Supporting Children’s Wellbeing in the Early Years

“Wellbeing” is a term we often use in early childhood education, but it can mean different things to different people. This can make it challenging to fully understand and support the health, safety, and wellbeing of children in our care.

To help create a shared understanding, ARACY has partnered with Emerging Minds to produce a short, engaging animation that brings the concept of wellbeing to life. The video introduces The Nest—Australia’s national wellbeing framework for children and young people. Developed by ARACY, The Nest is grounded in robust evidence, informed by research, expert advice, and, importantly, the voices of children and young people themselves.

For early years educators, this aligns closely with the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF), which highlights “Children have a strong sense of wellbeing” as one of its five Learning Outcomes. The Nest helps us expand on this outcome by offering a common language and understanding across six key domains of wellbeing:

• Being healthy

• Having material basics

• Learning

• Being safe

• Having a positive sense of identity and culture

• Participating and having a voice

By engaging with this resource, you’ll gain tools that can strengthen your practice, support partnerships with families and communities, and contribute to a collective effort to ensure every child can thrive.

We invite you to watch the animation and consider how The Nest can enrich your work with children and families. Together, we can build nurturing environments that give every child the best start in life.