The following information was kindly provided by Rika Whelan, Director at MLC Early Learning Centre, Claremont WA.

We’re very grateful to this centre for sharing their story, which illustrates that Early Childhood Educators’ Day can be celebrated in all kinds of imaginative, original and creative ways!

At MLC Early Learning Centre, we celebrated Early Childhood Educators’ day in 2018 in a number of ways.

Firstly we invited the chilldren to dress up as their superheroes, and Educators also got into the spirit and dressed up as well. Everyone had loads of fun using the superhero theme!

We also placed a “Tree of Thanks” in the foyer and invited parents to ‘leaf some thanks’ during the week of the event. Families were encouraged to write their own personal thank you notes and then hang them on the tree.

This created a really special tribute to our Educators and they enjoyed reading through the notes of appreciation.

We also gave each of our Educators a special gift bag which included a personalised mug and some other personal treats!

But the celebrations didn’t stop there! During the evening of Early Childhood Educators’ Day, we held an awards night with the theme being “Night at the Oscars”!

The Educators dressed up and every single Educator received an Oscar for providing the best example of a particular attribute. Eg. ‘Most supportive Educator’.

Our team of Educators had a wonderful fun-filled day and truly felt thanked and appreciated by centre management as well as by our families and children!

Meanwhile in 2019, we have planned to take on similar activities, but this year the theme for the awards night will be ‘MTV music awards’!

The Educators have to nominate each other according to a song that makes them think of each other. Parents can also vote for as few/many educators as they prefer, but according to their favourite attributes of each educator.

We will again have superhero dress up day and of course spoil the educators on the day!