Hello and welcome to Blooming Curious, the podcast
that's all about nurturing that natural curiosity
in our earliest kids and students. I'm Edwina,
your host and a passionate advocate for play
and inquiry and on a mission to keep children
curious and asking questions. The days of talk
and chalk are over. We're diving into a world
of integrated inquiry and nature -based learning
and exploring strategies that create lifelong
learners. So if you're a classroom or homeschool
educator or even a curious parent, then this
is the place for you. So here at Blooming Curious,
our focus is on nurturing children's curiosity.
We will be exploring strategies that we as educators
and parents can use not only to keep our kids
interested in learning, but to keep that spark
of curiosity that all kids are born with alive
and thriving. There is so much research around
the benefits of curiosity for learning and its
impact on the social and emotional development
of young children. Have you noticed that school
-age children don't really ask questions anymore?
Or that screams appear to be the thing that most
kids now find most interesting. Or what about
when you ask them a question? There's that shoulder
shrug followed by, I don't know. It drives me
insane. These things really concern me as an
early childhood educator. What's happening to
our kids? Is it our teaching? Is it parenting?
Or does the blame lie with technology? Or is
it a bit of everything? In over a decade or so
that I've spent teaching early childhood, I have
definitely seen a decline in children's curiosity.
So I've been on a mission to find the strategies
that help children remain curious, asking questions,
and happy to learn. You see, young kids are naturally
curious. They constantly ask why. And they poke
and explore just about everything. If you put
children outside playing in a park or a playground
or your backyard, Inevitably, they'll come across
a snail or a ladybird or a worm or a dandelion
or anything, really. Learning is just part of
our natural existence. To kids, everything is
new and fascinating, which is exactly as it should
be. So here on this podcast and on my website,
I'll be sharing the lessons that I've learned
over the years that have sparked children's curiosity
and a love for learning. I'll be sharing the
strategies that I've used with my own students
that not only have resulted in them loving learning
and being confident to ask questions and develop
lifelong learning skills, but also achieving
outstanding assessment scores on those dreaded
whole school assessments that administrators
value to check the children in our care are actually
progressing. I'll share with you how I foster
curiosity in children. and help you do the same
in your everyday experiences, whether that's
inside a classroom or your home or outside in
nature. And if you're wondering why I keep banging
on about the importance of being curious for
our kids, then consider this. If our children
don't love learning and they're not excited about
learning, how do you expect them to sustain any
interest in learning to read and write? How do
we ensure that our children are ready for learning
and schooling if they can't even show an interest
in the world around them? And before we can even
contemplate teaching kids to read and write,
we need to cultivate in them that burning desire
to want to know more. And then to discover that
it's through books and reading that we find out
more about whatever it is that we're wondering
about. And to give you just a taste of how easy
it actually is to help kids develop curiosity
and a love of learning while engaged in just
normal, everyday experiences, I've created a
free e -guide that shows you how small, simple
actions and words on your part can ignite that
love of learning in children. I'll leave a link
to the free e -guide in the show notes, so just
click on the link and download it for free. And
that's it for today. Thanks for listening and
I hope you enjoyed this first episode and if
you did make sure to hit that subscribe and follow
button and if anything I've said here today resonates
with you then click that share button and send
it to a friend. Thanks so much and be sure to
visit bloomingcurious .com where you'll find
insightful articles and resources to help you
in your teaching and listen out for another episode
next week and remember Curiosity isn't a trait,
it's a superpower. So until next time, stay blooming
curious.