Brent Mawson discusses the fact that some of the most important sources of technological awareness for children in early childhood are the books that are available to them, and those read to them by their teachers.

Although the large majority of children in early childhood are at a pre-reading stage, they pick up a wide range of knowledge from the pictures in the books that they ‘read’ by themselves. Boys tend to focus on books about machines, cars and motorcycles, but nearly every early childhood centre would have books that show the practice of a wide range of occupations of interest to both genders. As they chat with each other or with their teachers, children develop understanding of the function and nature of a wide range of technological practices. 

As they read stories, well-qualified early childhood educators are always looking for opportunities to highlight significant information and concepts relating to all the curriculum areas.  Traditional stories provide good sources of technological knowledge.  The Three Little Pigs allows discussion about the properties of materials, Goldilocks and the Three Bears is all about fitness for purpose. Other stories allow children to see examples of technological problem solving. In The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch by Ronda Armitage, for example, Mrs Grinling thinks of a way to stop the greedy seagulls from stealing the lighthouse keeper's lunch. I’m sure you can think of other stories that can be looked at through a technology education lens.

Two books published in New Zealand in particular stand out for me.  Both of them are written by Sally Sutton and illustrated by Brian Lovelock. 

The first, Roadworks, won the picture book category in the 2009 New Zealand Book Awards. This book uses realistic illustrations and clever alliteration to chart the process of making a new motorway, from the planning and hammering-in of the first pegs marking the route through to the opening of the road. The last page of the book  Machine Facts contains basic information about all the machinery illustrated working during the road-making process.  The bold illustrations and dramatic language make this a really great read-aloud story.

The second book, Demolition, uses the same strong language and bold illustrations to chart the progress of demolishing a derelict tower block to create a children’s playground on the site. Both these books very accurately portray the technological practice involved in road-building and building demolition and provide clear information about the purpose and operation of the machinery involved. 

Other New Zealand books that both engage children and offer insight into the technological practice of machinery operators include the five books in The Little Yellow Digger series by Betty and Alan Gilderdale, and the three books, beginning with A bigger Digger, by Brett Avison with illustrations by Craig Smith.

It is clear that there is a rich resource in children’s picture books for parents and early childhood educators to both entertain and educate young children.  All that is needed is for technologically aware adults to recognise this potential when reading with and to young children.