The Story of Canvas & Quill
Learning starts with the child.
Canvas & Quill began with family, creativity and a love of sharing everyday moments with children.
As a Nana, I wanted to create artwork that would capture the attention of my grandchildren and great-niece, spark imagination and give us a focal point for stories, songs and shared moments together.
The earliest ideas began as sketches and developed into original canvas paintings. As the children grew, my ideas grew with them, gradually moving from art and imagination towards learning.
And Canvas & Quill began to evolve too.
Growing with them
Spending time together gave me the opportunity to notice what naturally captured their attention and how they were beginning to make sense of the world around them.
I began to recognise that being able to recite something wasn't necessarily the same as recognising or understanding it.
A child might happily sing the alphabet, yet make a stronger connection when they recognise the first letter of their own name. They might count in sequence, skip a number, yet instantly recognise their age or a familiar number they see every day.
Those moments influenced the way I began thinking about learning.
For Canvas & Quill, learning isn't about expecting every child to follow the same sequence at the same pace.
It's about being present, noticing what has captured their interest and giving that curiosity somewhere to go.
That is what we call purposeful everyday learning.
Learning that grows with the child
Over time, the original artwork was followed by educational posters and eventually three original Canvas & Quill learning systems:
Focus & Ready™ — Connection
Beginning with the attention, movement or rhythm already present and gently guiding the moment towards connection and readiness for learning.
Landing Ready® — Confidence
Helping children Recognise • Understand • Connect letters, numbers, colours and shapes with their everyday world.
Hand-Over-Ready® — Independence
Building on growing confidence through opportunities to make marks, trace, colour, count, cut and create — gradually doing more for themselves.
Together, they reflect the Canvas & Quill progression:
Start with attention. Build understanding. Grow independence.
Connection → Confidence → Independence
It isn't a timetable. Children can explore, return to something familiar and develop at their own pace, with a grown-up alongside them to guide and share the experience.
Originality has always mattered
From my earliest sketches and our original canvas paintings to the original learning systems we have developed today, creativity and originality remain at the heart of Canvas & Quill.
Ed has grown with that journey too. The original Ed became part of Focus & Ready™, while Ed the Ted® provides a familiar connection as children move into Landing Ready® and Hand-Over-Ready®.
Different stage. Familiar Ed.
Today, our posters, wall charts, workbooks and journals are available as digital downloads, ready to print and use wherever learning naturally happens.
Family at the heart
Family has been at the heart of Canvas & Quill from the beginning — and remains there today.
Our learning materials can be explored alongside parents, grandparents, extended family, carers and educators — creating opportunities to notice, talk, imagine, discover and learn together.
Our journals reflect another part of the original Canvas & Quill idea: alongside children's learning and development are family moments and memories worth capturing.
Our Values — PEOPLE
The values that shaped Canvas & Quill from the beginning continue to guide how we grow:
P — Progress
Growing alongside children's developing understanding, confidence and independence.
E — Environment
Finding opportunities for curiosity, discovery and learning in the everyday world.
O — Originality
Developing original learning concepts and distinctive designs with creativity and purpose.
P — Practicality
Creating thoughtfully designed learning materials for everyday use.
L — Learning
Encouraging recognition, understanding, exploration and meaningful connections.
E — Energy
Working with children's natural curiosity, movement, rhythm and enthusiasm.
Our Mission
To support children's learning through creative, engaging everyday moments, with thoughtfully designed learning materials that encourage curiosity, build understanding and grow confidence and independence.
Our Vision
A world where learning fits naturally into everyday life, creativity is part of daily experiences, and children have the confidence to explore, discover and grow.
The words that have been with Canvas & Quill from the beginning continue to capture what sits at the heart of everything we create:
Captivating Minds. Capturing Memories.
— Nana
Founder, Canvas & Quill