How to Write Observations in Childcare: 100+ Words, Sentence Starters and Anecdotal Record Examples (EYLF v2.0)

A Practical Documentation Guide with 100+ Sentence Starters · Premium Edition

If you have ever searched how to write observations in childcare and come away more stuck than before, start here. This guide hands you the words for anecdotal records, learning stories, jottings and EYLF documentation, organised the way an observation actually flows. You know what you saw. The child leaned into the snail and asked where it was going, and the meaning was completely clear in your head. Then the right English word slid just out of reach.

I made it for the educator staring at the cursor at the end of a long day. Writing observations in early childhood draws on a wide vocabulary, and when that vocabulary runs dry every entry starts to sound the same. Inside you will find more than 100 words to write observations in childcare, sentence scaffolds for childcare documentation and formative assessment, and language mapped straight to children’s early childhood development. As a Russian speaker who has documented learning in English for years, I built it especially for EAL educators, though fluent writers reach for it just as often.

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106 pages, organised the way an observation actually flows: what the child did, how they felt, who they were with, what they were thinking, how their body moved, what they said, and how they imagined.

What’s inside
✓ Seven verb banks (action, emotion, social, cognitive, motor, communication, creative), every word tagged to its primary EYLF Learning Outcome
✓ 100+ sentence starters and scaffolds you can lift straight onto the page
✓ A full social-emotional vocabulary section
✓ Eight observation contexts: indoor, outdoor, one-on-one, small group, large group, writing for parents, reflections, and transition reports
✓ 21 theoretical lenses with the exact vocabulary each one calls for, including sociocultural, Reggio Emilia, Montessori, Steiner, schema theory, posthumanism, First Nations perspectives, trauma-informed practice, and neurodiversity-affirming language
✓ VEYLDF Evidence Markers in the wording Victorian assessors use, quotable word-for-word in your QIP
✓ “I wonder…” question stems for sustained shared thinking
✓ Sentence scaffolds written specifically for EAL educators
✓ A strengths-based reframing section for turning deficit language into EYLF v2.0 wording
✓ Inclusive and culturally responsive language guidance
✓ International contextualisation for Te Whariki (NZ), HDLH and Flight (Canada), NAEYC DAP and ELOF (USA), the EYFS (UK), and the NCF-FS (India)
✓ Quick reference for the EYLF Planning Cycle and the seven NQS Quality Areas

Who is it for
Educators in long day care, kindergarten, preschool and OOSH. Pre-service students writing learning stories and Bachelor’s assignments. Room Leaders and Educational Leaders building consistent documentation language across a team. Fluent English speakers whose observations have started to sound the same, and EAL educators who hold the meaning in their head and need the English to catch up.

Aligned to the EYLF v2.0, the VEYLDF and the NQS, with all framework material attributed under its published licences.

Format: 106-page A4 PDF. Print it and keep it open beside your laptop, or refer to it on your phone during programming. Yours to use across your own practice and reference with your team.

Wishing you words that come easily,
Storykate