In my last Emergent Curriculum post, I promised to share a story about the difference exploring a child’s interest can make to the learning potential of the child. This is the story of 2 1/2 year old Henry. Henry wasn’t one of those children who stood out from the crowd. He wasn’t loud or overly […]
Following Children’s Interests – Understanding Emergent Curriculum
‘Interests’ are subjects, ideas, things, topics and events which fascinate and stimulate the curiosity of the child. Within an Emergent Curriculum educators use ‘interests’ of the children, families, community and themselves as the substance of the learning program. Selected interests are then developed through ‘projects’ or ‘investigations’ – involving related fun and interesting, hands-on learning […]
Sensory Fun: Making a Rice Pit
Yesterday afternoon we headed outside to play and it started to rain on us. A sun shower to begin, it quickly clouded over and became cold and wet. So we aborted our outdoor plans and headed back inside. Now what to do? My eyes spied the big bag of rice that I had bought to […]
Parents Participating: Understanding Emergent Curriculum
Research consistently shows that parental involvement maximises the effectiveness of early child development programs. The importance of strong family:centre partnerships cannot be underestimated when it comes to developing an Emergent Curriculum approach, after all the family is the richest source of information about the individual child and a true learning community welcomes the contributions of […]
Edible Fingerpaint Recipe for Toddlers
Given that the weather has become rather less desirable for outings we decided to have a day on our staycation. One activity I have been meaning to try was the edible fingerpaint featured in The Lost Art Of Childhood by Sarah Bryden-Brown (see recipe below). As an early childhood teacher I am very embarrassed to […]
