Key takeaways:

- Kathy Brodie’s Background: Kathy Brodie, a renowned early years expert, author of books including *Sustained Shared Thinking*, and organizer of the Early Years Summit, significantly influenced the development of Tales Toolkit’s focus on quality interactions through story, talk, and creativity.

- Sustained Shared Thinking (SST) Definition: SST, derived from the EPPE and REPEY research, involves two or more individuals collaboratively engaging in intellectual tasks like problem-solving, clarifying concepts, evaluating activities, or extending narratives, with both parties contributing to and extending the thinking process.

- SST in Practice: SST manifests as deep, engaging conversations with children, often spontaneous, where practitioners listen actively, ask open-ended questions, and explore ideas together, such as discussing a child’s weekend or solving a conflict over a toy, fostering mutual engagement.

- Benefits for Children and Practitioners: SST builds trust, respects children’s views, enhances metacognition (understanding one’s own thinking), supports communication and language skills, encourages a mastery disposition, and allows practitioners to know children better, improving practice through reflection.

- Outdoors as an Ideal Setting: The outdoor environment, with its dynamic, open-ended nature (e.g., exploring under logs, muddy puddles), fosters SST by offering fewer “right or wrong” answers, more problem-solving opportunities, and spaces for children to collaborate and share ideas in “hidey holes.”

- Practitioner Challenges and Strategies: Practitioners must value SST opportunities, avoid subverting conversations into tick-box exercises, and engage actively with children at their level, using positive questioning and active listening to foster creativity and critical thinking, as supported by Tales Toolkit.

- Early Years Summit: Kathy’s free online summit (March 26–April 1) features global experts discussing outdoor play, designing outdoor spaces, and maximizing learning, with recordings and transcripts available for purchase, accessible at www.earlyyearssummit.com.

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