Early Childhood Educators
Intentional Teaching of Self-Regulation, Agency and Emotional Awareness
Why Early Childhood Educators Choose Sparky and Shady
Easy to Implement
Delivered twice weekly in small rotating groups, on different days (e.g. Tues and Thurs) to ensure every child has the opportunity to participate.
Grounded in Co-Regulation and Attachment
Clear behaviour support strategies for ‘Big Feelings and Tricky behaviours’ that support connection.
Sense of Agency
Children learn to recognise their emotions, understand their internal responses, breathe to calm, and are supported to make wise, kind choices.
Supporting What You Already Do
Early childhood educators have always led the way with practices that ensure children are safe, seen, and supported in calm, kind and connected ways.
- You prioritise relationships
- You are grounded in attachment theory
- You use co-regulation
- You are play-based and child-led
- You guide behaviour lovingly
- You support families with best practice in early years wellbeing
Sparky and Shady strengthens what you already do, it brings:
- Alignment with attachment and co-regulation
- One shared language across your team
- Strategies for educators that are evidence-informed
- Clear, predictable scripts for big feelings and tricky behaviours
- Intentional teaching of self-regulation
- Alignment with EYLF and NQS
- Support for families (included at no extra cost)
- Optional pre- and post-wellbeing data
- Structured implementation guidance
It does not add more work.
It simplifies behaviour support and strengthens educator confidence.
Intentional Teaching of Wellbeing
Sparky and Shady makes wellbeing explicit and intentional.
Through five 20-minute lessons, and weekly stories educators follow up content and strategies intentionally in real moments to:
- Explicitly teach emotional literacy
- Scaffold regulation strategies
- Model calm, kind responses
- Strengthen children’s sense of agency
- Support prosocial skill development
- Guide repair after conflict
Sparky and Shady focuses on building foundational skills that support wellbeing, behaviour and learning over time, aligning with contemporary research in social and emotional development.
Children’s Sense of Agency
Children develop a sense of agency when they can make choices that matter, influence what happens and feel they have an impact. They do this when they:
- Feel safe, secure and supported
- Have genuine choices and opportunities to make decisions
- Initiate ideas, persist with challenges and try again
- Learn to negotiate, share and repair after conflict
Sparky and Shady supports children to:
- Ask the wise part of themselves for help
- Recognise and understand different feelings within themselves
- Notice their body and name their feelings
- Choose responses that support their wellbeing
- Interact with others in kind and respectful ways
Mapped to Early Years Learning Framework and National Quality Framework
EYLF V2.0
Sparky and Shady supports all five EYLF outcomes:
Outcome 1 – Children have a strong sense of identity. Children develop:
- Confidence and self-worth
- Positive self-talk
- A sense of belonging
- Courage to participate and try new things
Outcome 2 – Children are connected with and contribute to their world. Children learn to:
- Recognise when peers are overwhelmed
- Offer support using shared language
- Show empathy and perspective-taking
- Repair after conflict
- Cooperate and seek help
Outcome 3 – Children have a strong sense of wellbeing. Children are supported to:
- Notice body signals
- Name and understand feelings
- Develop practical calming strategies
- Build resilience
- Persist through challenges
- Take increasing responsibility for their emotional responses
Outcome 4 – Children are confident and involved learners. Improved regulation supports:
- Persistence
- Problem-solving
- Flexible thinking
- Engagement
- Positive approaches to learning
Outcome 5 – Children are effective communicators. Children develop:
- Emotional language
- Conflict resolution skills
- Respectful communication
- Reflective thinking
NQF
QA1 – Educational Program and Practice
The program provides a structured, evidence-informed approach to social and emotional learning that:
• Supports intentional teaching of self-regulation, emotional literacy and prosocial skills
• Strengthens educator practice in responsive, reflective behaviour guidance
• Integrates naturally into play-based learning environments
• Provides documentation tools that can contribute to assessment and planning cycles
• Supports Outcome-based planning aligned with EYLF V2.0
QA5 – Relationships with Children
The program strengthens educator capacity to:
• Build secure, respectful and reciprocal relationships
• Use co-regulation and calm, connected responses
• Guide behaviour in ways that maintain dignity and belonging
• Support children to repair relationships after conflict
• Foster children’s sense of agency and voice
Sparky and Shady reinforces trauma-aware, attachment-informed practices already valued in early childhood settings.
QA6 – Collaborative Partnerships with Families and Communities
Sparky and Shady includes family access at no additional cost, supporting:
• Shared language between educators and families
• Consistent responses to big feelings and tricky behaviours
• Stronger partnerships around children’s wellbeing
• Opportunities for family engagement in social and emotional learning
The program helps services demonstrate active collaboration with families in supporting children’s emotional development.
Easy to Implement and Time-Efficient
Sparky and Shady is delivered in five lessons.
Each lesson can be delivered in two 20-30 minute sessions per week with groups of 6 to 8 children. Once children complete the program, the next group starts. Educators rotate with children.
For example:
First block – Week 1 – 5, Term 1
- Tuesday in group time – Marg takes the same six to eight 5 year olds for five weeks. If children are away they can catch up with a future group, or complete the lesson at home.
- Thursday – Jess takes a different group of six to eight 5 year olds for five weeks.
The follow up story can be enjoyed by all children in story time on a different day.
Second block – Week 6 – 10, Term 1
- Tuesday in group time – Katie takes a new group of six to eight 5 year olds for five weeks (or moves onto 4 year olds)
- Thursday – Aden takes a new group of six to eight 5 or 4 year olds for five weeks.
This schedule could be followed for three terms if necessary. This ensures all children (including those attending part-time) have access and all educators get a chance to run the five sessions and cover the content. The program is designed for educators to learn along side the children.
The structure mirrors how services deliver Child Protection lessons — scheduled, consistent and repeatable.
Between sessions, educators reinforce strategies during everyday routines with all children, with the older children modelling the learnt strategies to the younger children. This role-modelling may entice younger children to actively engage in their Sparky and Shady lessons when it is their turn.
Depending on the numbers of children in your learning centre (this example caters for 72 – 96 children) all 3-5 year olds will have completed the program in Terms 1 – 3 allowing time for Child Protection in Term 4.
Memberships from $880
Try Before You Buy?
Join the Sparky and Shady community and receive a sample from the first lesson for free!
1. Connect with Sparky
The Five Lessons
1. Connect with Sparky
Meet the loving, brave and kind part of you. Sparky helps you make wise choices.
2. Train Shady
Get to know the protective part of you. Learn how to train Shady when Shady overreacts or gets too loud.
3. Look After Your Body
When you feel bad your body might need something. Are you hungry? Thirsty? Tired?
4. Feel Your Feelings
It’s human to feel bad. You can learn to handle your BIG feelings in kind ways with help.
5. Love Yourself
You are the only you in the whole wide world! Learn how to speak kindly to yourself and be your own best friend.
What's Included
12 months access to the five lessons which include nine videos (average 5 mins each).
Printable colour coded summaries of each lesson.
Morning, daytime and bedtime audio meditations.
Picture cued posters for self-regulation and confidence.
Educator lesson notes with strategies to support children when things get tricky.
Educators Also Receive
* Coupon codes for 40, 60 or 80 families to access the Families program for free (valued at $440 per family). Educator status and centre or school will be verified before coupon codes are forwarded.
* The families program has parallel lessons with content for parents and carers. Educators receive access to this automatically when they purchase an Educators membership so you know what Families receive.
* A choice between taking a “Hands on” and a “Deep dive” approach.
* Educator notes explaining the strategies provided.
* EYLF alignment chart in downloadable PDF table with outcomes mapped to each lesson.
* Suggested follow-up activities in addition to the drawing task mentioned in the videos. These include five stories (e.g. The Boy Who Cried Wolf with commentary from the boy’s Sparky and Shady) and five interactive games (e.g. Doggy, Doggy, Who Stole the Bone? with educator script prompts for real-life Shady moments.)
* A psychological theory table outlining how Sparky and Shady align with over 50 thought provoking theories or ideas from psychology, education and other scientific sources.
* An inclusive social and emotional wellbeing program that
– celebrates cultural diversity,
– embeds respectful, trauma-informed and strengths based practices,
– supports inclusion of neurodivergent children and those with diverse communication and /or emotional needs.
* The option to complete pre- and post-surveys online (results are emailed to you through a third party) to evaluate the effectiveness of the program in your setting.
Educator Options
Small Membership
* One login
* Access to all content for 12 months
* Option to collect pre- and post-program data
* Coupon codes for up to 40 families (equivalent to $20 per family).
$880 (incl. GST)
Medium Membership
* Two logins
* Access to all content for 12 months
* Option to collect pre- and post-program data
* Coupon codes for up to 60 families (equivalent to $18 per family).
$1,188 (incl. GST)
Large Membership
* Three logins
* Access to all content for 12 months
* Option to collect pre- and post-program data
* Coupon codes for up to 80 families (equivalent to $16 per family).
$1,408 (incl. GST)
14-Day Guarantee
If Sparky and Shady isn’t right for your early learning setting, contact us within 14 days and we’ll happily refund your purchase.
A Complete, Evidence-Informed Foundation
Sparky and Shady fits within best practice. If your service is already implementing:
- Attachment-informed practice
- Co-regulation
- Trauma-informed approaches
- Mindfulness
- Choice and responsibility frameworks
You do not need to stop doing them.
Sparky and Shady provides the shared language and structured teaching model that brings them together under one consistent framework.
Reduces Stress
Sparky and Shady helps services:
- Provide consistent scripts for big feelings and tricky behaviours
- Reduce educator uncertainty in heated moments
- Minimise reactive responses
- Strengthen confidence in handling dysregulation
- Provide parents with knowledge and strategies to relieve their concerns about their children’s wellbeing and behaviour
- Save meeting time spent revisiting behaviour incidents
- Strengthen QIP documentation
- Embed intentional teaching of wellbeing
It supports Directors and Educational Leaders to know:
“Our educators know what to say and do — and it aligns with best practice.”
Testimonial
“As a Preschool Teacher, I’m extremely interested in enhancing every child’s development at such a young and significant stage. This program provides the foundation to empower children to recognise their emotions and learn strategies to manage their behaviour. Its holistic, positive approach is very exciting… I only wish I’d had this sort of guidance when I was a child!”
Giselle Pitt
Preschool Educational Leader