Programs For Professionals

Professional training and coaching

Even after a long day in the classroom, an after hours* professional training and coaching session will have your team on their feet with paint sticks in hand, sharing experiences and ideas, hearing clinical and parent experiences and pondering deep questions about what sits behind modern parenting practises.

Our training and coaching sessions cover questions such as:

  • Why is drawing so important in the early years? How does drawing help lift children’s communication, language and social skills?
  • How much does your community know about shared book reading, drawing and play? What does the research say? What have we observed in other communities?
  • How do you get the “block corner kids” or children with delays involved in drawing?
  • How can we raise the profile of drawing and scribble in the community?
  • What does typical drawing development for children look like?
  • What tools and materials work best for young children?

Building on research that shows the power of having engaged parents on board for their child’s learning journey, our professionals training and coaching gives professionals strategies and ideas for engaging with this busy cohort.

We also outline the principles behind the Squiggle Kids children drawing approach, which internal surveys show engages around 92% of children usually reluctant to participate in making and drawing.

*We’ll happily attend during the day too!

Want something a bit like this but not quite?

Perhaps you’ve already done a professionals training and coaching session with us. Or maybe your team is looking for a session that answers questions such as:

  • How do you help children in a group get to know each other and build friendships?
  • What are the stages in the development of drawing and how does drawing link to writing?
  • What activities can strengthen fine and gross motor skills?
  • How can you work as a team to problem solve tricky situations?
  • How do groups function and how do you make them work in your setting?

We’d love to chat with you about your ideas and goals and collaborate to create something tailored specifically for your kindergarten, early learning centre or organisation!

Want more impact?

Do you want your group to experience a Squiggle Kids incursion or creative play activity session? Do you want a demonstration of our group drawing approach?

SEE PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN

 

Do you want us to get the ball rolling on parent engagement about drawing? Does your parent community have questions about grip, handedness and other fine and gross motor activities?

SEE PROGRAMS FOR PARENTS

 

Do your families need more prompts and ideas to get them started drawing at home? Are drawing tools and materials for children not easily available in your community? We have resources to help:

Squiggle Kids Literacy Kits: Specially curated packs of drawing tools, materials and resources for families to take home. Kits are priced at $30 and $38 each (our $38 kit is available from our shop here.) We can also design kits to suit a more limited budget. An additional charge applies for postage of the kits to the kindergarten, early learning centre or organisation or to individual homes.

Squiggle Kids Drawing Activity Books: Each book includes a fun and engaging narrative and simple drawing prompts to encourage adults and children to work together to draw and to build confidence drawing. For use in an organisational setting (including sharing with families affiliated with the organisation), an electronic file of each book is priced at $55 and available from the Resources for Professionals section of the shop here. Value Bundles also available. We can also arrange printed copies – price on application. Postage may also apply.

What do they say about us?

Reviews

Parent

It was a really great class for parents. The instructors are amazing and they have plenty of ideas and information about drawing. Keep motivating and teaching parents. Thank you.

Parent

Squiggle Kids has helped me to see drawing completely differently and shown me how easy and fun it is to build it into our daily lives.

Early Years Professional

I have been raving about how great I found your program. I have been able to quickly and effectively integrate the practice of group drawing into my program without too much extra work needed. My team and I have found it has opened up many more conversations with children and very much supported reluctant drawers to pick up a pencil or other tool and draw with us. This has had the added bonus of extending their tolerance for trying other new art techniques and now the class is using a wide variety of tools to express and make meaning as well as have fun.

Early Years Professional

Paint sticks and big pieces of paper are now part of our rhythm!

Early Years Professional

The workshop was very enjoyable and a fun learning experience. At the end I certainly noticed the team were motivated and energised to try out some new ideas to use drawing as a means to further support our children and their families in their learning.

Parent

From attending a Squiggle Kids incursion with my child, I learned just how important drawing is and why. It’s really motivated me to make sure drawing is always on offer at home!

Early Years Professional

Squiggle Kids was a great incursion for our kinder children. It really helped the children identify with their behaviours and how this impacts both themselves and also their peers. It was great to see the children so engaged throughout the whole incursion and their voices being heard through conversations and their drawings.

Parent

“As a kid, I always felt bad at drawing. So when my daughter wanted to draw with me I’d suggest she draw with the ‘good drawers’ in the family instead. After speaking to Lauren from Squiggle Kids about drawing, I know how important it is, how good it is to do it together with your child and now I really enjoy drawing with my daughter.”

Parent

My five year old and I did a Squiggle Kids program and we both loved it. The sessions were planned with remarkable thoughtulness, care and creativity. My son was so engaged and declared multiple times (per session) how much fun he was having. Lauren and Debbie created activities based around his interests and gave him the space to take the lead. His confidence grew during each session and he’d always continue drawing after the day’s session had finished.

We’d love to hear from you!

Love to hear from us too?
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.