Behind the Scenes at Learn From Play
Hello, everyone! I’m excited to pull back the curtain and share a bit about the magic behind Learn From Play and celebrate some of our stand out community members. While our platform might look like it's run by a large company, it's actually driven by a small but passionate team dedicated to creating engaging and educational resources for children.
The Team
Learn From Play is primarily operated by myself, Rachel McCann, my husband Paddy, and two incredibly talented designers. Together, we create all the activities, stories, images, posters, and games that you see on the site. This project is a true labour of love, born from my qualifications in teaching, special education, and librarianship, as well as my passion for getting children active while learning, and loving their learning journey.
A Balancing Act
By day, I work as a teacher librarian, which allows me to stay connected with the educational needs and interests of children. My experiences in the classroom directly inform the resources we develop at Learn From Play. This side hustle harnesses my professional expertise and my dedication to making learning fun and accessible for all children.
Personalised Requests and Member Highlights
One of the most rewarding aspects of running Learn From Play is the interaction with our wonderful members. In my last blog I recounted the trip Paddy and I took to visit librarians across Adelaide which was fantastic - especially when I saw one of my sheets had been completed and was on display at Mt Baker library.
Another exciting moment for me was recently when we had a special request from a member named Elysabeth. She contacted me to ask for activities based on Caz Goodwin and Pip Kruger's book "Grace and Mr. Milligan". As this book is shortlisted in two categories this year she wanted some activities for her early learner to allow her to utilise this book in her teaching program. I was more than happy to grab a copy of the book and created seven activities to give her a range of options to choose from. It was a joy to create tailored resources that meet the specific needs of our community and to know that the activities would be used immediately in the classroom and shared with eager learners.
Premium members have the unique opportunity to request personalised activities for specific books that will best assist them in the classroom. This allows us to cater to diverse learning needs and ensures that our content remains relevant and engaging. I am always excited to hear from teachers who are using the resources with their students and, while it is a bit embarrassing, appreciate anyone who spots a mistake in our work. I am only one person and can only do so much when it comes to checking the sheets, so I super appreciate the Learn From Play community having my back if they spot an issue - like Katie who spotted three mistakes in three weeks last year. I was so grateful for this information that I sent her a copy of my book Frugal Fred as a token of my appreciation.
Engaging with our Community
I would also like to encourage teachers to reach out and share ideas for how they are using the resources with their children and which books, sets, activities, or games they are using. Is anyone using the Maths ‘N’ Movement activities to get their students active during maths? Or the posters to inspire their students? Your feedback and experiences are invaluable to us, especially as I embark on rewriting the Maths ‘N’ Movement activities to match the new PDHPE and Maths syllabi outcomes - these will be available over the coming months.
As a small team, every bit of support goes a long way. If you find value in the resources and content we provide, please help us to spread the word and build our Learn From Play community. Thank you for being a part of our journey and please get in touch with me via email so we can support your teaching and learning adventures with innovative and fun resources.
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