Play-based Learning: 5 Ideas for the Little One you Love

If you have heard that the rules around mobile phones and electronic devices in early childhood settings have changed, you are right. If your child attends a childcare centre in NSW, these changes are already in effect.

Here is a plain-English breakdown of what changed, why it happened, and what it means for your family.

Why Did the Laws Change?

The changes were introduced as a child safety measure. In 2025, Australia’s Education Ministers agreed to amend the Education and Care Services National Law to address concerns about the potential for personal devices to be used to capture, store, or transmit images of children in care without authorisation.

The intent is straightforward: children in early learning settings deserve an environment where their privacy and safety are actively protected.

What Changed Nationally

From 27 February 2026, amendments to the national Education and Care Services National Law took effect across Australia. Under these changes, educators and staff who work directly with children are restricted from using personal electronic devices in care settings.

Before this, from 1 September 2025, all early childhood education and care services nationwide were required to have written policies in place addressing the use of digital devices.

What Changed in NSW

NSW moved ahead of the national timeline. The Education and Care Services (Supply, Authorisation and Use of Devices) Order 2025 took effect on 6 November 2025, applying across NSW’s 6,000 or more early learning services, including long day care centres, preschools, and family day care.

Under this order, educators and staff must use service-issued or service-authorised devices rather than their own personal devices when working directly with children.

What Counts as a Personal Device?

The definition is broad. A personal device is any device owned by an individual (not the approved provider) that is capable of capturing, storing, or transmitting an image. This includes:

Mobile phones
Smartwatches
Cameras and tablets
iPads and laptops
Hard drives, USB drives, and memory cards
Wearables such as camera glasses

Who Does the Ban Apply To?

The restrictions apply to anyone working directly with children at a service, including permanent and casual educators, students on placement, volunteers, contractors, and allied health professionals delivering programs on-site.

Parents, carers, and other visitors are not covered by the ban. In NSW, parents and carers remain free to use their personal devices during drop-off, pick-up, centre visits, and events involving their own children. There are also authorised exceptions for essential purposes, including emergencies and health or disability support needs.

What About Screen Time for Children?

These new laws specifically address staff device use, not children’s screen time. Screen time limits for young children are not mandated within childcare regulation at a national level.

The relevant guidance comes from the federal Department of Health and Aged Care’s 24-Hour Movement Guidelines, which recommend no screen time for children under 2 years, and no more than 1 hour per day for children aged 2 to 5 years. These are health guidelines, not regulatory requirements.

What This Means for Your Family

If your child attends a childcare centre in NSW, their service is already required to operate under these rules. Any educator or staff member working directly with your child should not be using a personal device to take photos or videos. Only service-authorised devices should be used for that purpose.

If you have questions about how your centre handles digital devices or image capture, you are well within your rights to ask. Most services will have a written policy in place that covers exactly this.

At Clovel, the safety and wellbeing of every child in our care is at the heart of everything we do. If you would like to know more about how we support your child across our centres, we would love to have that conversation with you.

If you are a regular reader of our little blog—(thank you!)—you know how often we tout the importance of play. Play is not something children do as a break from learning…

Play is learning.

Play is the way children learn to make sense of the world and their place in it. It is during play that children learn to think critically, to ask questions, to navigate social norms with their peers, and to develop motor skills. Play, whether guided or independent, should make up a large part of the day for any child.

So how can we, as parents and caregivers, make sure children get the most out of play sessions? Here are some ideas to up the productivity of your child’s play time.

Remove Electronic Distractions

Children are easily distracted from play when electronic devices, tablets, and video game controllers are nearby. Set your child up for successful play by removing such distractions and making sure the television is off.

You may want to set out a few toy or game options for your child to engage with, but let your child take the lead and, if they opt for a toy or game outside of your suggestions, that’s okay! They’re already using their play time to assert their independence and make decisions.

When You Join the Play, Ask Questions

There will be times when your child is content to play independently, and others when he or she asks you to join in. Take this opportunity to engage in some critical thinking practice and modeling.

When your child encounters a problem during play—perhaps a block tower that keeps falling over—ask them open-ended questions:

Why do you think the tower keeps falling over?

Give your child time to come up with an answer, and know it is ok if their answer is incorrect. You can listen, then guide them to the answer:

Hmmm, it looks like the base is too skinny. What could we do to fix this?

The key is to guide your child through critical thinking and problem solving so they can, one day, work through increasingly complex problems independently.

Playtime is also a wonderful opportunity to work on improving and increasing your child’s vocabulary. Depending on the age of your child, you may be able to model speaking in complete sentences. And children of any age benefit when new and different words are added to their vocabularies.

Take Play Outdoors

There’s no end to the play-based learning opportunities you’ll find when you go outdoors. During outdoor play, children can build their fine- and gross-motor skills. They also develop an understanding of spatial relationships and an appreciation for the natural environment.

Nature walks are positively magical in the eyes of a preschool child—there’s just so much to see and discover! During such walks, children learn about the flowers and wildlife in their corner of the world. They learn about seasons and why trees lose leaves or bees love flowers. The outdoors is classroom in and of itself when it comes to play-based learning.

Set Up Playdates with Friends

Play dates aren’t just a way for parents and caregivers to get a break…they are an important part of play-based learning and help your child develop that they will carry with them into adulthood.

Spending time playing with children of a similar age allows your child to improve communication skills, develop a sense of empathy toward others, and practice critical thinking with someone other than you. It also let’s them practice negotiating and handling emotions when things don’t go their way.

Play-based Learning Ideas

Since play-based learning occurs during both independent and social play, we thought we’d offer a few ideas for easy learning activities centered around play.

Independent Play Ideas

Threading beads onto pipe cleaners
Playing with playdough
Putting together puzzles or playing with tangrams
Sorting blocks or beads by size and/or color

Social Play (this may with you or with friends of the same age)

Board games and card games
Imaginative play
Hopscotch
Building a blanket fort
Drawing or painting

Play-based learning doesn’t have to be complicated or overly structured. It’s important to remember that the world is new and exciting to young learners—there’s just so much to see and do! As parents and caregivers, our job is to provide plenty of opportunity for play and to participate when invited to do so by the child.

For any more information, call Clovel Childcare and Early Learning Centre, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. For any information about our Educational Programs, give us a call at 02 9199 0294 or fill in this contact us form.

Thanks for reading,
Clovel Childcare
1300 863 986

Lyn Connolly

Founder and Company Director

Lyn Connolly is the Founder and Company Director of Clovel Childcare & Early Learning Centres, a family‑owned group of eight centres across Western Sydney established from her first service at Merrylands. Active in early childhood education since 1977, she also serves as President of the Australian Childcare Alliance (ACA) NSW, representing providers in state and federal consultations, media, and public hearings.