Scéalta – The Early Childhood Ireland Blog
Scéalta – The Early Childhood Ireland Blog
View our recent Scéalta blogs

Great play in small spaces
Sometimes it can seem that large spaces are needed to provide outdoor play opportunities for children. In this week’s Scéalta blog post Mag Coogan explains how this is not so.

Loose parts and small scale outdoor gardening
Continuing our outdoor play series, Early Childhood Ireland member Denise Sheridan, outlines how she uses loose parts in the outdoor space at her setting in County Clare. She also discusses how small scale gardening in the outdoor supports children’s awareness of sustainability and also their STEAM learning.

The Relationship Between Our Buildings and Our Outdoors
In this next series of Scéalta, we are going to focus on outdoor play and learning. The environment has a large impact on what and how children learn. To start this series, Chloe Keegan Early Childhood Specialist, as Early Childhood Ireland reminds us of the guidance to be found in the Universal Design Guidelines for Early Learning and Care, but also says that the key thing is to use the space you have, rather than wish for space you don’t have.

The Whispering Giant
To bring the Shoulders of Giants series to a close, Aisling Hearne reflects on the series so far, along with having a baby during a pandemic saying ‘your giant is that whispering voice, your inner giantess, reminding you that you’re doing a good job, that you are good enough, simply as you are.

Our Mighty Mentors
In our ongoing Shoulders of Giants series, Sinéad McAuley Lambe, Lecturer in Education and Placement Coordinator at Marino Institute reflects on the key role placement supervisors in early childhood settings play as they mentor, encourage and support students on placement and how, in her eyes, they are among the giants on whose shoulders we stand.

The Giant Whose Shoulders We All Stand On
In This Scéalta blog post Patsy Stafford, from Maynooth University outlines why she regards Fredrich Froebel as a giant on whose shoulders the early childhood sector stands, even if we have never heard of him.
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