Abundant evidence shows the benefits of early childhood education through mind and body; yet, too many young kids aren’t being taught this way. Lisa Murphy shares a wealth of information supporting a pedagogy that incorporates all of the senses.

Welcome to Teacher Tom’s Podcast, which is all about taking play seriously. In each episode, Teacher Tom inspires early childhood educators, parents, and other listeners with information, techniques, and best practices to provide children an authentic play-filled childhood.

Lisa Murphy is the founder and CEO of Ooey Gooey, Inc., a frequent lecturer, and the author of five books. She has been involved in early childhood education for more than 35 years.

“A lot of younger adults didn’t get open-ended, process-oriented art in early childhood experiences. Many of them are reporting to me that they’re not getting creative art, music, finger play, songs, classes in college.”

— Lisa Murphy

Lisa Murphy has been involved in early childhood education for more than 35 years. She has written five books, produced numerous training videos, serves on several early childhood advisory boards, lectures both domestically and internationally, is a frequent guest on various early childhood podcasts, and is the founder and CEO of Ooey Gooey, Inc.

In 2013 she received a Masters in Early Childhood Education from Champlain College; in 2018 she received the Patricia Monighan Nourot Award for Play Advocacy; in 2020 her book, Lisa Murphy On… Being Child Centered, was nominated for “Best in Education” by Midwest Book Awards; and in 2022 she was awarded the “Doctor of Play” award by the U.S. affiliate of the International Play Association. She is currently awaiting notice of acceptance from Hollins University to begin her second Master’s degree, this time in Children’s Literature.

Lisa presents hundreds of workshops a year and is forever grateful knowing her presentations have been called humorous, energetic, content rich, and inspiring. She currently resides in Central Florida where she continues to be an outspoken advocate who is committed to protecting a child’s right to play.

“Teacher Tom” Hobson is an early childhood educator, international speaker, education consultant, teacher of teachers, parent educator, and author. He is best known, however, for his namesake blog, Teacher Tom’s Blog, where he has posted daily for over a decade, chronicling the life and times of his little preschool in the rain-soaked Pacific Northwest corner of the USA.

For nearly two decades, Teacher Tom was the sole employee of the Woodland Park Cooperative School, a parent-owned and operated school knit together by Teacher Tom’s democratic, progressive play-based pedagogy. Teacher Tom came into teaching through the backdoor, so to speak, having enrolled his own child in a cooperative preschool, where he began working daily in his daughter’s classroom as an assistant teacher under the tutelage of veteran educators — although he’ll be the first to tell you that most of what he learned came from the children themselves. When it was time for his daughter to move on, he “stayed behind.”

Today, Teacher Tom shares his play-based pedagogy through online e-courses for early childhood educators; produces online early childhood conferences; consults with organizations about his “Family Schools” program; and inspires early-years audiences around the world (Greece, UK, Iceland, Australia, China, Vietnam, New Zealand, Canada, and across the US) both virtually and in-person with his engaging views on early childhood education, play, and pedagogy.

He was pressured by his blog readers into authoring his first book, aptly named Teacher Tom’s First Book, and is thrilled about the 2023 release of Teacher Tom’s Second Book.

Resources, people, and websites mentioned in this episode:
Mirasee
Teacher Tom’s website: TeacherTomsWorld.com
Lisa’s website: OoeyGooey.com
An Immense World (book) by Ed Yong: Goodreads.com/book/show/59575939-an-immense-world
bell hooks (educator and author): Wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_hooks
Antonia Damaso’s TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/speakers/antonio_damasio

Credits:
Host: Teacher Tom Hobson
Producer: Michi Lantz
Supervising Producer: Cynthia Lamb
Audio Editor: Marvin del Rosario
Executive Producer: Danny Iny
Music Soundscape: Chad Michael Snavely
Making our hosts sound great: Home Brew Audio

Music credits:
Track Title: Blueberry Jam Jam
Artist: Simen Andreas
Writer: Simen Knudsen
Publisher: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION

Track Title: Childlike Wonder
Artist: Reveille
Writer: Brendan St. Gelais
Publisher: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION

Track Title: Tick Tock
Artist: Ivy Bakes
Writer: Erick Pena
Publisher: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION

Special effects credits:

24990513_birds-chirping_by_promission used with permission of the author and under license by AudioJungle/Envato Market.

To catch the great episodes coming up on Teacher Tom’s Podcast, please follow us on Mirasee FM’s YouTube channel or your favorite podcast player. And if you enjoyed the show, please leave us a comment or a starred review. It’s the best way to help us get these ideas to more people.

Episode transcript: Mind-Body Learning in Kids (Lisa Murphy)