The Mallee is an area of extreme heat in summer – and also extreme UV radiation – not at all the same thing though it’s hard for most of us to separate the 2 out.

We start working on SunSmart routines on day 1 of kinder, and a lot of different learning is threaded through these simple routines. Children learn to apply their own sunscreen (with adult supervision to support this) and to take responsibility for their own health. We have a sunscreen station with mirror and the daily UV rating taken from the SunSmart website – we are  starting the discussion with the children about the number on the poster each day – and we look for children’s growing awareness that this is an important indicator for them to know about ( a real world use of numeracy).

Literacy is a part of the hats routine – we are starting to recognise both our own and other people’s names.

There are also a few children’s books which feature the SunSmart routines in a natural and low key way – so that the children can relate what they read about to their own experiences and routines. Thomas and Grandpa are always popular book characters!