The Importance of Scientific Principles in the Life a Preschool Child and 4 Activities to Nurture Scientific Minds

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.

When we think of activities to engage our children, our minds often default to playing with toys, imaginative play, or reading. It is less common to consider science activities as a natural part of learning, particularly in younger, preschool aged children.

Yet, research indicates learning to think scientifically at a young age can actually change young minds for the better. Science is based on learning to think critically—to ask questions, form hypotheses, test those hypotheses, and apply reasoning in discerning the results. Recent research indicates that learning critical thinking and problem solving skills are critical to future academic success, and that these skills must be explicitly taught. Other studies indicate that children who learn how to observe then explain their observations retain information better than students who only observe.

While young minds may not be ready for formal scientific instructions, they are certainly ready to learn how to draw conclusions and provide reasoning for those conclusions. They can also learn to think critically, applying their known knowledge to the conclusions of others.

Ideally, science-based preschool activities should:

Encourage a child’s innate sense of wonder and curiosity about the natural world
Help children develop their understanding of the world around them
Encourage children to be problem solvers
Introduce children to scientific reasoning (use senses to make observations, create hypotheses, look for evidence, and test predictions)

Science activities for preschool learners should be fun! They should nurture the natural, questioning spirit of children. We’ve gathered a collection of activities that will peak curiosity and have learners of all ages engaged in scientific fun.

Static Electricity Comb

This fun, hands-on experiment is perfect for teaching young learners about the concept of static electricity and cause and effect. Older children can learn about static charges, electron transfer, and positive/negative charges.

All you need for this experiment is a clear table or work surface, a plastic comb, and pieces of lightweight paper. To save time, purchase a package of the tiny tissue paper dot confetti at your local party store or online.

Color Mixing Experiment

Mixing primary colors to create secondary colors is a magical activity for young learners. In this experiment, all you need is child-safe paint (Crayola makes a great set of washable paint colors) and a few resealable plastic baggies.

Allow your child to select two primary colors (red, blue, or yellow). Have them guess what color will be created when the two colors are blended. Pour a small amount of each color in the bag and remove as much air as possible before sealing. Lay the bag on a flat surface and let your child push and move the paint around the bag until the two colors combine.

Be sure to encourage them to use their senses—how does the paint feel (cool, squishy)? What new color do you see (red and yellow make orange)?

Floaters & Sinkers

This is one of those ridiculously simple experiments that is always a smashing success amongst young learners.

If you have a water sensory table with a deep end, you can certainly use it for this experiment. Otherwise, grab a splash pool or even a plastic bin and fill with water. Gather small items from around your home (toys, corks, grapes, rocks, paper clips, cotton balls, marbles, etc.) and ask children to predict whether each item will sink or float when placed in the water.

Allow your child to drop each item in the water and describe the results. They can record their results by sorting items into smaller bins you have on hand—one for items that sink and another for the floaters. There are also plenty of free printables you can download and print out to use.

Grow, Seedlings, Grow

Gardening is exciting and interesting work for young learners, and growing seedlings is a wonderful way to introduce young learners to the idea of tending to and caring for the earth.

Before you plant your own seedlings, take your little scientist on a walk around your home, neighborhood, or local park. Ask lots of questions—what kind of plants grow in our area? What grows better in the shade? What needs full sun?

Ask children what they would like to grow…flowers? Fruits? Veggies? Once your child knows what they would like to grow, you’re ready to plant your seedlings. Follow the link above for easy-to-follow instructions for getting your seedlings off to a fantastic start.

Teaching children to interact with the world around them, to ask questions, to think critically, and to verbalise their response is not just important for becoming a good science student—it is critical to becoming a well-rounded, problem solving, critically thinking adult.

By nurturing a child’s natural interest in science, we can set them up for future academic success and a healthy adulthood.

At the end of the day knowledge is power, and helping children understand why certain foods are more nutritious than others set them up for a lifetime of healthy eating and wise food choices.

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.

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