An early childhood educator, Reshmi Gosai, recently came across our Willow the Wonderer picture book series.
Excited by the possibilities that the book presented in engaging the little ones in her childcare centre (one of whom is aptly named Willow) in learning, she immediately snapped up one of our premium giftsets featuring the two picture books and a gorgeous plush toy of little Willow. They were the perfect early years learning books!
Reshmi shared her report on how she was using the book in her early learning centre with us - and to say that we were amazed would be an understatement!
Making the perfect early years learning books
Engaging the little ones in early childhood learning was always one of our objectives with the Willow the Wonderer picture book series (whilst planting seeds of wisdom ofcourse :-).
Our aim was to make the learning feel as effortless as possible and so we took the time to embed specific early learning outcomes, like counting and colours, within the folds of the narrative and illustrations.
We didn't want our young readers to feel like that they were being 'taught' per se - rather they were being told a story, with the learning occurring naturally as part of play.
So seeing the Willow the Wonderer picture books being embraced by an early childhood educator was in itself gratifying.
But what really amazed us was seeing the creative ways in which Reshmi extended the learning through developing new learning outcomes (e.g. learning a new word - camouflage) and creating engaging new activity (e.g. creating collage based on illustrations in the book).
With Reshmi and her community's permission, we are sharing her fantastic report on Willow the Wonderer, in case it inspires others to use the books in new and interesting ways to support early childhood learning of their little ones.
Who knows, maybe there is a Willow the Wonderer activity book that we'll be publishing down the track!
Reshmi's childcare centre is based in Brisbane, Queensland and is part of the Stepping Stones Education and Care network. She is contactable via facebook messenger if you'd like to find out more.