This professional educator guide provides everything you need to introduce Brain Friends — Meerkat, Owl, and Elephant — and build a shared language of emotional awareness, regulation, and safety in your classroom.

Grounded in neuroscience and designed specifically for early childhood and primary settings, this guide helps children understand their brain and body in a simple, empowering way.

Rather than adding another program to your day, Brain Friends becomes part of your existing classroom rhythm through short lessons, visual storytelling, and everyday relational moments.

Children learn to recognise when their Meerkat (alarm system) is active, how Owl (thinking brain) helps with calm choices, and how Elephant (memory helper) supports learning and reflection.

This guide provides the foundation for building calm, connected, and emotionally safe classrooms.

What’s Included

• Complete Brain Friends educator guide (30+ pages)

• Step-by-step lesson sequence introducing Meerkat, Owl, and Elephant

• Visual storytelling slides and slide guidance

• Guidance for embedding Brain Friends into everyday classroom routines

• Explanation of the vagus nerve and the body’s calming pathway (child-friendly approach)

• Guidance for linking Brain Friends with Zones of Regulation

• Support for building reflection, regulation, and emotional awareness

• Practical strategies grounded in neuroscience and classroom experience

Who This Is For

Perfect for:

• Early childhood educators

• Early Primary school teachers

• School wellbeing teams

• Learning support teachers

• School leaders

• Homeschool educators

No prior neuroscience knowledge is required. This guide introduces everything you need to begin using Brain Friends in your classroom.

Educators who would like a deeper understanding of the neuroscience and classroom design principles behind this work can explore these further in the WiseLearn Educator Guide.

Learning Outcomes

Educators will be able to:

• Introduce Brain Friends in a clear, developmentally appropriate way

• Build a shared classroom language around emotions and regulation

• Support children to understand their stress response

• Help children return to calm using practical tools • Embed regulation into daily classroom routines

File Format

PDF digital download Print-friendly and easy to use on screen or in print