Laugh

A good early learning program can be play-based, evidence-informed and still be genuinely fun, and we don't think you should have to choose. We look for small moments to bring humour into learning: a silly hat during story time, a made-up song about tidying away blocks, an educator willing to get the joke wrong on purpose so the children get to correct her. None of it is scheduled; it just has to be allowed to happen.

There's real research behind why this matters, not just a nice feeling. Children with a well-developed sense of humour tend to cope better with new or tricky situations, and tend to be happier, more optimistic and more socially confident than children who don't get many chances to be silly.

• It opens a child's imagination and builds a genuine enthusiasm for learning, rather than learning feeling like something that's done to them
• It strengthens relationships, between educators and children and between the children themselves, because shared laughter is one of the fastest ways young children build trust

None of this is incidental to early childhood development: laughter and play are core to it, and we design our days accordingly rather than squeezing them in around “real” learning.