Grass, birds, creeks and abundant shady trees all make for beautiful natural learning and play spaces for children. Exploring neighbourhoods, playing in open spaces, being outside from dawn until dusk, these were the daily experiences of many adults during their childhood. It really wasn’t that long ago.

In today’s society more focus on indoor play, no time to explore, take risks or be a child makes for risk
adverse and less adaptable adults in future years.
That’s why C&K says yes to nature based learning and play which means more risk for children in early childhood. The future C&K Centre for Excellence in Ashgrove, Brisbane includes the natural bush and creek and will be fundamental in teaching children, families and of course all educators about risk.
On Saturday 27 October, C&K will host a special invitation only event on the green at the future C&K Centre for Excellence. Special guest from the United Kingdom, Mr Tim Gill an expert in risk and childhood, will share ideas and discuss the benefit of risk taking with families and educators.

More than 120 families that have applied for a place in the yet to be opened, C&K Centre for Excellence early childhood training centre, are invited to the event. The outdoor play space is set over almost 1 hectare of inner city bush with Ithaca Creek weaving around the site.
This is an exciting opportunity for the future C&K Centre for Excellence families and our educators to hear from Tim and Barrie Elvish, C&K Chief Executive Officer why risk, nature, learning and play are all entwined and necessary for children and society.
Barrie said “this is a great day for interested families, educators and community members to enjoy the wonderful environment that will be the site of Australia’s first nature based early childhood centre and hear Tim explain why children need risky play.”
Tim Gill, a world leader in advocating for more risk in childhood, Tim’s book “No Fear: Growing up in a risk adverse society” published in 2007 continues to be a top seller for early childhood professionals and policy makers.

A Survey is calling for families of children with a disability to have their say on World Mental Health Day.
Australia’s first ever survey of the mental health and wellbeing of families with children with a disability was released today, World Mental Health Day.

Professionals who work with these families will also be surveyed, as part of a five-year $5 million project funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council.
The Stepping Stones Triple P (SSTP) Project will evaluate the effectiveness of Triple P’s Stepping Stones programme in reducing behavioural and emotional problems in
children with a disability across a population. The project brings together researchers from The University of Queensland (UQ), The University of Sydney and Monash
University. It will start in Queensland first, followed by Victoria and New South Wales.
As part of the project, from early next year almost 20,000 Queensland families who havea child with a disability between the age of two and twelve will have free access to Triple P’s evidence-based parenting program Stepping Stones.
Stepping Stones is a multi-level program designed to meet the needs of parents and caregivers of children with a disability. It provides practical parenting strategies to help them better manage their children’s emotions and behaviour, and reduces stress levels by increasing parenting confidence, competence and resilience.
Founder of the acclaimed parenting program Triple P and head of the project team for UQ, Professor Matt Sanders said today data from the two surveys will help establish how to make Stepping Stones widely accessible to families impacted by a child’s disability.

WITH a possible shortage of disposable nappies looming worldwide, mums and dads are turning to reusable modern cloth nappies  to look after their babies’ bottoms.

  Following an explosion and fire last Saturday at a chemical plant in Himeji, Japan, production has ground to a halt at Nippon Shokubai, the company responsible for the leading production of super-absorbent polymers used in the manufacturing of disposable nappies for the international market. 
 If work at the fire-damaged factory remains suspended, it could seriously affect the supply of disposable nappies to Australia and the world.
“One million disposable nappies are used every day in Australia. If the world is on the brink of a disposable nappy crisis, we could see empty supermarket shelves and parents buying disposables on the internet for inflated prices,” 
   mum and sustainable parenting advocate Janet Wright says “Modern cloth nappies are in ample supply, and once parents start using them, they’ll never have to worry about running out of nappies again. Wash them, hang them to dry overnight, and they’re ready for another round of bottom changes.”

Modern cloth nappies are so advanced in design that they’re just as convenient to use as a disposable, Janet adds. “And unlike disposables, they’re environmentally conscious and will save parents thousands. A One baby will need 6,000 nappy changes in the first two years of life, and at upwards of 50c per nappy, parents are throwing their money away.
  “Nappies are something you really can’t do without if you have a baby. Modern cloth nappies can save parents $4,000 when compared to what you spend on disposables.”

KindyNews is now offering a special range of Eco-Friendly Baby products including Bamboo cloth nappy liners and cloth nappies. Check out the latest range at www.KindyNews.com/e-shop and also on our Facebook Eco-shop too!  

Australia may be famous for its sweeping plains and jewel seas but studies are finding that fewer kids are experiencing them because they’re playing inside. In fact, recent research has found that only one in three Aussie kids play outside on a daily basis.

In an ideal world, kids would spend at least an hour a day in outdoor, unstructured play. But the growing body of research from around the world shows that green time for kids is fast being replaced by screen time.

And organisations and experts in child development are calling on parents to ensure their kids have daily access to the outdoors, for the sake of their development.

Damning evidenceA 2009 Australian study of 10- to 12-year-old children found that 37 percent spent just 30 minutes or less being active outside on a typical day. This same study found that 43 percent of these kids spent more than two hours a day watching TV, videos or playing computer games. 

Another study, Climbing Trees: Getting Aussie Kids Back Outdoors, commissioned by Planet Ark in 2011, has also revealed the extent to which child’s play has changed. Less than 20 percent of parents interviewed said their kids had climbed a tree and only 29 percent thought their kids had ever played jump rope, hopscotch or street games. 

A recent US study has shown that this growing indoor culture is a western phenomenon. It found that more than half of preschool-aged kids do not venture outside to play on a daily basis, and that girls are 16 percent less likely to head into the fresh air than boys.

A conscious effort is neededNature Play WA is an organisation established with the prime task of getting kids and their parents back into the great outdoors. It is in the process of distributing 40,000 special 'passports' to encourage children to play outside.

The passport lists 15 things kids should do before they turn 12, many of which are activities that their parents did as kids without even a second thought – like climbing a tree, catching a wave, playing in the rain, making a mudpie and learning to ride a bike.

Nature Play’s latest initiative is a 'green time' chart, which families can download and then mount on their fridge. The object of this is for kids to fill in how much time they spend outdoors each day and if there are more 'green time' stickers than 'screen time' stickers at the end of a fortnight, the family rewards itself with a special outdoor activity.

Nature Play CEO Griffin Longley can cite a whole lot of reasons why it’s vital for kids to connect with nature and the outdoors generally.

“It’s not just about exercise," he says. "It’s also been shown over and over again in research that when kids engage in unstructured play outside it fires up their imaginations and is essential for emotional and cognitive development. The bottom line is that kids need to be able to play outside to be healthy in all ways.”

In your own backyardWhile taking kids to fun and free outdoor venues like the park or beach are simple ways to ensure kids get their green time, Griffin says backyards, even small ones, can provide lots of fun for littlies. 

“We understand it can be difficult for busy parents to be able to take kids out to the park every day, so it’s also good to have a safe and accessible outdoor space, like a backyard, for kids to play in,” he says.

“They can take a lot of their indoor play stuff outside. Even the play girls often engage in – like playing with dolls, or playing 'house' – can be easily moved outdoors. If kids are drawing inside, why not take all they’re drawing outside?

“And outdoors they can really use their imagination, using nature as props.”

Four great outdoor activities1. Invest in some wheelsWhether it’s a ride-on toy for littlies, a trick scooter, a skateboard or a bike, there’s nothing more exciting – and possibly daring – for kids than a set of wheels. 

2. Take a hikePick an age-appropriate walk – it can be just down to the shops with the littlies or a short bush walk with preschoolers – pack some water and snacks and go for a walk. 

3. Set up a treasure hunt or activity stationsIt can take a little pre-organisation but both of these activities can be set up in your backyard. Set goals like 'find a yellow flower' or 'collect three pebbles', or 'run to the purple towel and do three star jumps'.

4. Plant a veggie gardenKids love digging around in the dirt and playing with water. Then there is the added bonus of them caring and nurturing for those plants before reaping the gastronomic benefits. Kids are much more likely to eat veg they grew themselves.

Time to stock up on modern cloth nappies...


The world could face a shortage of disposable nappies after an explosion and fire at a chemical plant in Japan that supplies as much as one fifth of the global market.

The blast, which killed a fireman and injured 35 other emergency service workers, occurred after a chemical reaction caused a fire on Saturday afternoon at the plant operated by Nippon Shokubai Co in the city of Himeji, near Osaka in central Japan.
Nippon Shokubai controls the largest share of the world market for the super-absorbent polymers used in nappy production.
According to the company, demand is so high that even before the fire its production facilities were required to operate at full capacity and it had announced plans to set up factories overseas. The Himeji plant produced 320,000 tons of the super-absorbent polymer, according to the Sankei newspaper, about 20 per cent of the global share.

The really bad news? Nippon Shokubai controls about one fifth of the world’s production of super-absorbent polymers - used in the production of nappies.

The polymers soak up a baby’s wee through hydrogen bonding with water molecules. It’s what "pulls the wetness away".

A nappy that uses the polymers can absorb 50 times their weight of liquid.

For parents of babies still in nappies – stock up now. Prices are sure to go up.

Pressure will now increase on the company's other production facilities to meet the shortfall.
It is estimated that in Britain alone, more than three billion nappies are thrown away every year.

Daily Telegraph