Early Childhood Resource Hub

Early Childhood
Resource Hub
Empowering children to appreciate their bodies for what they can do, celebrate diversity, and build strong, inclusive friendships through engaging, hands-on activities inspired by beloved stories.

Celebrating Our Bodies, Through Foundational Skills

These resources provide fun, hands-on activities for children to explore body appreciation, diversity, and teamwork. Based on beloved children's books, each activity helps kids appreciate their bodies, build friendships, and embrace inclusivity, all while developing key social and emotional skills. Perfect for fostering self-confidence and empathy in young learners!

These resources are mapped to the Early Years Learning Framework 2.0 and use evidence-based strategies, such as play-based learning, and intentional teaching strategies.

About the Resources

These engaging units are designed to inspire young children to appreciate their bodies, foster friendships, and explore inclusivity through fun and interactive activities. With guidance from The Embrace Collective, the "Our Bodies are AMAZING!" unit helps children celebrate their bodies for what they can do, addressing early body image issues with movement and creative expression.
Exploring friendships through Melanie Prewett's Two Mates, children learn about the importance of empathy and diversity. Additionally, using Come Over to My House, children delve into adaptability and how to make spaces accessible for everyone.

How to use these resources

Introduction

Before diving into a learning experience, we give you a quick summary of what’s involved, so you can decide whether this activity is right for you.

To give you an idea of what your students will be doing, each activity falls into one of these categories:

moving bodies
busy hands
quiet time
imagination
creation
nature time.

Skills Development

To develop these resources we worked with Dr. Zali Yager to select reputable children's books with clear messages of body appreciation to create strong literacy links.

From here we developed four learning experiences for each book. Each activity focuses on developing a core skill from the list below:

foundational numeracy
foundational literacy
science exploration
problem-solving
digital literacies
social-emotional learning.

Early Years Learning Framework

All of our learning experiences align with the Early Years Learning Framework 2.0, guiding you on how these activities meet expected developmental milestones for children. Cool has consulted with a number of highly experienced professionals in a range of fields, including early learning education, social and emotional development, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educators, to ensure all of the information here is at the cutting edge of early learning education.

Reading List

If you don't already have access to these books, check out the list below for where you can grab your copy:

Embrace Your Body by Taryn Brumfitt
Two Mates by Melanie Prewett
Come Over to My House by Sally Rippin and Eliza Hull
Little Miss Jessica Goes to School by Jessica Smith
What Happened to Your Hand? by Andrea Murray
Charlie’s Tales: Dara and the Moonlight Cub by The Pretty Foundation
Charlie’s Tales: Peggy and the Fantastic Football by The Pretty Foundation
Charlie’s Tales: Sylvie and the Star Tree by The Pretty Foundation
Charlie’s Tales: Cassia and the Fire Dragon by The Pretty Foundation
Charlie's Tales: The Sprites and the Heart Flower by The Pretty Foundation

Units of work

Each unit tackles a different element of body appreciation, based on the theme of the literacy prompt. After reading the book, choose which experiences suit your children. Implement all of them or just one!

Unit
...

Embrace Your Body

Early Learning
Social
Social and Emotional Learning

Unit
...

Two Mates

Early Learning
Social
Social and Emotional Learning

Unit
...

Come Over to My House

Early Learning
Social
Social and Emotional Learning

Unit
...

Little Miss Jessica Goes to School

Early Learning
Social
Social and Emotional Learning

Unit
...

What Happened to your Hand?

Early Learning
Social
Social and Emotional Learning

Unit
...

Charlie’s Tales: Dara and the Moonlight Cub

Early Learning
Social
Social and Emotional Learning

Unit
...

Charlie’s Tales: Peggy and the Fantastic Football

Early Learning
Social
Social and Emotional Learning

Unit
...

Charlie’s Tales: Sylvie and the Star Tree

Early Learning
Social
Social and Emotional Learning

Unit
...

Charlie’s Tales: Cassia and the Fire Dragons

Early Learning
Social
Social and Emotional Learning

Unit
...

Charlie’s Tales: The Sprites and the Heart Flower

Early Learning
Social
Social and Emotional Learning

With thanks to our partner

The Brian M. Davis Charitable Foundation, established in memory of entrepreneur and philanthropist Brian M. Davis AM, is committed to improving the lives of disadvantaged children and young people. By supporting innovative, community-focused initiatives, the Foundation aims to create lasting and meaningful change, continuing Davis' legacy of health and equity for future generations.

For more information, visit Brian M. Davis Charitable Foundation.