Australian teachers now have access to a free resource supporting young students to develop personal and social skills through the new animated children’s series Eddie’s Lil’ Homies.

Created for Foundation to Year 2 students, the Eddie’s Lil’ Homies teaching resource includes 10 lessons that support young students to understand themselves and others and to navigate relationships in the classroom and beyond.

Each lesson explores concepts and skills that support students to manage their emotions and behaviours, relate to others, communicate and collaborate, set goals and resolve conflict. Lessons are mapped to the Australian Curriculum, addressing content from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures, Critical and Creative Thinking, English, Health and Physical Education, and Personal and Social Capability. Students identify, explore and respond to examples in the screen text and reinforce their understandings through discussions and learning tasks.

New to NITV and Netflix, Eddie’s Lil’ Homies follows Eddie and his friends on their playground adventures as they navigate the fun and challenges of friendship. It’s a world of competition, imagination and fantasy, where anything and everything is possible, where imaginary friends can be real, games of rock paper scissors can take on stupendous importance, and kindness, empathy and a good rap can help put anything right.

The Eddie’s Lil’ Homies teaching resource has been developed by the Australian Children’s Television Foundation (ACTF). The ACTF Learning team supports Australian teachers and students of all age levels to engage with high quality, locally made screen content by developing fun, engaging learning resources which align to the Australian Curriculum.

Producer Eddie Betts said: “I really believe in the value of education. I wrote the Eddie’s Lil’ Homies books to motivate and inspire literacy and learning, and improving educational outcomes for Indigenous kids is a huge part of my work.

“The Eddie’s Lil’ Homies TV series is a fun, uplifting program that promotes the values of kindness, inclusion and friendship, and this learning resource will help kids all over Australia to develop their literacy skills in a fun and unique way.”

ACTF National Curriculum Manager Janine Kelly said: “All teachers work hard to foster inclusive and kind classrooms, particularly at this time of the year while students are getting to know their classmates. The positive messaging in Eddie’s Lil’ Homies will support Foundation – Year 2 teachers in this work, with the characters modelling social and emotional skills that young children need to thrive.

“This free online resource explores emotional awareness and regulation, perseverance, empathy, leadership, conflict resolution and more. By harnessing the fun and humour of Eddie’s Lil’ Homies, it helps students to learn about themselves and others.”

Download the resource for free here, and stream Eddie’s Lil’ Homies on SBS on Demand or Netflix.

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