The years before school are a highly significant time for our young children to learn. Did you know that in the first five years of life, your child’s brain develops more and faster than at any other time in his or her life?
At Little Genesis Early Learning Centre, located at Bray Park on the northern outskirts of Brisbane, we understand how crucial this period is and their learning framework and curriculum reflects this.
In conjunction with Olwen Forker from BackChat Speech Pathology, Little Genesis have developed the top five ways to make the early years count:
- TALK all the time to your little ones – and about everything. Olwen uses her own toddler, Patrick as an example, and says, “As an example with my toddler Patrick, we talk constantly while I am doing the cleaning and vacuuming, and putting washing into the machine”. So simply, talk constantly!
- Use BIG words with your little ones in those early years. Backchat Speech Pathologists say to talk about how planes have wings, and how the Tyrannosaurus Rex is the King of the Dinosaurs (not a T-Rex). Talk about countries and BIG concepts, and repeat them.
- SING your favourite song with your little ones EVERY day. Look at your baby when you sing and with your little one, sing it high, and sing it low – sing it sleepy and sing it fast! Talk about these concepts as you sing your favourite song over and over again.
- Model positive RELATIONSHIPS. Little Genesis understands that children learn through relationships and what they see shapes their world. Through a nurturing and caring approach to learning, Little Genesis educators aim to assist children to reach their full potential and to model positive relationships for when the times comes to move onto primary school.
- PLAY is often the most valuable context for children’s learning. From stacking blocks in the nursey through to balancing buckets of sand on custom-built scales in the sandpit, young learners at Little Genesis are constantly playing to learn.
The years before school are crucial to ensure that social, emotional, behaviour, thinking and communication skills are being developed. Entrusting your child to an experienced centre like Little Genesis means they will get the most out of their early years.