Online AAEE Learning Circle - Children Need Nature - Making Children’s Access to Nature Visible in Early Learning - 12 August 2026 - Gabby Millgate

 

Booking link at Humanitix

When: Wednesday 12 August 2026 4:00pm - 5:00pm AEST

Where: Zoom

Who: Co-hosted with AAEE and Gabby Millgate, Nature Pedagogy Leader at Woden Valley Early Learning Centre, author of the WVELC Children's Nature Access Survey tool, and an Early Years Climate Strategy author and pilot participant.

Cost: $10/$5 for non-AAEE members,  $0 for AAEE members and AAEE volunteers . Donations for this month's AAEE Learning Circle welcomed.

Event Information:

Children’s long-term wellbeing, resilience and environmental understanding are shaped by their everyday experiences with the natural world.

Following Australia’s first National Climate Risk Assessment (September 2025), there is growing recognition that children will need the knowledge, skills, dispositions and relationships that help them participate in a changing world.

Yet many educators and services are asking an important question:

How do we even start?

This interactive Learning Circle introduces the Access to Nature Survey, a practical tool designed to help educators observe, reflect on and make visible children’s experiences of nature in early learning settings.

Together we will explore:

• Why access to nature matters for children’s learning, wellbeing and development.

• The connection between access to nature, ecological literacy and climate adaptation capability.

• What meaningful access to nature looks like in everyday practice.

• How educators can identify opportunities, barriers and strengths within their own settings.

• Ways to use the Access to Nature Survey as a starting point for reflection, planning and improvement.

• Access to nature is not a destination. It is a practice that sets foundational environmental relationships. It grows through everyday opportunities for children to participate in the living world.

• Participants will leave with practical ideas, a tool they can immediately use in their own context, and opportunities to connect with other educators interested in strengthening children’s relationships with the natural world.

No specialist environmental education knowledge is required.

As the world changes, children’s access to nature is no longer simply an environmental issue, it is a developmental, educational and resilience issue.

Why become an AAEE member? https://www.aaee.org.au/get-involved/become-a-member/

Nature Pedagogy in Early Childhood - Spring - Gabby Millgate and the Woden Valley Early Learning Centre team

Booking link at Humanitix

When: Date TBC - Saturday 26 September 2026 TBC 11:00 am – 1:00pm

Where: Woden Valley Child Care Centre, 1 Dann Cl, Garran ACT 2605, Australia

Who: The session will be co-run by Gabby Millgate, and the Woden Valley Early Learning Centre.

Cost: TBC 

 

Event Information:

A special Floriade community showcase at Woden Valley Early Learning Centre.

We would simply like you to come and experience it and imagine how a child would feel if they were part of planting a Floriade Garden

The event will celebrate the ways young children encounter nature, place, beauty, curiosity and belonging through early childhood education.

Each space will offer a different expression of Nature Pedagogy, children’s participation and ecological learning, with opportunities to move through the service, listen, observe and experience the environments for yourself.

This is not a workshop about nature pedagogy. It’s a chance to experience it—and take it back with you.

Experience what children experience, as Woden Valley Early Learning Centre celebrates 10

years of Nature Pedagogy, inviting families, educators and community members into a

living example of ecological learning, participation and connection to

place. #CommunityConnection

This seasonal learning experience designed for early childhood educators and primary school teachers based on the Woden Valley Early Learning Centre Winter Nature Pedagogy Program

Throughout 2026 the Australian Association for Environmental Education ACT (AAEE ACT) is highlighting exceptional Early Childhood (EC) settings and practices providing environmental and nature experiences and learning. If you are in an EC setting and would like to invite local educators to see what you do, or to collaborate, email us to say hi and let us know at: aaeeact@gmail.com

Why become an AAEE member? https://www.aaee.org.au/get-involved/become-a-member/

Like to make a tax deductible donation to power AAEE ?

Head to https://donate.aaee.org.au/

Then, if you would love to see the donation used in the ACT, send a request to admin@aaee.org.au and cc aaeeact@gmail.com. Thank you!

Country as Teacher Workshop 20th August 2026 with Monty Nixon

  

Booking link at Humanitix

When: Thursday 20th August 2026 4:00 – 6:30pm

Where: The Crosbie Morrison Room, Australian National Botanical Gardens

Who: The session will be co-run by University of Canberra PhD student Monty Nixon.

 

Event Information:

For millennia, Country has been the central knowledge-holder in society, guiding people to live in relational reciprocity and maintaining social and ecological balance.

This workshop offers an introduction to Country as Teacher pedagogy and invites participants to begin considering its possibilities within Environmental Education. It provides a starting point for engaging with a way of knowing, being and doing that honours longstanding Indigenous knowledge systems.

Monty is one of two inaugural national Australian Association of Environmental Education (AAEE) JEDI's - Awardees of the Justice Equity Diversity and Inclusion Award. He was also ACT's Emerging Environmental Educator for 2025. He is presently completing his PHD ‘Country as a Teacher’ at the University of Canberra.


Join us at ANBG to explore the above ideas and how they can be incorporated into your educational practice.

Why become a member of AAEE? https://www.aaee.org.au/get-involved/become-a-member/

Online AAEE Learning Circle - The lexicon of Regenerative Education - 8 July 2026 - Cate McQuillen

  

Booking link at Humanitix

When: Wednesday 8 July 2026 7:00pm - 8:00pm AEST

Where: Zoom

Who: Co-hosted with AAEE and Cate McQuillan, co-creator of dirtgirlworld and Get Grubby TV. 

Cost: $10/$5 for non-AAEE members,  $0 for AAEE members and AAEE volunteers . Donations for this month's AAEE Learning Circle welcomed.

Event Information:

The words we use have a surprising impact on the way we think about the world, how we act, what we value and how we orientate.

 

Part conversation, part collective imagining, part poetry slam - this session is for educators curious about a world of 'what if....'.

In our July Learning Circle you'll be guided by Cate McQuillen, creator, storyteller, producer, Emmy Award winner and social innovator, to unpack the emerging language of regenerative education. This will be an interactive Learning Circle asking us to explore new possibilities for the future and consider how language itself is a powerful tool for change.

Why become an AAEE member? https://www.aaee.org.au/get-involved/become-a-member/

Winter 2026 News and Events - Australian Association for Environmental Education ACT

Yuma dear Environmental Educators in the Canberra Region 

Would you like to collaborate on a Spring 2026 event for Early Childhood Educators in ACT and the wider region? Expressions of interest are warmly invited: send to aaeeact@gmail.com

Gabby Millgate presenting the Nature Pedagogy in Early Childhood — Winter: From Fire to Flourishing' experience, 27 June 2026

Nature Pedagogy in Early Childhood - Winter - From Fire to Flourishing 27 June 2026 with Gabby Millgate and the Woden Valley Early Learning Centre team

 

Booking link at Humanitix

When: Saturday 27 June 2026 11:00 am – 1:00pm

Where: Woden Valley Child Care Centre, 1 Dann Cl, Garran ACT 2605, Australia

Who: The session will be co-run by Gabby Millgate, AAEE and the Woden Valley Early Learning Centre.

Cost: $45 for non-AAEE members, $25 for members (not sure what AAEE is? see below!)

 

Event Information:

This is not a workshop about nature pedagogy. It’s a chance to experience it—and take it back with you.

This seasonal learning experience designed for early childhood educators and primary school teachers based on the Woden Valley Early Learning Centre Winter Nature Pedagogy Program

This winter session invites participants to experience nature pedagogy through fire, food, story, and strategy.

Follow the smell of popcorn - sit by the fire, cook stone soup with a story, & experience winter nature pedagogy for yourself.

Online AAEE Learning Circle - Two Paths Strong at the Maam Giingana School - 11 June 2026 - Clark Webb

Booking link at Humanitix

When: Thursday 11 June 2026 5:00pm - 6:00pm

Where: Zoom

Who: Co-hosted with AAEE and Clark Webb, founder of the Maam Giingana School.

Cost: $10/$5 for non-AAEE members,  $0 for AAEE members and AAEE volunteers . Donations for this month's AAEE Learning Circle will go directly to the Maam Giingana School.

Event Information:

Join Clark Webb, founder of the Maam Giingana School, the first bilingual Aboriginal-language school in NSW. He will share the vision that drove its creation and highlight the importance of building a school grounded in culture, identity, and strong educational outcomes.