Jack Changes the Game
About this resource
This picture book addresses online grooming in an age-appropriate way and supports parents, carers, and educators to discuss issues with children about online safety. The book focuses on online interactions and how they can make children feel and highlights the importance of children seeking help and support from a trusted adult.
Age range for this resource
For parents, carers, and educators of children aged 5 to 8 years.
Goal of this resource
To foster children’s sense of wellbeing and online safety.
To provide children with strategies, habits, and behaviours for maintaining their own safety when using online environments.
To support children to identify and respond to potential online safety risks, such as unsafe interactions with people in online games.
How might educators use this resource?
Introduce the learning topic of online safety by inviting children to share what they know about being online and how they use the internet in their daily lives. You could start with the following: Who do you know who uses the internet? What do people use the internet for? How do you use the internet at home? Share this picture book with children in your classroom. Use the story to build onto children’s responses by introducing strategies for being safe online.
How might families use this resource?
Introduce the topic of online safety by engaging your child in a conversation about what they already know about being online: Who do you know who uses the internet? What do people use the internet for? How do you use the internet at home? Then, share this picture book with your child. Use the story to have a discussion with your child about using the internet, playing online games, and asking a trusted adult for help if they ever feel unsure or unsafe online.
How might organisations use this resource?
Provide a link to this picture book in your newsletter or communications with families and educators. Highlight how learning about online safety is a requirement of Belonging, Being, and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia V2.0 (Australian Government Department of Education, 2022) and Australian Curriculum V9.0 (Australian Curriculum, Assessment, and Reporting Authority, 2024). Prepare a short statement for sharing such as: ‘Young children start using the internet from an early age and it is important that adults talk with children about being safe online. Stories are a powerful way for young children to engage and learn through the shared experience of characters.’
What learning might we see?
Parents, carers, and educators becoming familiar with important online safety issues to discuss with children.
Children beginning to recognise safe and unsafe situations in online environments and the importance of seeking help and support from trusted adults.
Children understanding that online friends are different to in-person friends, and that sometimes online friends are not always who they say they are.
Children developing an awareness that they should not provide personal information or photos to people they do not know in online environments.
Practice
Reading
Children and adults engage in shared reading of books and e-books about the internet and online safety.
Area
Citizenship
Citizenship in digital contexts recognises that young children are active participants in their communities now and into the future. As citizens, young children respect their own rights and those of other people, and develop an appreciation for cultural, racial, gender, and religious diversity. Digital rights, digital privacy, online safety, and cyber-safety education provide a foundation for early citizenship in digital contexts.
Connection to relevant standards
Belonging, Being, and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia V2.0 (Australian Government Department of Education, 2022)
Outcome 1: Children have a strong sense of identity
Children develop their emerging autonomy, inter-dependence, resilience, and agency (e.g., Educators provide children with strategies to make informed choices about their actions, interactions, and behaviours).
Children develop knowledgeable, confident self-identities and a positive sense of self-worth (e.g., Educators support children to identify and assess risks in play and learning and to cope with the unexpected.)
Children learn to interact in relation to others with care, empathy, and respect (e.g., Children recognise safe and unsafe situations; Children identify trusted adults and friends; Educators support children to learn about and recognise safe and unsafe situations).
Outcome 2: Children are connected with and contribute to their world
Children develop a sense of connectedness to groups and communities and an understanding of their reciprocal rights and responsibilities as active and informed citizens (e.g., Educators provide opportunities for children to investigate ideas, complex concepts, and ethical issues that are relevant to their lives and their local communities).
Outcome 3: Children have a strong sense of wellbeing
Children become strong in their social, emotional, and mental wellbeing (e.g., Educators discuss and model appropriate use of digital technologies and discuss how to keep children safe online with children and families; Educators update their own learning of digital and cyber safety for children).
Children are aware of and develop strategies to support their own mental and physical health and personal safety (e.g., Educators learn about e-safety for children and embed and model safe digital practices).
Outcome 4: Children are confident and involved learners
Children develop a growth mindset and learning dispositions such as curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity, commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, imagination, and reflexivity (e.g., Children are curious and enthusiastic participants in their learning; Children share their ideas with others and ask questions of adults; Educators respond to children’s displays of learning dispositions by commenting on them and providing encouragement and additional ideas).
Outcome 5: Children are effective communicators
Children engage with a range of texts and gain meaning from these texts (e.g., Children view and listen to printed, visual, and multimedia texts and respond with relevant gestures, actions, comments, and/or questions).
Children express ideas and make meaning using a range of media (e.g., Children view, listen and respond to simple printed, visual, and multimedia texts or music and express how it makes them feel).
Children use digital technologies and media to access information, investigate ideas, and represent their thinking (e.g., Children learn how to tell or communicate to a trusted adult about things that upset them, make them uncomfortable or sad; Educators teach children critical reflection skills and encourage them to evaluate the quality and trustworthiness of information sources; Educators listen carefully and take seriously when children talk about things that bother them).
National Quality Standard (Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority, 2019)
Quality Area 1: Educational program and practice (e.g., Each child’s current knowledge, strengths, ideas, culture, abilities, and interests are the foundation of the program; Educators are deliberate, purposeful, and thoughtful in their decisions and actions; Educators respond to children’s ideas and play and extend children’s learning through open-ended questions, interactions, and feedback; Each child’s agency is promoted, enabling them to make choices and decisions that influence events and their world).
Quality Area 2: Children’s health and safety (e.g., Each child’s wellbeing and comfort is provided for, including appropriate opportunities to meet each child’s need for sleep, rest, and relaxation; At all times, reasonable precautions and adequate supervision ensure children are protected from harm and hazard).
Quality Area 3: Physical Environment (e.g., Resources, materials, and equipment allow for multiple uses, are sufficient in number, and enable every child to engage in play-based learning).
Quality Area 5: Relationships with children (e.g., Responsive and meaningful interactions build trusting relationships which engage and support each child to feel secure, confident, and included; The dignity and rights of every child are maintained; Children are supported to collaborate, learn from, and help each other).
National Principles for Child Safe Organisations (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2018)
Principle 1: Child safety and wellbeing is embedded in organisational leadership, governance, and culture.
Principle 2: Children and young people are informed about their rights, participate in decisions affecting them, and are taken seriously.
Principle 5: People working with children and young people are suitable and supported to reflect child safety and wellbeing values in practice.
Principle 7: Staff and volunteers are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and awareness to keep children and young people safe through ongoing education and training.
Principle 8: Physical and online environments promote safety and wellbeing while minimising the opportunity for children and young people to be harmed.
Explore More
If these ideas are new to you, explore these related resources:
eSafety Early Years Parent Resources
These articles and videos explore how parents and carers can support young children to have safe and enjoyable experiences online.
eSafety Early Years Program for Educators
These articles and videos provide information, activities, and advice to early childhood educators and families about young children using technology and online safety.
For more ideas, explore these related resources:
Swoosh, Glide, and Rule Number 5
This picture book helps educators, parents, and carers to discuss online safety behaviours with children.
Storytelling for a connected childhood
This article invites parents, carers, and educators to use stories to engage children and build their understanding about online safety.
If you would like to read some research, explore these related resources:
Edwards, S., Nolan, A., Henderson, M., Mantilla, A., Plowman, L., & Skouteris, H. (2018). Young children’s everyday concepts of the internet: A platform for cyber‐safety education in the early years. British Journal of Educational Technology, 49(1), 45–55. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12529
Quayyum, F., Cruzes, D. S., & Jaccheri, L. (2021). Cybersecurity awareness for children: A systematic literature review. International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction, 30, Article 100343. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcci.2021.100343