Future Astronauts Begin with Early Learning
When you think about your child’s future, you may picture school milestones, exciting career paths, or the joy of seeing them build a happy life of their own. You might not imagine them floating in space, looking back at Earth — yet even astronauts once began with the same small steps as children today: learning to walk, to share, to ask questions, and to dream.
World Space Week 2025
This year’s World Space Week 2025 theme, “Living in Space”, shines a light on the skills, practices, and resilience needed to thrive beyond our planet. Interestingly, those same foundations are built during the early years of life. At Journey Early Learning, we see every child as a future explorer. Their journey might not take them to dance amongst the stars, but the skills they develop here at Journey, such as resilience, problem-solving, teamwork, and curiosity, are the very same qualities astronauts rely on when living in space.
Early Childhood: The Launchpad for Lifelong Learning
The first five years of life are a time of incredible growth. During this period, a child’s brain forms millions of neural connections every second, laying the foundations for learning, social development, and emotional well-being.
Astronauts build skills over time to navigate unknown environments, make quick decisions, and cope with challenges. For children, these abilities begin with simple experiences: learning to share, persisting with puzzles, or exploring their natural environment. At Journey, we view these early years as the launchpad for lifelong learning. It is where curiosity takes root, resilience develops, and every child discovers their own potential.
Resilience: Bouncing Back from Challenges
Living in space is full of setbacks and surprises. What enables astronauts to succeed is resilience — the ability to adapt, recover, and keep moving forward.
For children, resilience might look like picking themselves up after a fall, trying again after a failed attempt at building a tower, or managing big emotions when things don’t go as planned. At Journey, we encourage resilience by providing safe opportunities to take risks, whether it’s climbing a new piece of play equipment, trying a new food, or attempting a new skill.
Our Educators support children by modelling how to name and regulate emotions, giving them the tools to navigate emotions. We also celebrate persistence as much as achievement, recognising that effort and determination are just as important as the outcome. Through these experiences, children learn that challenges are not roadblocks but stepping stones, lessons that will serve them in every stage of life.
Problem-Solving: From Blocks to Spacecraft
Astronauts must think critically and act creatively when equipment fails or resources run low. Every mission requires constant problem-solving. Children begin to develop these skills from their earliest play experiences.
When a toddler experiments with stacking blocks or a child works out how to build a bridge for toy cars, they are engaging in problem-solving. Our educators nurture this growth by asking open-ended questions, allowing trial and error, and offering rich materials that encourage exploration.
By encouraging children to explore, test, and reimagine, we are preparing them to be confident problem-solvers who can thrive in an unpredictable world.
Teamwork: Living Together, Learning Together
Living in a confined space station requires astronauts to cooperate, respect one another, and function as a team. Each member relies on the skills and strengths of others.
In early learning, teamwork begins with sharing blocks, working on group art projects, or helping to tidy up together. At Journey, children learn these skills through daily collaboration. Our educators encourage communication, empathy, and respect, creating environments where every child feels their voice matters.
We know some children naturally gravitate towards group activities, while others need more time and gentle support to find their place. By recognising each child’s individuality, we nurture their confidence to contribute to the group — just as astronauts must each play their part in the success of a mission.
Our thoughtfully designed learning environments give children many opportunities to come together, whether that’s through lively group dance incursions, shared projects, or the simple joy of peer-to-peer play. These moments of connection allow children to explore, belong, and thrive at their own pace.
Seeing the Child Individually: Every Explorer is Unique
No two astronauts take the same journey, and no two children learn in the same way. At Journey, is built around seeing each child as an individual with unique strengths, interests, and challenges.
We work along with the child and the family to create ILPs that support their unique growth and learning, individual learning plans to adapt to every child’s needs, and we focus on strong, trusting relationships so children feel safe to explore and express themselves. Just as important, we partner with families, recognising that parents are a child’s first teachers and that working together is key to supporting each child’s development.
By embracing individuality, we ensure that every child’s journey is nurtured, celebrated, and supported. This is how we prepare children not only for school, but for life.
Play: A Child’s Space Mission
For children, play is their work. It can be seen as their own space mission. Through play, children build the essential skills they’ll need to face life’s challenges.
Imaginative play lets them become astronauts, scientists, or explorers, developing creativity and empathy. Physical play strengthens coordination, balance, and body awareness. Cognitive play, from puzzles to storytelling, deep thinking memory and critical thinking.
At Journey, play is never “just play.” It is how children learn about themselves, about others, and about the wider world — just as astronauts learn through simulations, training, and experimentation.
Sustainability: Caring for Our Planet, Preparing for Space
Astronauts living in space must recycle water, grow food in controlled environments, and use resources sparingly. Sustainability is essential to survival beyond Earth.
At Journey, we embed sustainability in everyday practice so that children learn to care for their environment and develop respect for the natural world. Our centres have gardens where children plant seeds, water vegetables, and experience the joy of harvesting food. Recycling and reusing materials are, showing children how to reduce waste and repurpose objects creatively. Caring for animals and observing nature, from worm farms to local plants, builds a deep sense of responsibility.
These habits not only prepare children to live sustainably on Earth, but also reflect the very same practices astronauts depend on in space. By linking daily actions to the bigger picture, children understand that caring for their environment is part of being both a global citizen with amazing roots in our local community and a future explorer.
Healthy Habits for Future Explorers
Astronauts must follow routines that protect their health, including healthy food and re gular exercise. At Journey, we provide children with the same foundations for lifelong well-being. Our Future Foodies program provides fresh, balanced meals prepared daily by centre chefs. These meals encourage adventurous eating and lay the groundwork for healthy choices.
We also promote active outdoor play with restful moments, ensuring that children’s physical and emotional needs are met. Developing these habits in the early years gives children the resilience, energy, and focus to thrive — wherever their future takes them.
Preparing for Tomorrow’s Possibilities
The careers of tomorrow may be in fields we can’t yet imagine. Children entering kindergarten today might grow into roles in sustainability, technology, or even space travel. At Journey, we aim to prepare children not for one path, but for every possibility.
By encouraging adaptability, curiosity, problem-solving, and teamwork, we give children the confidence to face whatever challenges and opportunities lie ahead.
World Space Week: Inspiring Big Dreams
World Space Week 2025 is more than a celebration of rockets and astronauts. It’s about dreaming big, asking bold questions, and imagining what’s possible. At Journey, we nurture these same qualities in children every day. Their future may not involve orbiting Earth, but it will certainly involve exploring, learning, and growing in extraordinary ways.
The Sky is Not the Limit
Astronauts often describe the awe of looking back at Earth from space, realising the beauty and fragility of our planet. For children, the early years carry the same sense of wonder and possibility.
Every puzzle solved, every friendship made, every seed planted, and every imaginative rocket ship built from cardboard is part of a much bigger journey. At Journey Early Learning, we believe future astronauts — and future dreamers of every kind — begin with early learning. And we are here to nurture each child, individually and wholeheartedly, as they reach for the stars.
