The Early Childhood Australia website is a wonderful website offering many resources for early childhood professionals. If you did not explore this particular website, I encourage you to take the time to discover the various resources available (of course you have to subscribe to each). However, there are a few free samples.
"The Research in Practice Series" offered wonderful resources for early childhood professionals focusing on the practical aspects of working with children. Here you can find a variety of topics such as diversity, babies' and toddlers' learning, play, spirituality, storytelling and engaging families for example. You can view a sample of each of the mentioned topics. I explored a sampling about " Nurturing the Spiritual Child" offered by Thomas and Lockwood (2009). The preview offered twelve pages for review. I have not explored children's spirituality and therefore learned that the path for spirituality for a child is integrated with nature, relationships, creativity, belonging and experiencing stillness (Thomas & Lockwood, 2009). I also really liked the following quote, " To recognize and value the cultures children bring with them, we must ensure that their spiritual life is recognized" (p. 6). The article offers strategies, activities and case studies to explore spirituality.
The "Everyday Learning" link provided wonderful articles geared to parenting. I found the "everyday learning about responding to the emotional needs of children" to be worthwhile as it offered information about the importance of children's self-regulation, children's emotional needs, and why responding to their needs is important. This resource appeared to be geared to parents.
Lastly, I explored the "Australasian Journal of Early Childhood." This is a scholarly journal offering the latest research. You can access a number of articles for the journal on the homepage. I did discover one article that linked to my research simulation , however, I do need to subscribe to the journal to be able read this particular document.
This Early Childhood Australia is a wonderful website offering many resources for early childhood professionals. What is surprising is the wealth of material available to early childhood professionals. If you have not had time to review this website, here is the link http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au
References
Thomas, P., & Lockwood, V. (2009). Nurturing the Spiritual Child: Compassion, Connection and Sense of Self. Retrieved from http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/pdf/rips/RIP0902_screen_sample.pdf
Tamara, very interesting post. I will take to explore the website to learn more on the incorporating spiritualactivities for children. Children need a sense of calmness in our world.
ReplyDeleteTamara very insightful to the way things are done in Australia, when it comes to the spritual side of nuturing children.
ReplyDeleteHi Tamara
ReplyDeleteThe information about children and their spirituality sounds sounds very interesting. I truly see the need for children to slow down and enjoy the stillness. Life for children today can be very over stimulating.
Tamara,
ReplyDeleteThis week I chose to look over the African website, so I was thankful to see your thorough overview of the Australian website. I am happy to see that a website such as this also provides information for parents in the "Everyday Learning" section. There is such a need for quality parenting information, so I hope that people utilize this tool!
Thanks for the great information!
Beki
Tamara!
ReplyDeleteAwesome post! I enjoyed reading all your information I found it very interesting! Thanks for sharing!
Hello Tamara,
ReplyDeleteLove the post!!! I can appreciate a website which offers valuable information in the ECE field to those that are interested. It only builds on our knowledge of the field while examining current issues we all may be facing. Thank you for sharing!