Enhancing preschoolers’ wellbeing through emotional learning and play: BLOOM

Challenge

There are few scalable mental health programs for young children that holistically address the key protective factors—social and emotional skills, physical activity and nutrition. Existing programs often fail to involve parents meaningfully and lack effectiveness when scaled.

Solution

BLOOM offers a holistic and scalable digital solution, co-designed with educators and families. It supports childcare centres and parents to embed social and emotional learning, active play and healthy eating into everyday routines. The program includes an educator-focused online portal and a parent app, offering culturally responsive, evidence-based strategies. A cluster randomised control trial involving 20 centres and 400 families will assess its impact on child self-regulation, emotional wellbeing, cost-effectiveness and scalability.

Impact

The BLOOM program is expected to lead to: • improved self-regulation and mental health in preschool-aged children • enhanced educator and parent capacity to support children’s development • increased integration of health-promoting practices in early childhood settings • high-quality evidence on the program’s effectiveness, cost-efficiency, and equity • readiness for rapid, national-scale implementation through digital delivery.

Partners

Cancer Council Victoria

Hunter Medical Research Institute

The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre

University of Newcastle

University of Wollongong

Victorian Health Promotion Foundation