Writing needs to be taught and practised. Australian schools are dropping the focus too early, report Claire Wyatt-Smith and Christine Jennifer Jackson The recently released report of the NAPLAN review — commissioned by the New South Wales, Queensland, Victorian and Australian Capital Territory education ministers —...
If you want to fast-track your child’s development, forget CDs, books that beep, and toys that whirr, writes Liam Viney. Play music with them, with the emphasis being on “play”. Forget the Mozart Effect and Baby Einstein, take it easy on acquisitions for your two-year-old’s private...
Only 18% of books available in four Australian childcare centres include non-white characters reports Helen Joanne Adam in her recent study Animal characters make up around half the books available, with the animals largely leading lives, and adhering to values, of middle-class Caucasians. My study, published in...
After many years of observing boys naturally gravitating towards digging, fossicking, climbing and collecting, an inspiring natural playground was constructed for the boys of Sydney Grammar School St Ives Preparatory. Broadly speaking, as families have become busier, children have become less active, distracted by the allure...
As we struggle to understand how some world leaders can show disrespect and bad behaviour, Maggie Dent suggests ways to encourage respectful, ‘good’ behaviour using three simple rules The three rules: Please try not to hurt yourself others things in the world around us. I encourage families to...
Dangerous animals get a bad rap but this new illustrated encyclopaedia helps us appreciate the incredible adaptions they have made to survive. The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Dangerous Animals Written and Illustrated by Sami Bayly (Lothian Children’s Books HB $32.99) Age Group 5 years and over. Also by...
Make Every Bird Count 19-25 October 2020 Conservationists estimate that over 180 million birds have been lost in Australia due to the recent bush fires due to the lack of food, loss of ground cover, and hungry predators In 2019, the Aussie Backyard Bird Count saw record-breaking...
This is the first part of a list of Sustainability Reading provided by Fremantle Library, that every child should read by the time they get to high school! This is a compilation of resources for children (primarily for ages 3-10) on various environmental concepts such...
Jessica Balanzategui, Joanna McIntyre and Liam Burke look at the rapid unravelling of local Children's television content on TV. Today ABC, BBC Studios and Screen Australia announced series three of the award-winning animation series Bluey will commence production in Brisbane later this year. But despite Bluey’s global...
Australia is considered one of the most multicultural countries in the world, writes Renee Crawford. That's why governments must recognise the importance of an arts-based education However, as globalisation becomes the norm, and we begin to welcome people from countries with vastly different backgrounds, experiences, ideologies,...
