Activities and Programs

ELLA is a fun and easy digital language program for preschool children. The program is an Australian Government initiative aimed at encouraging more students to study language. The program has been successfully integrated into thousands of preschools across Australia. It has had overwhelmingly positive feedback from families and educators. ELLA aligns with the Australian Government’s screen time recommendations for young children, with a maximum of 40 minutes per week across multiple small sessions.

ELLA introduces children to learning a new language via interactive tablet apps, which have been developed in consultation with experts in languages, early childhood and technology. The Polyglots are a cast of characters who –through play-based learning – introduce the children to words, sentences and songs in another language. The apps draw on the interests and activities of young children, such as celebrations, cooking experiences, art activities, building and role-play.

Using ELLA has shown multiple benefits for children. Children will expand their knowledge of how language works and apply these skills to other literacy tasks, such as listening carefully to sounds in words. These skills will be used when the children learn to read and write. ELLA will help develop foundation skills, such as learning colours, counting and greetings. Research has shown that exposing children to language learning at an early age encourages them to continue language studies during secondary school.

Playing with the ELLA apps helps children develop and use cognitive and social skills. They will share the tablets and their knowledge, interact with and help each other. Language learning improves memory, concentration and critical-thinking skills. Using the ELLA apps increases children’s digital skills, too. ELLA also creates opportunities to celebrate culture and diversity, to share home languages, and to strengthen links between families and preschool services.

The program began in 2016, when the STEM Education Research Centre (SERC) was awarded $5.6 million by the Australian Government to create the Early Learning STEM Australia (ELSA) Program.

When children engaged with the ELSA program, researchers found, their STEM literacy skills improved at a rate three times higher than for children not in the ELSA Program. In numeracy, children improved at a rate twice that of children not in ELSA. WE have been using the ELS apps and books since 2020.

Educators also benefit from the program, with research showing that their understanding, interest and confidence in teaching STEM content improved when they engaged with ELSA.

These results, STEM Education Research Centre Director Professor Tom Lowrie said, are “A heartening example of education research being utilised in the classroom to the benefit of educators and students.“

The ELSA program provides a tangible tool for our researchers to share the most up-to-date, evidence-informed STEM education approaches directly with practising educators.

ELSA is now attracting considerable attention from overseas governments, with the program featuring a suite of play-based digital apps for children, as well as an Educator App and a Families App, and more than 100 classroom activities for children to engage in ensuring a healthy balance between digital play and physical play.

Each app engages children in a different STEM skill. The program has 16 apps grouped into 4 bundles – Patterns and Relationships, Location and Arrangement, Representations, and Investigations.

The app also includes 30+ lesson plans created by the SERC’s team of education specialists.

Táhirih Preschool opened in April 2019. With the support of some generous individuals we built and furnished three preschool classrooms, an adult classroom and an administration office. It is managed by refugee Community Based Organisation Faulu Productions.

We sponsor this Preschool of over 300 children and each year with parental consent our year old group have the opportunity to send and receive messages, videos and other communications with the educators and children in Kenya. This gives our children the chance to identify as part of a global community and have a better understanding of how lucky we really are to be in a country where their houses are more than the walls of a tin shed shared with multiple other families. The children in this camp receive one meal a day, provided through funding mostly raised through donations which of course are tax deductable Táhirih Preschool | PermacultureFSC.

Yoga is a program designed to develop balance, strength and co-ordination in a playful environment. Unlike traditional adult yoga, the children in our yoga are animated, noisy and have fun! Our educators use games, storytelling, music and props to engage children both physically and mentally.

A session of yoga includes warm up exercises where children pretend to be balloons, bubbles or perhaps even a washing machine. Yoga poses are incorporated into the theme which changes each time. Research shows that children who do yoga in a playful but structured environment begin to develop better body awareness and the initial tools for better concentration, co-ordination and balance.