby

Managing children and work from home

Busy parents are doing the best they can but many will agree that working from home with children can be tough. Dr Jade Sheen from Deakin University's School of Psychology says there are ways for parents to succeed.

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Young boy climbing

Risky play: Why it benefits children

Often our instincts will scream at us to get involved and stop our children from engaging in risky behaviours. But with the benefits of risky play to our child’s development being well documented, it is useful to understand appropriate risk.

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3 year old boy smiling

Parenting trends: What is a 'Yes Day'?

Handing control over to your children for an entire day might seem a strange choice. Made popular by Yes Day, a 2021 Netflix movie, a Yes Day (or even a Yes Hour for younger children) is a good way to help children test their limits and capabilities.

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A grandmother and her toddler grandson sit on the floor of the living room and lean against the sofa for story time

When, how and why to read to your child

Parents already know the fun and joy that stories bring, but regular reading brings multiple benefits. Research shows that children whose parents or carers read to them every day at two to three years old had on average higher Year 3 reading ability.

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Goodstart Early Learning Centre educators with child

Parent connections with early learning

We all know the importance of strong, positive relationships between families and educators, but the ability to stay connected has been challenged during COVID-19. It’s a challenge that early learning centres across Australia have had to overcome.

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