Funded by the NSW Department of Education, the aim of ToddlerTaLK was to see how children used learning-oriented talk during their everyday interactions, and how this skill developed as they got older. With the help of five early childhood services from city, regional and rural centres in NSW, we video-recorded each of these children every three months during play and mealtimes. These observations allowed us to understand when children start to use different features of learning-oriented talk, and what such interactions sound and look like during children’s everyday activities. Young children’s ability to use learning-oriented talk allows them to extend their knowledge through interactions with educators and peers, and lays the foundations for future academic success. From our findings, we developed information sheets for educators and a practical ‘Observation tool and practice plan’ to help educators to observe, interpret and plan for young children’s use of learning-oriented talk in their classrooms.