Now Play
Now Play
NOWPlay
The Oral Language and Writing through Play: An Australian Project was a Monash University research project conducted by Associate Professor Janet Scull and Associate Professor Anne Keary.
The International project partner was NOW Play – Northern Oral Language and Writing through Play: A Partnership Supporting Indigenous Children’s Language, Cultural Knowledge, and Writing. This International project is led by Professor Shelley Stagg-Peterson (University of Toronto, Canada). Further information can be found at: https://now-play.org/
The aim of the Australian project was to develop partnerships with teachers, early childhood educators and Indigenous communities to support young children’s Indigenous language and cultural learning and their overall language and literacy.
NOWPlay Palm Island North Queensland project
NOWPlay Palm Island North Queensland project
NOW Play Palm Island
The NOWPlay action research project on Palm Island – North Queensland was undertaken with educators from the Palm Island Community Company (PICC) Child and Family Centre. The project involved the planning, implementation, and review of two on-Country play events designed to explore how young First Nations children’s cultural knowledge and language learning can be enhanced through play-based experiences. Central to the study was the intersection of place, culture, language, and educator expertise, and the ways these elements can foster playful, relational, and culturally grounded pedagogies.
Professional videography documenting this work has been completed, featuring interviews with educators and the production of two videos.
Children’s play and learning during on-Country experiences
NOWPlay Wodonga
The Oral Language and Writing through Play: An Australian Regional Project
The Australian NOWPlay regional project was conducted in Wodonga, Victoria. This project supported young children’s intercultural learning through collaboratively developed playful learning activities including: examining cultural artifacts such as emu calling sticks and emu eggs; reading Indigenous picture story books; participating in arts-based activities, planting a bush tucker garden and engaging in a cooking activity.
In Phase 1 of the project, Jessica, an early childhood educator, and Tim, a regional Koorie Engagement Support Officer, worked together to grow children’s knowledge of Indigenous languages and cultural practices. The children learned about these practices through reading picture storybooks and play based learning activities.
In Phase 2 of the project, Megan, an early childhood educator, and Tim, the regional Koorie Engagement Support Officer, collaborated to expand children’s understanding and engagement of Indigenous languages and cultural practices through the planting of a bush tucker garden and hands-on cooking activities.
Picture Storybook – Awesome Emu
Gregg Dreise (author & illustrator), Magabala Books
The text Awesome Emu was read to the children to build a shared understanding of the animals in the story, and the animals’ names were introduced in Gamilaraay language. The children engaged in language learning and cultural awareness activities with attention to sustainability. They represented their understanding of the story through their drawings.
Picture Storybook – My Lost Mob
Venetia Tyson, Magabala Books
When engaging with the text My Mob, the Koorie Engagement Support Officer explained what ‘mob’ means in his culture. Following on from concepts introduced in the book, the early childhood educator talked with the children about numbers, patterns and directions. The children drew animal tracks in sand trays and painted with ochre.
Picture Storybook – Our Mob
Jacinta Daniher & Taylor Hampton (authors) Seantelle Walsh (illustrator), Ford Street Publishing
The picture book Our Mob proudly celebrates aboriginal culture through the sharing of stories from across Australia. Children shared their recollections of different cultural practises depicted in the book after having it read to them many times. They located the lands of children in the book using the Indigenous Map of Australia. The Koorie Engagement Support Officer introduced the children to bark painting and then they experimented with using both ochre and paint.
Bush Tucker Garden
As part of the NOW Play project these videos show how Megan an early childhood educator and Tim the regional Koorie Engagement Support Officer collaborated to grow children’s knowledge of Indigenous languages and cultural practices.
Video 1
Megan and Tim support children in planting and caring for a bush tucker garden. Following the planting, the children reflect on their experience and express their new knowledge through art and play-based activities. Establishing this outdoor space fosters a deeper respect for nature and Aboriginal peoples. The bush tucker garden subsequently serves as a foundation for a cooking activity. These shared experiences create opportunities for meaningful interactions, introducing the children to new language, conceptual understandings and cultural knowledge.
Video 2
Megan and Tim share their expectations of the project which involved developing the children’s cultural awareness and connection to the land. The bush tucker garden provides an engaging environment that invites children to explore and experiment freely, encouraging curiosity, discovery, and connections with the natural world through hands on learning. Tim explains how embedding Aboriginal culture has involved reaching out to the Koorie community and encouraging dialogue among the early childhood educators about culturally safe practices.
NOWPlay Feedback
Have you used the NOWPlay resources? We’d love your feedback!
Your feedback helps us understand how the NOWPlay resources are being used and how we can continue to improve them to support EAL learners and educators.
Whether you’ve used one activity or explored the whole collection, we’d love to hear what you think!
Scan the QR code to share your experience and help shape the future of NOWPlay.
