As part of our continued SunSmart education, children were taught how to apply sunscreen and to use the mirror to check that all the lotion is rubbed in. Children were then given the opportunity to apply their own sunscreen in front of a mirror to check correct application.
Puzzles were available to engage and challenge children. It was pleasing to see children gravitate to the puzzles as they develop and further build their tenacious and resilience muscles as they attempt to master the complexity of completing a puzzle. In the theme of all things Australian with Australia Day looming, we used puzzles to help illustrate our states and territories as well as a few of our native animals.
Construction via the use of Duplo and integrating blocks, allow for creative expression and hypothesising the cause and effect of building structures which challenge the forces of gravity.
Children were also able to demonstrate their literacy skills as they worked through the letters of the alphabet attempting recognise, recall and name the letters of the alphabet. They enjoyed a variety of stories throughout the week extending on the receptive language especially learning about Australian creatures keeping in line with an Australian theme.
As we continue to provide children with a relaxed environment to explore and settle a number of children were just happy chill'n, conversing and simply just hanging around comfortable doing absolutely nothing.....or were they just relaxing?
A few of the children used this free play time opportunity to showcase their interpretive dance routines.
The bark area is our greatest treasure for those seeking a more vigorous and challenging play based area. The children are always determined to conquer a variety of climbing equipment to be rewarded by a huge slide down our slippery dip. The children also love the challenge of the monkey bars and enjoy the satisfaction of conquering the challenge more. Here they have an opportunity to further extend their problem solving skills and risk mitigation abilities. But despite all the climbing equipment, you simply cant beat climbing up our tree. Our infants and toddlers don't miss out on active play, the seesaw is always a hit with our youngsters as they try to understand new concepts revolving around balance, cause and effect.
Building blocks were also set out to provide children with an ability to extend their developing dexterity as they manipulate the pieces to form a variety of shapes and objects, engaging their creativity as they transform these innate objects into meaningful and purposeful items of value and fun.
Our cubby was set up to reflect a home like environment to engage children in important dramatic play. The doll house's were also setup in the indoor play area to provide children with the same dramatic play experiences indoors.
During this week the children were provided numerous opportunities to participate in painting based craft activity expressing their creative flair as they create their painting master pieces. A popular craft activity was the creation of the Emu, our famous native Australian big bird. The children were able to identify the colours of the emu and the positioning of their feathers. Their craft reflected these characteristics and the children had to recall all they could remember about the emu as they created their own version of the bird by further extending on their important fine motor skills as they held fine paint brushes, moving them from paint tubs to paper and then applying their version of feathers using clue. The children had to use their language and co-operation skills as they navigated around the sharing of the craft resources. The children were also able to participate in dot painting craft as a tribute to indigenous art form and our way of acknowledging aboriginal art culture.
The children really enjoyed participating in a slightly different craft painting, where the paint is applied using centripetal force. The craft requires coordination as the children wind a handle at speed to apply the paint. There is also the element of surprise as you cant see the paint is applied. It allows the children to hypothesise and forecast what the final painting will look like and then to compare what they thought with the actual painting.
Group time allowed for participation in group discussion based on a book that was read followed by singing a song and gesturing the moves. The group times intent was to encourage memory recall, participating in an orderly discussion and continue developing coordination skills through movement to song. They enjoyed their large group activity story about crunch the crocodile, the hungry crocodile, who scares all the other animals in the river. But one day, Crunch gets scared himself.
Future Activities to further develop and extend on their current learning
Continue to provide a relaxed and free flowing environment to assist the children explore and make new friendships as well as build on existing ones as they become comfortable and settle in. As children start to feel comfortable in their setting, they begin to freely share their interests and demonstrate their strengths and developmental needs as they become active participants.
Comments