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Yeah Baby! is a specialist conference concerned with the education and care of our infants from birth to three years of age. This one-day conference runs from 9am-3pm on a Saturday and includes trade fair, and great seminar and workshops style presentations. The format for the day ensures delegates will return to their early childhood settings affirmed and inspired with up-to-date research as well as practical advice, guidance and solutions all relevant to work and play with children under 3. New information is shared each year and each programme varies according to region.
Programme:
9-10.30am: Toni Christie - Toddlers: A taxonomy of needs and rights
What do our precious toddlers need? What rights do we empower them to exercise?
When we understand the specific development, needs, and rights of these unique little humans, we can support them in their quest to better understand the world around them. Toni Christie will share research and practical examples of supporting toddlers’ needs for safety, relationships, boundaries, conflict, and resilience. She will also explore their rights to power, autonomy, nature, play and to be understood by the excellent role-models who care for and educate them with love.
10.30-11am: morning tea
11am-12.30pm: Lorraine Sands – The power and importance of responsiveness
Imagine being a very young child actively becoming socially aware, seeking emotional and relational connection with those around you, and learning to navigate a world full of surprise and uncertainty. Perhaps, though, we might be so far removed from the space and time that generated our own unique learning lives that it is difficult for us to truly understand what life is like for the very young. Professor Alison Gopnik has likened a young child’s learning journey to the fluttering of a butterfly compared with our adult roles as task-oriented caterpillars! Alison views very young children as scientists exploring hypotheses to deepen their understanding of literally everything they encounter. These curious learners are on a quest to connect with the world, find their place in it, understand who they are, and how they might relate to others. It’s a tumultuous journey and one we must understand if we are to be deeply connected and positive influences in children’s lives. As we slow down our own learning agendas (what we think is important) and become responsive, engaging enablers of children’s curious play-focused learning, we might just be the kaiako children truly deserve.
Let’s explore the implications for practice when we do indeed become responsive, willing enablers, and bring Te Whāriki aspirations to life in our settings.
12.30-1.15pm: lunch and a chance to check out the trade fair
1.15-2.45pm: Robin Christie - Power and Place – Recent Thoughts on Infant and Toddler Learning Spaces
Our infant and toddler environments reflect who we are as a learning community – curious, functional, and beautiful! This lively presentation will share recent work from the Childspace Workshop in Wellington and explore the rationale behind these designs. From designing outdoor sleep spaces to the importance of indoor/ outdoor transition zones, from the role of physical symbols in emerging literacy to outdoor nappy change units - join teacher and ECE environment designer Robin Christie to find out what’s been keeping him awake at night!
General admission price: $210
Special price for subscribers to The Space or Childspace at Your Place (CAYP): $190
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- To subscribe to Childspace at Your Place, click here.