Technology in early childhood

I have been lucky enough to be part of project working with Kindergarten teachers (here in QLD Australia, these are 3-4 year old children) on this exactly topic! We introduced iPads and worked together to explore the creative options for children of this age. It was a challenge for the children to view the iPad as a creative tool as they were used to using devices like this to watch TV or play games. The first thing we introduced was the camera, teaching the early learners HOW to take a good photo - and then set them challenges involving photo. This was great to talk about consent and digital citizenship as we explored the notion of asking permission before taking photos. They started taking photos of things they had created, or noticed, or found important in their kindergarten setting and wanted these shared with families.

After photos - a huge range of creative options open up. We used markup to annotate photos, and apps like ChatterPix to make our photos talk. Draw & Tell is another great one to use with the Childs photo as the base - and then they add a sticker character and record/animate.

After that was Clips and children created movies to share with their families about their favourite things at Kindy.

We also explored AR apps such as AR MAKR or WWF forests which are amazing for young learners.

It has been such a rewarding experience for all involved.

Thank you for this answer Rachel! I would be so happy to connect and learn more about your journey with 3 and 4 years old and reinvest your insights in CAN 🇨🇦! Let me know :)

I would also be interested to learn more about your journey and particularly free resources available about digital photography. Really liked what you said about children/families being used to using devices for entertainment/consuming rather than creating and would love to hear from others having conversations with young children/families about using digital photography/helping children be creative. Has anyone created short video models to share with families? While I am aware of the Everyone can Create early learning materials, am also very interested in finding accessible, web-based resources that preschool educators with very little time/resources and support available could use and share.

As this is Media Literacy week, also wanted to mention an interesting blog post Counting Screen Time Minutes by Dr Faith Rogow and conversation recently that can be viewed on the National Association for the Education of Young Children HELLO community that has to do with media literacy.