AI in Early Childhood Education: A Human-Centred Approach at Little Olive Tree

A leaf floats. A stone sinks.

“Because the stone is heavy,” one child explains.

“But a boat is heavy,” another points out.

For a preschool teacher, this is a promising moment. Children are offering explanations, listening to one another, and noticing that an idea does not quite account for everything.

As a preschool network rooted in values, social-emotional learning, and executive functioning, our primary focus has always been human connection.

For a long time, we might have believed technology had no place in early childhood classrooms. But in today’s rapidly evolving world, one thing has become clear: embracing technology is inevitable.

Rather than waiting for the future to happen to us, we are taking a proactive step by showing our children how to embrace the future confidently without losing what makes us human. With funding approval from ECDA’s Sandbox, we are embarking on a pioneering project with LittleLives to define what thoughtful, human-centric AI in early childhood education looks like.

Accelerating Quality Teaching, Not Replacing It

Let’s be clear about what this means: AI will never replace human connection, empathy, or the warmth of a teacher.

Instead, technology allows us to do more with less. It acts as an assistant to our educators, reducing documentation burden and giving teachers more time to do what they do best: observe, listen, build relationships, and guide each child’s unique journey.

Consider the water tub conversation. A quick AI query could produce an instant explanation of buoyancy, complete with vocabulary no four-year-old requested. But a quick answer closes the very conversation we want to open.

Psychologist Jean Piaget noted that children develop understanding when real-world experience challenges what they believe. The floating boat gives children a reason to investigate, predict, and experiment. In early childhood education, this "cognitive friction" is where real learning happens.

Our goal is not to let technology take over the lesson, but to use AI behind the scenes to help teachers notice, connect, challenge, and guide children through these moments.

Four Avatars, One Shared Purpose

Our approach to AI follows a simple principle: support the teacher in noticing, connecting, challenging and guiding, while keeping children active owners of their learning.

In a busy classroom, meaningful learning moments can happen in an instant. A child's unexpected question, a new explanation or a different approach to solving a problem can offer valuable insight into how they think and learn.

Our four AI avatars represent four ways technology can support teachers in making the most of these moments. Each has a distinct role, represented by an animal character: the ant, the spider, the bumblebee and the chameleon.

Together, they represent four actions: Collect, Connect, Cultivate and Customise.

1. The Gathering Ant: Collecting the Ingredients

Ants are known for gathering and organising what they need, often working steadily and purposefully. This makes the ant a fitting symbol for the first function: collecting meaningful observations.

In early childhood classrooms, children's thinking is not always expressed in complete sentences. Sometimes it appears in a gesture, a tentative explanation, a change in approach or a small discovery made during play.

The Gathering Ant represents AI's potential to help teachers capture and organise selected observations, notes and contributions from children.

Consider the water tub investigation. One child explains that a stone sinks because it is heavy. Another challenges the explanation by pointing out that a boat can be heavy too. A quieter child tries placing different objects into the water.

Each contribution offers a glimpse into the children's thinking. By helping teachers organise these selected observations, the Gathering Ant makes it easier to revisit what happened and consider what the children might be ready to explore next.

The teacher remains responsible for deciding what is worth capturing, checking the accuracy of the information and providing the context.

The purpose is not to record everything that happens. It is to help teachers retain the little moments that might otherwise be lost in a busy day.

2. The Web-Weaving Spider: Connecting the Ideas

A spider builds its web by connecting individual strands to form something bigger. In much the same way, children's learning develops as they make connections between new discoveries and previous experiences.

The Web-Weaving Spider represents AI's ability to suggest possible links between selected observations, earlier learning experiences and contributions from different children.

Perhaps the children noticed leaves floating in a puddle the previous week. Perhaps another child once built a boat that sank. These experiences may seem unrelated at first, but they could provide useful starting points for a new investigation.

With the help of AI, teachers can identify possible connections and bring earlier experiences back into the classroom.

A teacher might show the children a photograph from a previous activity and ask, "Do you remember what happened when we tried this before?"

The children can then compare their experiences, share what they remember and reconsider their explanations.

Of course, not every connection suggested by AI will be meaningful. The teacher decides which ones are relevant and how best to introduce them.

The Web-Weaving Spider reminds us that learning is not a collection of isolated activities. It is an ongoing process in which new ideas build upon what children have already experienced.

3. The Pollinating Bumblebee: Cultivating Curiosity

As a bumblebee moves from flower to flower, it helps pollinate and encourage new growth. This makes it a fitting symbol for nurturing curiosity and allowing ideas to develop.

The Pollinating Bumblebee represents AI's potential to help teachers generate open-ended questions, suggest materials and explore different possibilities that could extend children's thinking.

Returning to our water tub investigation, the teacher could consider questions such as:

What could the children compare? How might they test their explanations? What materials could encourage them to investigate further?

AI might suggest introducing objects of different weights and shapes, or inviting children to design something that can float.

But the most meaningful part of the experience happens when children begin experimenting for themselves.

A carefully constructed boat sinks. Its young designer examines what happened and announces, with considerable confidence, "We need more tape!"

The teacher can use this moment to encourage further thinking. Would more tape help? Where should it go? What else could they try?

AI can help teachers consider possible directions, but it is the teacher who responds to the children's ideas, asks the next question and decides when to offer a new challenge.

The Pollinating Bumblebee is about keeping inquiry alive. Rather than rushing towards an answer, it supports teachers in creating opportunities for children to wonder, experiment, make mistakes and discover new possibilities.

4. The Adaptive Chameleon: Customising the Support

A chameleon is known for adapting to its surroundings. This makes it a natural symbol for recognising that every child approaches learning differently.

In the same classroom, one child may enjoy explaining an idea aloud, another may prefer drawing what they observe, while a third may learn best by getting hands-on with the materials.

The Adaptive Chameleon represents AI's potential to suggest different ways of supporting children's participation and learning.

These suggestions might include a visual prompt for a child who benefits from pictures, alternative materials for a hands-on exploration, a simpler starting point for someone who needs more encouragement, or an additional challenge for a child who is ready to explore further.

For example, during the water tub investigation, a teacher might invite one child to draw what happened, encourage another to describe their observations, and offer a more challenging experiment to a child who is ready to test a new theory.

The teacher decides which suggestions are appropriate and adapts the support according to each child's needs, interests and progress.

Importantly, the aim is not to place children into fixed categories or allow technology to define what they can or cannot do. It is to help teachers consider different ways to make learning accessible, meaningful and appropriately challenging.

As children grow in confidence, the support can change too. A child who initially needs encouragement may eventually be ready to lead an experiment, explain a discovery or share an idea with friends.

The Adaptive Chameleon represents our belief that every child should have opportunities to participate, contribute and grow at their own pace.

Four Characters, One Human Purpose

The Gathering Ant, Web-Weaving Spider, Pollinating Bumblebee and Adaptive Chameleon each represent a different way AI can assist our educators.

Together, they help teachers collect meaningful observations, connect learning experiences, cultivate curiosity and customise support.

But these avatars do not teach children. They do not replace the teacher's judgement, relationships or understanding of the children in their care.

AI offers possibilities. Teachers make the decisions.

Ultimately, our goal is to use technology thoughtfully so that educators can spend less time managing administrative tasks and more time doing what matters most: noticing the child, listening to their ideas, nurturing their curiosity and guiding their growth.

Leading into the Future with Care

This 12-month Sandbox Project, led by Presbyterian Preschool Services in partnership with LittleLives, begins across five classes. Our teachers will guide its classroom application and help refine the technology through real-world experience. Together with ECDA's funding support, this will give us room to develop, test, listen and improve. What teacher's experience, and what the evidence shows, will shape how to initiative develops.

We are also implementing strict safeguards:

• No Continuous Recording: Classroom capture is selective and intentional.

•Full Educator Oversight: Every output requires teacher approval before use or sharing.

• No Labeling: AI will never independently evaluate, rank, or label a child.

•Hands-on Core: Outdoor play, nature, physical movement, and friendships remain the heart of our curriculum.

By taking this first step, Little Olive Tree is ensuring our children grow up in an environment that values deep human relationships while equipping them for a technology-driven world. At the same time, we are also leveraging modern tools to amplify our mission, giving our teachers the gift of time so they can give your children their undivided attention.