Momentum Conference 2026

COST: $320 +GST (morning tea and lunch included)

TIME:        9:30am – 4:00pm

Kardinia Early Learning and KGlearning are excited to offer their annual professional learning conference, featuring an inspiring lineup of speakers.

We believe that great early learning experiences are fuelled by continuous growth, inquiry, and transformation. Just as momentum propels an object forward, our conference is designed to propel educators forward in their thinking, sparking new insights, enriching their knowledge, and deepening their understanding. By embracing innovation, collaboration, and reflection, we aim to inspire educators to harness the power of momentum in their teaching approaches through awakening their own potential and igniting their curiosity.

Let’s build the momentum that drives change, fosters creativity, and cultivates lifelong learning for children!

More than your typical conference, this is a practice-based learning experience where you will hear great speakers but also:

●      Tour Kardinia Early Learning – a 250-place centre with a distinctive pedagogical approach

●      Hear Philosophy in Practice Stories – listen to educators speak with insight and understanding about: risky play, freedom of movement, being creators and not consumers, rituals, and inquiry-based learning.

OUR SPEAKERS

Keynote: Awakening What’s Possible

Kelly Goodsir

Pedagogical ideas don’t flourish by accident. They awaken when curiosity is stirred, when educators feel inspired to experiment, to test ideas, and to step into new terrain with knowledge, confidence and conviction. Awakening what’s possible requires attention, courage, and cultures that invite learning to stay awaken

Workshop 1: Rhizomes and Reflections:

Reframing your identity as an artist/educator through ink prints, inquiry and painterly play

Dr Gai Lindsey

This interactive workshop invites educators to explore and reframe their artistic identity through playful, reflective art-making. Using India ink printmaking and a rhizome metaphor, participants will examine the interconnected beliefs and experiences that shape how they view themselves as art makers. Through visual identity mapping, mark-making, and painterly play, educators will reflect on their self-efficacy and mindset to consider how these impact visual arts pedagogy. Participants will leave with renewed confidence and practical strategies to support authentic, expressive visual arts experiences with children in their own contexts.

Workshop 2 : Paper Play: What Paper Makes Possible in Early Childhood Learning Environments

Kelly Boucher

 This workshop is an exciting opportunity for early childhood educators to experience radically different ways of experimenting with and playing with paper in everyday learning spaces. By posing questions, inviting actions and being open to new potentials within this joyful material realm, participants will explore:

●      Arts-based Inquiry: Innovative ways to cultivate dynamic inquiry-based learning culture

●      Contemporary theories: Concepts & ideas within early childhood materials practice

●      Playful Learning Strategies: Positioning materials as participants in experiences with children.

Workshop 3: Thinking with Materials: What Clay & Wire Make Possible in Early Childhood Learning Environments

Kirsty Liljegren

This workshop invites early childhood educators to experience the intriguing potential of clay and wire as multimodal materials for thinking, making, and conceptual learning. Through a hands-on, artful approach, participants will engage with these materials to deepen their understanding of how meaning, ideas, and relationships emerge through playful exploration.

Participants will explore:

●         Arts-based practice: Supporting holistic, integrated learning through material encounters

●         Multimodal learning: How concepts are formed through hands, senses, movement, and imagination

●         Pedagogical activeness: Designing environments, questions, and conditions that promote and provoke thinking and inquiry