Welcome to the 'Early Education in the Age of AI' podcast. Join me (Jodie from The Empowered Educator Website) each week, as I break down early education topics and strategies into simple steps that empower educators, teachers and leaders to confidently embrace, adapt and master the use of ethical AI strategies to support early learning.
In every show you'll get new prompts, tips and realistic examples to try from a certified AI ChatGPT expert AND early childhood professional with over 30 years experience, that you can use to make your planning, documentation and day to day practice easier with AI as an educational assistant by your side. I can't wait to inspire you with the possibilities!
More Play, Less Stuff : Open-Ended Play With What You Already Have
Before you buy another play resource or turn the recycling box into an adult-led craft project, look at what children are already trying to do. In this episode, Jodie shows how ordinary boxes, cardboard and familiar containers can support more meaningful open-ended play, with an optional way to use AI when you need help seeing new possibilities.
You’ll hear how to:
✅ Choose materials for what children can do with them rather than deciding the finished activity first
✅ Keep setup and storage realistic for family day care, centres, preschool and OSHC
✅ Notice when children take the play somewhere completely different from your plan
✅ Use a simple AI prompt to widen your options without inventing learning outcomes
✅ Make space for different ways children can join the same play
Resources Mentioned:
📩 Get the FREE weekly Play Post Newsletter HERE (https://theempowerededucatoronline.com/ee-give-me-tips-secrets-tools/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=audio&utm_campaign=early_education_age_ai&utm_content=ep57)
💻 Open the Epsiode 57 Resource Page HERE (https://theempowerededucatoronline.com/2026/09/more-play-less-stuff-open-ended-play.html/)
💬 Let’s Connect!
If you found this episode helpful, please share it with a fellow educator...
💻 Not sure how AI can support you in your role? Discover what’s possible with the interactive guide... HERE on the FREE AI Resource Page (https://www.theempowerededucatoronline.com/ai-educators-resource-page/)
🎧 Subscribe & leave a review so we can reach more educators looking to save time with AI
📲 Follow me HERE on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodie-clarke-empowereded/) for more AI tips & timesavers and leadership strategies
📍Follow me on HERE on Pinterest (https://au.pinterest.com/MumMusingMayhem/) for play ideas and environment inspiration
🔔 New episodes drop every Friday! See you next time as we continue learning about creative ways to use AI in early childhood education - ethically, practically, and with confidence.
#aiforeducators #earlylearning #aiineducation #aiempowerededucators #edtech #aiforteachers #earlyeducationintheageofai #empowerededucator #ECEC #eylf #earlychildhoodeducation
27 Aug 2026
Episode 56 _ What 30 Years in ECEC Taught Me About Child Observations
🟢 A painted handprint can look ordinary. But when a child who usually avoids paint on their skin chooses to make one, wash their hands and then return to make another, the real story is not the handprint. It is the change that an educator who knows that child can recognise.
In this episode, Jodie shares five small moments from more than 30 years experience across long day care, community preschool, family day care, occasional care, in-home care and OSHC. Together, they show what experienced observation looks like and why AI can help with writing the words only after an educator has understood the significance of the moment.
You’ll Hear How To:
✅ Recognise a meaningful change behind an ordinary activity
✅ Read noise, pace, movement and group dynamics as part of the observation
✅ Decide when stepping back gives a child room to make their next move
✅ Use family conversations to understand new play without jumping to conclusions
✅ Keep observation rosters from becoming the reason an observation exists
✅ Place AI later in the workflow, after presence, context and the educator's decision
✅ Check AI-assisted wording with the 3-Question Quality Check
✅ Jodie also shares three private sentence starters to help you notice the ‘behind the scenes’ knowledge you already hold about a child.
🖐️ Open the Episode 56 Resource Page Here (https://theempowerededucatoronline.com/2026/08/meaningful-observations-early-childhood.html/)
For more practical conversations about where AI can help and where educator knowledge comes first, follow Early Education in the Age of AI and visit The Empowered Educator online.
💬 Let’s Connect!
If you found this episode helpful, please share it with a fellow educator...
💻 Not sure how AI can support you in your role? Discover what’s possible with the interactive guide... HERE on the FREE AI Resource Page (https://www.theempowerededucatoronline.com/ai-educators-resource-page/)
🎧 Subscribe & leave a review so we can reach more educators looking to save time with AI
📲 Follow me HERE on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodie-clarke-empowereded/) for more AI tips & timesavers and leadership strategies
📍Follow me on HERE on Pinterest (https://au.pinterest.com/MumMusingMayhem/) for play ideas and environment inspiration
🔔 New episodes drop every Friday! See you next time as we continue learning about creative ways to use AI in early childhood education - ethically, practically, and with confidence.
#aiforeducators #earlylearning #aiineducation #aiempowerededucators #edtech #aiforteachers #earlyeducationintheageofai #empowerededucator #ECEC #eylf #earlychildhoodeducation
21 Aug 2026
EP 55 | When an Activity Doesn’t Engage - How AI Can Help
🟢 You’ve prepared the natural materials, arranged the invitation to play and pictured the learning that might follow. Then the children walked straight past it.
Ever experienced that moment?
That table no one is engaging with is not a verdict on your planning. It’s useful information, especially when you pause long enough to notice what the children chose instead.
In this episode, I share a practical way to reflect on an activity, play invitation or part of the environment that didn't engage children as you expected. I’ll walk you through a fictional preschool example, my own story about handmade paint stampers from a TAFE prac day, and AI prompts you can copy that help you consider possibilities and reflect on practise without needing to invent explanations about children.
🟢 You’ll Find Out How To:
✨ Separate what you planned from what you actually observed
✨ Notice when a conclusion such as “they were bored” has slipped into the evidence
✨ Ask what the children chose instead before replacing an activity
✨ Give an AI tool enough context without including identifying information about a child
✨ Request possible interpretations, evidence to watch for and one small test
✨ Check whether an AI suggestion fits the children, room and practical conditions
✨ Avoid confident child explanations, extra adult direction and unnecessary shopping lists
✨ Apply the 3-Question Quality Check to any AI-assisted reflection
🟢 Resources Mentioned
🔗 AI Empowered Educators Membership Info Page : https://www.theempowerededucatoronline.com/ai-membership-gold-registration/
🔗 Episode 55 resource page and copyable reflection prompts: https://theempowerededucatoronline.com/2026/08/when-children-ignore-an-activity.html/
🔗 Episode 53, Stop Asking AI for 10 Activity Ideas - Do This Instead: https://theempowerededucatoronline.com/2026/08/better-ai-prompts-early-childhood-activity-ideas.html/ (https://theempowerededucatoronline.com/2026/08/better-ai-prompts-early-childhood-activity-ideas.html/)
🔗 Episode 54, Make Your Own Printables With AI: 4 Free Resource Ideas: https://theempowerededucatoronline.com/2026/08/make-printables-with-ai-educators.html/
💬 Let’s Connect!
If you found this episode helpful, please share it with a fellow educator...
💻 Not sure how AI can support you in your role? Discover what’s possible with the interactive guide... HERE on the FREE AI Resource Page (https://www.theempowerededucatoronline.com/ai-educators-resource-page/)
🎧 Subscribe & leave a review so we can reach more educators looking to save time with AI
📲 Follow me HERE on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodie-clarke-empowereded/) for more AI tips & timesavers and leadership strategies
📍Follow me on HERE on Pinterest (https://au.pinterest.com/MumMusingMayhem/) for play ideas and environment inspiration
🔔 New episodes drop every Friday! See you next time as we continue learning about creative ways to use AI in early childhood education - ethically, practically, and with confidence.
#aiforeducators #earlylearning #aiineducation #aiempowerededucators #edtech #aiforteachers #earlyeducationintheageofai #empowerededucator #ECEC #eylf #earlychildhoodeducation
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