That Early Childhood Nerd

If you love thinking deeply about childhood, early childhood education, caring for children, and supporting children’s right to play, this is the podcast for you! Each week, host and self-proclaimed early childhood nerd Heather Bernt-Santy invites practitioners, writers, and thinkers who share her commitment to doing the very best we can for children, their caregivers and teachers, and their families to discuss big ideas, real life practices, and cool research. Let’s get nerdy!

Listen on:

  • Apple Podcasts
  • Podbean App
  • Spotify

Episodes

Wednesday Mar 15, 2023

Miriam Beloglovsky is a professor of early childhood education, sought-after public speaker, CEO of Playful Transformation, and author. Play is her passion, as she works to ensure that all children have equitable access to play.
Want to support the show and help keep it ad free? You can make a one time donation or become a member to get access to more TECN content at "Buy Me a Coffee:"
buymeacoffee.com/heatherf
Another way to support the show is to leave a review/rating on iTunes or Spotify, and to share on your social media networks!

Wednesday Mar 08, 2023

Dale Farran, Professor Emerita at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College, joins the show to discuss her groundbreaking longitudinal study into the efficacy of PreK in Tennessee, and what the results tell us about what preschool should be.https://www.npr.org/2022/02/10/1079406041/researcher-says-rethink-prek-preschool-prekindergarten
Want to support the show and help keep it ad free? You can make a one time donation or become a member to get access to more TECN content at "Buy Me a Coffee:"
buymeacoffee.com/heatherf
Another way to support the show is to leave a review/rating on iTunes or Spotify, and to share on your social media networks!

Wednesday Mar 01, 2023

Carol Garboden Murray! Lizz Nolasco! Tiffany Pearsall! These women bring their brilliant minds and passionate souls to the show for a conversation about "developmentally appropriate practices," doing no harm, reflecting intentionally and boldly advocating for children's right to childhood, healthy diets for play and learning, and hyper-caffeinated podcast descriptions...
Want to support the show and help keep it ad free? You can make a one time donation or become a member to get access to more TECN content at "Buy Me a Coffee:"
buymeacoffee.com/heatherf
Another way to support the show is to leave a review/rating on iTunes or Spotify, and to share on your social media networks!

NERD_0269 Thoughts on Weapon Play

Wednesday Feb 22, 2023

Wednesday Feb 22, 2023

Samuel Broaden of Honoring Childhood is here to talk about weapon play, community, and being willing to be uncomfortable in our work with young children.
Want to support the show and help keep it ad free? You can make a one time donation or become a member to get access to more TECN content at "Buy Me a Coffee:"
buymeacoffee.com/heatherf
Another way to support the show is to leave a review/rating on iTunes or Spotify, and to share on your social media networks!

Wednesday Feb 15, 2023

Vivien Geneser (editor) and Josh Thompson (contributor) join Heather to discuss the brilliant collection of essays covering 16 theorists from "diverse spaces to see what they each have to say about play" in the book Scholarly Snapshots: The Importance of Child Play as a Human Right."
Want to support the show and help keep it ad free? You can make a one time donation or become a member to get access to more TECN content at "Buy Me a Coffee:"
buymeacoffee.com/heatherf
Another way to support the show is to leave a review/rating on iTunes or Spotify, and to share on your social media networks!

Wednesday Feb 08, 2023

Author and playspace designer Rusty Keeler drops in to discuss this quote from his book "Adventures in Risky Play: What is Your Yes?"“And yet, I also understand that in a modern world full of pressures and constraints on children’s time in and out of school, something as obvious as play needs some scientific support and lobbying from adults who care enough to recognize that somehow without us looking, good old-fashioned free play has been limited, sidelined, sublimated, and even decimated for way too. many children in our busy, high-achieving, over-stimulated, over-scheduled, over-protected, overly biased, overly adult-oriented view of what children should be doing, accomplishing, competing and completing.”
Want to support the show and help keep it ad free? You can make a one time donation or become a member to get access to more TECN content at "Buy Me a Coffee:"
buymeacoffee.com/heatherf
Another way to support the show is to leave a review/rating on iTunes or Spotify, and to share on your social media networks!

Wednesday Feb 01, 2023

Richard Cohen and Mike Huber lead the discussion regarding curiosity and humility around the idea of cultural diversity.
Want to support the show and help keep it ad free? You can make a one time donation or become a member to get access to more TECN content at "Buy Me a Coffee:"
buymeacoffee.com/heatherf
Another way to support the show is to leave a review/rating on iTunes or Spotify, and to share on your social media networks!

Wednesday Jan 25, 2023

In the book "Child Care Justice: Transforming the System of Care for Young Children," Michael Gramling writes about child care as a human right and offers a challenge to those of us in the field of early care and education: "If the early childhood workforce wishes to participate in meaningful change to bring about child care justice, we must be engaged in the broader movement for racial justice."
Want to support the show and help keep it ad free? You can make a one time donation or become a member to get access to more TECN content at "Buy Me a Coffee:"
buymeacoffee.com/heatherf
Another way to support the show is to leave a review/rating on iTunes or Spotify, and to share on your social media networks!

Wednesday Jan 18, 2023

Yay! Family child care provider and brilliant respecter-of-childhood Melinda Marshall joins the show this week to talk about the importance of adults understanding their own childhood trauma, stress and relationships to help support children's emotional development.
Want to support the show and help keep it ad free? You can make a one time donation or become a member to get access to more TECN content at "Buy Me a Coffee:"
buymeacoffee.com/heatherf
Another way to support the show is to leave a review/rating on iTunes or Spotify, and to share on your social media networks!

NERD_0263 The Child as Expert

Wednesday Jan 11, 2023

Wednesday Jan 11, 2023

In his new book, Inclusion Includes Us: Building Bridges and Removing Barriers in Early Childhood Classrooms, Mike Huber talks about "multiple experts" who can contribute to a sense of belonging, including the child as expert. Listen in as he and Heather talk it through.
Want to support the show and help keep it ad free? You can make a one time donation or become a member to get access to more TECN content at "Buy Me a Coffee:"
buymeacoffee.com/heatherf
Another way to support the show is to leave a review/rating on iTunes or Spotify, and to share on your social media networks!

Copyright 2025 All rights reserved.

Podcast Powered By Podbean

Version: 20241125