Prep
Learning through play, story and discovery
How we teach in the Early Years band — and why
The developing mind (Piaget)
Late preoperational moving toward concrete operational thought. Learning is anchored in play, story, movement and concrete materials; symbols (letters, numerals) are always tied to things children can see, touch and act out.
Learning together (Vygotsky)
Learning is social and language-rich. A parent/carer works alongside the child as the 'more knowledgeable other'; lessons script that shared talk. Scaffolds are heavy and visible: modelled sentences, counting materials, picture prompts.
Our design commitments
- Short bursts (10–20 minutes) with movement between them
- Play-based and story-based entry points into every concept
- Systematic synthetic phonics and concrete-materials numeracy
- Parent/carer is a co-player and co-reader, with side-notes telling them exactly what to say and notice
Units open now
The Sound Collectors: First Steps into Reading
This unit opens the door to reading the way the research says it opens best: sounds first. Children learn to hear the sounds inside spoken words, then meet their first six letter-sounds — s, a, t, p, i, n — and use them to blend real words like 'sat', 'pin' and 'tap'. Alongside the phonics, children learn the secret rules of how books work (which way up, where to start, which way the words go) and grow as oral storytellers, retelling and inventing stories with toys, voices and play. Every lesson is designed to be read aloud by a helper and played on the floor, in the backyard or at the kitchen table — 20 to 25 minutes, lots of movement, real objects in small hands. And every lesson after the first opens by remembering the one before, out loud, before anything new is shown — because a sound a child can pull back out of their own head is one they actually own.
🧭 Why it matters: Helper, read this bit to your child: Everywhere you look there are secret messages — on cereal boxes, street signs, birthday cards, the remote control. Grown-ups can read them because they cracked a code, and the code starts with just a handful of sounds. In this unit you'll collect your first six, and by the end you'll have a go at reading your very first words all by yourself. That feeling — sounding out a word and realising you READ it — is one worth waiting for. And a note for you, the helper: these first weeks build the foundation every later reading skill stands on. Twenty playful minutes at a time is exactly enough.
Big ideas
- Spoken words are made of small sounds, and letters are pictures of those sounds
- When you know a letter's sound, you can squash sounds together to read real words — no guessing needed
- Books have rules readers follow: front to back, left to right, top to bottom — and the words carry the story
- Everyone is a storyteller: stories have a beginning, a middle and an end, and yours are worth telling
Curriculum alignment (AC v9)
AC9EFLA04 · AC9EFLE02 · AC9EFLE05 · AC9EFLY09 · AC9EFLY10 · AC9EFLY11 · AC9EFLY12
Start this unit →Sound Teams: The Last Letters, and Two Letters That Say One Sound
This unit picks up exactly where 'The Sound Collectors' put the code down. First it finishes the single letters — j, v, w, x, y, z and the double zz — so there are no gaps left in the alphabet. Then it opens the door that stage 2 of the reading code exists for: two letters standing side by side and making ONE sound. sh, ch, th, ng and nk are taught as sound teams, qu as a pair that always travels together, and the words they unlock — ship, chat, thin, ring, pink — are put straight into a child's hands to read. Running underneath all of it is the ear: rhyming families, alliteration hunts, and words pulled apart and squashed back together out loud, because a sound a child cannot hear is a sound they cannot be taught to spell. The unit finishes with the moment the whole thing has been building toward — a short decodable story, read together, most of it by the child. Every lesson is written to be read aloud by a helper, runs 20 to 25 minutes, and is meant to be played on the floor. And every lesson after the first opens by remembering the one before, out loud, before anything new arrives.
🧭 Why it matters: Helper, read this bit to your child: You already know how to squash sounds into words — that is the hard part, and you did it. But there are words you keep bumping into that will not work yet. Ship. Chips. Ring. Think. Every one of them has a secret: two letters standing next to each other, holding hands, making ONE sound between them. Once you know the teams, those words open up like a door. By the end of this unit you are going to read a whole story — a real one, with a beginning and an end — mostly by yourself. And a note for you, the helper: this is the stage where reading starts to feel like reading rather than like practice. Some sounds will take a fortnight to stick and some will land the first day. Both of those are normal, neither is a verdict, and twenty playful minutes at a time is still exactly enough.
Big ideas
- Sometimes two letters stand together and make just ONE sound — they are a team, not two separate jobs
- Knowing every letter's sound means there are no gaps left: any word made of the sounds you know can be worked out
- Words that rhyme end the same way; words that alliterate start the same way — they are two different games
- A book you can read yourself is made of sounds you already know, put in an order somebody chose
Curriculum alignment (AC v9)
AC9EFLY09 · AC9EFLY10 · AC9EFLY11 · AC9EFLY12 · AC9EFLY13 · AC9EFLY04 · AC9EFLE04
Start this unit →Counting Treasures: Numbers to 20 Through Play
A note for the grown-up: this whole unit is designed to be read aloud by you, with your child answering by pointing, saying, building and moving. Together you'll play with small collections — spotting 'how many' at a glance, counting to 20 by touching one object for each number word, working out which pile has more, and making repeating patterns with anything in the toy box. Every activity uses real things your child can hold, because four-to-six-year-olds learn number with their hands first. Keep sessions to 20–25 minutes, follow the giggles, and stop while it's still fun.
🧭 Why it matters: For the grown-up to read aloud: Numbers are hiding all around our house! They tell us how many strawberries are on your plate, whether your sister got more sultanas than you (very important!), how many sleeps until your birthday, and whose tower of blocks is tallest. When you can count and compare, you can set the table for everyone, share the biscuits fairly, and spot the patterns on your socks. This unit turns you into our family's official Counting Champion.
Big ideas
- Small amounts can be seen all at once, without counting one by one
- When we count, we say one number word for each object, and the last word tells us how many there are altogether
- Collections can be compared: more, less (fewer), or the same — and counting proves it
- Patterns repeat: once you know the repeating part, you know what comes next
Curriculum alignment (AC v9)
AC9MFN01 · AC9MFN02 · AC9MFN03 · AC9MFN04 · AC9MFA01
Start this unit →More, Less, Same: Matching, Sorting and Patterns
A note for the grown-up: this unit is designed to be read aloud by you, with your child answering by pointing, matching, moving and building. It follows on from Counting Treasures, and it teaches one big habit — when you want to know which is more, or longer, or heavier, you don't guess from across the room. You line things up, match them one for one, and find out. From there your child goes looking for the numbers hiding inside numbers (five is two and three, and also one and four), learns to say the repeating part of a pattern out loud instead of just carrying it on, and turns the toy box into groups that can actually be compared. Everything uses things already in your house. Keep sessions to 20–25 minutes, follow the giggles, and stop while it's still fun.
🧭 Why it matters: For the grown-up to read aloud: 'That's not fair — she got more!' is one of the most important sentences in our house, and this unit is how you find out whether it's true. You'll learn to prove it by matching, not by shouting. You'll find out how to know which stick is really longer (even when one is sneakily pushed forward), which bag is really heavier, and how many biscuits are hiding under the cup. You'll be the one who spots the pattern on the tiles at the shops, and the one who can sort the whole toy box so everything has a place. Fair shares, tidy rooms, and winning arguments with evidence — that's this unit.
Big ideas
- To compare fairly you match things up or line them up — looking from a distance can fool anybody
- How many stays the same when things are moved, spread out or squashed together; how long stays the same when something is slid along
- Numbers are made of smaller numbers, and the same number can be built more than one way
- A repeating pattern has a part that repeats — once you can say that part out loud, you can continue it, check it and rebuild it out of anything
- Things can be sorted by a rule, and once they are sorted the groups can be compared
Curriculum alignment (AC v9)
AC9MFN03 · AC9MFM01 · AC9MFN04 · AC9MFN05 · AC9MFA01 · AC9MFST01 · AC9MFSP02
Start this unit →Little Scientists: Senses, Seasons and the Living World
This unit is read aloud by you, the helper, while your little scientist does the real work: noticing. Together you'll discover that eyes, ears, nose, skin and tongue are science tools; that living things grow and need food and water (yes, even plants — especially plants!); and that the world changes around us every day and across the seasons. There is nothing to buy and nothing to prepare: every investigation happens in the backyard, the kitchen or the park with things you already have. Expect about 20–25 minutes per lesson, plenty of wondering out loud, and a child who starts pointing things out to YOU by the end of week one.
🧭 Why it matters: For the helper to read aloud: You know how you already notice EVERYTHING — the gecko on the ceiling, the smell before a storm, the mango tree getting new leaves? That noticing is real science. Scientists are grown-ups who never stopped noticing. In this unit you'll learn to notice like a scientist on purpose — and you'll start seeing secrets in your own backyard that most grown-ups walk straight past.
Big ideas
- My senses — seeing, hearing, smelling, touching and tasting — are my science tools
- Living things grow, change, and need food and water; things that move are not always alive
- Plants are living things too, even though they stay in one spot
- The world changes around me — through each day, and slowly through the seasons
Curriculum alignment (AC v9)
AC9SFU01 · AC9S1U02 · AC9SFH01 · AC9SFI01 · AC9SFI02 · AC9SFI05
Start this unit →My Family, My Places, My Special Stories
In their very first HASS unit, your child explores the world they know best: their own family and home. Together you'll talk about who is in the family and how everyone fits together, travel back in time with old photos and treasured objects, listen to stories from grandparents and special grown-ups, visit favourite places and learn how to look after them, and gently meet a big, beautiful truth — that the land you live on has First Nations custodians who have cared for it for a very, very long time and still do. It all comes together in a Family Story Show your child hosts. Every lesson is read aloud by you; your child does the talking, pointing, drawing and sorting, because four-to-six-year-olds learn history and geography with their hands, feet and voices.
🧭 Why it matters: Your child's world is small and enormous at the same time: a family, a home, a park, a grandparent's kitchen. This unit gives them words for that world — who their people are, why Nana's old photos matter, why their special tree deserves care, and whose Country their home stands on. Children who know their own story stand a little taller. And you'll finish with family stories saved out loud that you'll be glad you captured, whatever age your child turns next.
Big ideas
- Every family is different, and every family is full of people who belong together
- We can find out about the past from photos, special objects and the stories older people tell us
- Some places are special to us, and special places need looking after
- The land we live on has First Nations custodians who have cared for it for a very long time — and still care for it today
Curriculum alignment (AC v9)
AC9HSFK01 · AC9HSFK02 · AC9HSFS05 · AC9HSFK03 · AC9HSFK04 · AC9HSFS01 · AC9HSFS02 · AC9HSFS03
Start this unit →Move, Play, Shine: Big Moves and Looking After Amazing Me
This unit is mostly played, not watched. You, the helper, read short bursts aloud, and then everyone gets up and moves — in the backyard, at the park, or in a lounge room with the coffee table pushed back. Together you'll build the big five movement skills (running, jumping, balancing, throwing and catching) through games with names like Animal Sports Day and Basket Bullseye; you'll practise the three look-after-me superpowers (sun-smarts, soapy hands and water sips — this is Queensland, so hats are non-negotiable); and you'll learn to name big feelings and move them out safely. Equipment list for the whole unit: rolled-up socks, a washing basket, a towel, chalk if you have it, and one hat. Expect about 20–25 minutes per lesson, a helper who joins in (sorry, that part is compulsory), and a child who sleeps very well afterwards. — A NOTE FOR THE HELPER, ABOUT LESSON 4. Alongside big feelings and kind-game rules, Lesson 4 carries the protective-behaviours content the Australian Curriculum asks for at Foundation level (AC9HPFP05). That includes naming body parts with their proper names — including the private parts: penis, testicles, vulva, vagina, bottom — plus the rule that private parts are private, the body's early-warning 'uh-oh' feeling, the rule that a secret about bodies is never an okay secret, and the promise that telling never gets a child into trouble. It is one short section, about three minutes of reading aloud, written to be calm and matter-of-fact rather than frightening. Using the proper words is the whole point: a child who can name their body parts accurately can tell an adult exactly what has happened, which is why every Australian child-safety programme teaches it. Preview it, swap in the words your family uses, teach it yourself away from the screen, save it for a week that suits, or skip the section and record your own coverage — you are the educator here, and the goalposts are yours to move. The reason this one earns a place somewhere in your plan, in your words or ours: it is one of the few things in Prep HPE that is genuinely protective, and it works at any kitchen table, in any family's words, as long as it happens. If anything in it raises a concern, your GP, 13 HEALTH on 13 43 25 84, and Parentline on 1300 30 1300 (free counselling for parents and carers in Queensland and the Northern Territory) are all good first calls, and 000 if a child is in immediate danger.
🧭 Why it matters: For the helper to read aloud: You already run and jump and climb every single day — your body LOVES moving. In this unit you'll learn the secret tricks that big kids and sport stars use: how to land like a quiet kangaroo, balance like a flamingo, and catch like you have magnets in your hands. And you'll learn the looking-after-me tricks too — because a body that plays this hard needs a hat, clean hands, big drinks of water, and a helper who knows about its big feelings. Strong movers who look after themselves get to play more, longer, and happier. That's the whole deal!
Big ideas
- My body can learn big moves — running, jumping, balancing, throwing and catching get better every time I play
- Wobbles, drops and misses are not mistakes — they are my body practising
- I can look after myself: hat and shade for the sun, soap for my hands, water sips for my busy body
- All my feelings are okay to have — and I can name them, move them out safely, and tell a grown-up
- Games are best when they're safe and fair — taking turns, gentle play, and stop means stop
- I ask before I take, and I accept the answer — asking to borrow, asking for a turn, and asking before I come into someone's space
- Every part of my body has a proper name, my private parts are private, and a worry about my body is never a secret — I always tell my grown-up, and I'm never in trouble for telling
Curriculum alignment (AC v9)
AC9HPFM01 · AC9HPFM02 · AC9HPFM03 · AC9HPFM04 · AC9HPFP01 · AC9HPFP03 · AC9HPFP04 · AC9HPFP06 · AC9HPFP05
Start this unit →Making, Singing, Moving and Pretending
In their very first Arts unit, your child discovers that they are already an artist, a musician, a dancer and an actor — because at four, five and six, making art IS playing. Together you'll set up a kitchen art studio and squish, tear and stick without worrying how it 'should' look; turn pots, rice jars and your own two hands into a family band; melt into animals, freeze into statues and cook entirely pretend soup; and finish by putting on a Big Little Art Show for the people you love. Every lesson your child also does what real artists do: they look at art and listen to music — including Australia's own — and say what they notice. You read aloud and set up the materials; your child makes the art, because that's the whole point.
🧭 Why it matters: Watch a four-year-old paint and you'll see total, fearless concentration — no small person ever asked whether their art was good enough. This unit protects that fearlessness while quietly building real skills: steady beat (which feeds reading), close looking (which feeds everything), pretend play (which is how young children rehearse being human), and the courage to stand up in the lounge room and share what you made. The paintings will wash off the table. The 'I made this and I showed people' feeling lasts much longer.
Big ideas
- Art is for making, not just for looking at — and everyone can make it
- There is no 'right way' for art to look or sound: the making is the magic, not the matching
- My body is an instrument, a paintbrush and a costume all at once — I can sing, drum, dance and pretend with nothing but me
- Artists look and listen closely, then say what they notice — and people in Australia, including First Nations peoples, have been making art, music and dance for a very, very long time, and still are
Curriculum alignment (AC v9)
AC9AVAFE01 · AC9AVAFD01 · AC9AVAFC01 · AC9AVAFP01 · AC9AMUFE01 · AC9AMUFD01 · AC9AMUFC01 · AC9AMUFP01 · AC9ADRFE01 · AC9ADRFD01 · AC9ADRFC01 · AC9ADRFP01 · AC9ADAFE01 · AC9ADAFD01 · AC9ADAFC01 · AC9ADAFP01
Start this unit →Little Inventors: How Things Work and How to Make Them
A note for the grown-up: this whole unit is designed to be read aloud by you, and then the screen goes away — every activity happens with real objects in your child's hands. Together you'll investigate how everyday things work (what pushes, what turns, what opens — including gently taking apart a soap-pump bottle), play 'robot helper' games where your child gives you steps in order and discovers what happens when the steps are wrong, test which materials suit which jobs by building boats and bridges, and finish by designing and making a real invention that fixes a tiny problem in your own home. Nothing needs to be bought: junk-drawer treasure, boxes, tape and pegs are the whole toolkit. Keep sessions to 20–25 minutes, expect glorious flops (flops are data!), and stop while it's still fun.
🧭 Why it matters: For the grown-up to read aloud: Look around our house — every single thing was invented by a person! Someone worked out how the door handle turns, how the pump bottle squirts, how your shoes do up. That means YOU can be an inventor too. This unit teaches you the inventor's secrets: how to peek inside things to see how they work, how to give steps in the right order (that's how robots and computers think!), how to pick the right material for a job, and how to build something that fixes a real problem in OUR house. By the end, our family will have an invention that a real inventor — you — made.
Big ideas
- Everyday things are designed by people — every part has a job, and you can work out what the job is
- Steps have an order: when the steps are right and in the right order, the job works — and when it goes wrong, we fix the steps, not the person
- Different materials are good at different jobs — testing is how we find out which one suits
- Inventors make things better bit by bit: notice a problem, imagine, make, test, improve — a first try that flops is a clue, not a fail
Curriculum alignment (AC v9)
AC9TDEFK01 · AC9TDEFP01
Start this unit →Full year scope
English
Phonics foundations, oral storytelling, first reading and writing
Mathematics
Numbers to 20, patterns, shape and measurement through play
Science
Senses, seasons, and the living world around me
Humanities and Social Sciences
My family, my places, my special stories
Health and Physical Education
Moving, playing and looking after myself
The Arts
Making, singing, moving and pretending
Technologies
Playful problem solving and how things work