Blog Contributors

Nadia Joaboneta

Nadia Jaboneta lives in the San Francisco Bay area with her husband and 3 children. She is a Pedagogical Leader at Pacific Primary Preschool in San Francisco, California. She has 24 years experience in Early Childhood Education teaching young children, training teachers, consulting and facilitating workshops. To visit Nadia’s Children’s Lively Minds Facebook Group, please go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/2554793464813380

Rae Pica

Rae Pica has served as an early childhood consultant for more than four decades. She’s the author of 22 books, including and Spark a Revolution in Early Education: Speaking Up for Ourselves and the Children. To learn about Rae’s virtual presentations and online courses, visit www.raepica.com.

Dr. Stuart Brown, M.D.

Dr. Stuart Brown is a physician trained in internal medicine, psychiatry and clinical research. His years of clinical practice along with his study of the science of human and animal play convinced him of the critical need for play throughout the human life cycle. He established the National Institute for Play (NIFP) is to bring the scientific knowledge of play into public life. His scientific and popular writings have identified him as the foremost “practical champion of the knowledge of play.” He’s written the popular book, “Play: How it shapes the brain, opens the imagination, and invigorates the soul’ and produced a three part PBS series, “The Promise of Play.” Please go to www.nifplay.org/ to visit The National Institute for Play

Suzanne Down

Suzanne Down is longtime director of Juniper Tree School of Story and Puppetry Arts, the early childhood puppetry specialists. They offer online courses, trainings, tutorials, and mini courses to inspire and support your interest and skill building in puppet theater for young children. Their website has a wonderful blog with articles and stories for you, and our course offerings have something for everyone including free tutorials! To visit the Juniper Tree Puppets website, please go to https://junipertreepuppets.com/.

Nicole Marie

Nicole resides with her family on an off grid ranch in Nayarit, Mexico. She is active participant in her local alternative educational community, she is a founding member of the micro-school her children attend in the jungle, an active member of the Board of Directors of The Cedarsong Way and creative director and lead grown-up of Iyari Play, an unplugged play project for families in Nayarit, Mexico. Nicole is a big believer in messy and risky play, nature based learning and cultivating curiosity and connection for children with their natural world.

Carol Kranowitz

Carol Stock Kranowitz wrote The Out-of-Sync Child and The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun. With Joye Newman she wrote Growing an In-Sync Child; its sequel, In-Sync Activity Cards; and an activities calendar, A Year of Mini-Moves for the In-Sync Child.

For more information on Carol’s work, please visit the In-Sync Child website.

Miriam Beloglovsky

Miriam Beloglovsky is a professor of early childhood education, sought after public speaker, coach, and the co-author of the Loose Parts Inspiring Play award-winning books series, which have created an international phenomenon and have been translated into different languages.

Miriam is a play advocate and founder and CEO of Playful Transformation, a company dedicated to advocating for the right to play and finding joy in life. Miriam’s mission is to weave together play, collaboration, public policy, education, critical reflection, inquiry, creativity, and innovation to enhance play opportunities for young children and educators—all with the belief that play is central to human transformation, to building community, and to enhance education, which can lead to authentic equity and more civil society. She believes that in collaboration, we can create play spaces and play opportunities to impact people’s lives. You can visit Miriam’s website Playful Transformations here https://www.miriambeloglovsky.com/

The Curiosity Approach

The Curiosity Approach® is a modern-day approach to Early Childhood that fits perfectly in current changing technological times. It’s currently sweeping the UK and spreading globally. Currently being adopted in 25 countries with a social media following of 150K and working directly with 6000 Educators via our Academy.

Lyndsey Hellyn and Stephanie Bennett are the co-founders of The Curiosity Approach®, alongside being the Directors of Early Childhood Centres in Birmingham, U.K. They draw upon 50+ years of joint experience working in the sector and are passionate about sharing their knowledge with other professionals.

You can find out more about The Curiosity Approach by visiting their website https://www.thecuriosityapproach.com/

Susan Stacey

Susan has been engaged with young children and their educators in many ways over the last 35 years, as an Early Years Educator, Director of centres and lab schools, Practicum Supervisor, and Teacher Educator at the college level. She provides professional learning experiences for educators across Canada, the U.S., and the world. She has also been active in developing learning opportunities around the N.S. Early Learning Curriculum Framework.

She is nourished by the reflections and learning that are informed by inquiry-based practices, the work in Reggio Emilia, pedagogical documentation, and the creative thinking that comes from lively dialogue with other educators, including students.

Susan is the is the author of 4 books on Emergent Curriculum, Pedagogical Documentation, and Inquiry. She was raised and educated in England, received her graduate degree from Pacific Oaks College, CA. and now lives in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

Please visit https://www.redleafpress.org/Search.aspx?k=Susan+Stacey for more information on books that Susan has published.

Joye Newman

Integrating studies in behavioral optometry, occupational therapy, and psychology into her graduate work, Joye developed her unique method of perceptual-motor therapy. With Carol Kranowitz, she has transformed this therapy into the In-Sync Child method, and together they authored several multi-award winning publications. Joye is also the author of Move to Learn: Integrating Movement into the Early Childhood Curriculum.

For more information on Joye’s work, please go to https://in-sync-child.com/

Megan Zeni

Megan Zeni is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Education at UBC. Her research interests include professional learning communities that build capacity for teachers to reimagine where and how learning happens in our schools. Megan has over 25 years’ experience as a professional educator, and currently teaches in a public school outdoor and garden classroom.

Megan offers professional learning for elementary school teachers, and writes extensively about school gardens, pedagogies of place and play, and risky play on her blog. To learn more about her work, visit: www.meganzeni.com

Suzette Salmon

Suzette Salmon – Is the owner of Lil Bebe Academy, where children play, discover, and learn with nature, curiosity, creativity, joy, boundaries, laughter, compassion, books, stories, and deep LOVE

She is a lover of nature and believes in the healing power of learning in nature at a very young age – all seasons.

She is the author of – Overcoming Daycare Burnout: Steps to Living Your Best Daycare Life. She helps home educators find their passion, transform their landscape, and affirm their commitment to serve young children through love, compassion, connections, calmness, and simplicity. For more information, please visit www.LilBebeAcademy.Net

Kimberley Crisp

Kimberley Crisp is a co-founder of The Heart School, a resource platform for early years teachers. She is a hands-on facilitator and a charismatic speaker. Kimberley has trained at the Pikler Institute in Budapest. She founded The Nest, a Pikler inspired kindergarten in New Zealand. It’s from this and 20+ years grassroots experience that Kimberley
draws her inspiration and ideas. For more information, please visit https://www.heartschool.nz/