Spinning colors

Posted on March 13, 2016 by Louise under Creativity & Imagination, Enquiry & Discovery, movement & physical learning

Thankyou to the person who first applied paint to paper inside a salad spinner! This is an art activity made for preschoolers! We have 2 different spinners, which take real motor planning to operate. An art experience of mixing color becomes very physical as you learn to pull and then let go quickly, because to hold the string means it doesn’t retract and the spinner has to be taken apart and string rewound. The children who practise their bowling in cricket quickly understand about this variation on the same skill of releasing. Others needed hand over hand tuition sometimes, but they all persevered – building learnacy skills through this strong motivation to explore color through movement. (with engagement comes language, planning, review and evaluation, concept building and personal choice.)

The results were as individual as they are.

Hot days at kinder

Posted on November 20, 2015 by Louise under Emergent Curriculum, movement & physical learning, Uncategorized

Hot days invite water play, but with a group that is very much into social and role play, water play can have an original twist. On this day,the girls had set up a foot shop, where feet were bathed, wiped, sponged, cooled down and made beautiful.

Then they started on arms, too.

This play was gentle, caring and practical – one situation where water is soothing and calming. Not far away, in the “lake”, it was exuberant and satisfyingly splashy.

Sustainability in Practice – Making the Tyre Garden

Posted on June 25, 2015 by Louise under Early Learning, Emergent Curriculum, movement & physical learning, The Natural Environment

We have been digging up some ground to shift our succulents. The ground has been pretty hard so sometimes we need a rest, but the satisfaction of doing things for themselves has kept the children going. (No tap nearby means they had to cart the water.)

This work will mean we can plant our vegies next term. From garden to plate.

a leaf slide

Posted on June 5, 2015 by Louise under Early Learning, Emergent Curriculum, movement & physical learning, The Natural Environment

Waiting ….

for a leaf slide!

Then help to set it up again

for the next person.

The Tyre Shop

Posted on June 5, 2015 by Louise under Creativity & Imagination, Early Learning, Emergent Curriculum, learning about our community, movement & physical learning

Some tyres have been delivered to the kinder. Louise has plans to make a tyre garden. But in the meantime …..

Setting up the tyre shop was simple – just start.

Neil hauled some more spare tyres over.

Use the switches board from the shed to start the hoist and gently lift the car up to work on the tyres.

Now “who was here first?” asks Rory?

Offering an environment that includes “loose parts” gives the children opportunities to create and develop their own ideas. And at the end, they go back to being tyres for other purposes, but in the play there has been independence, cooperation, imagination, role play, language and communication, ingenuity and the satisfaction of using their own ideas and skills. And they played safely and sensibly amongst the pile of tyres.

Box cars

Posted on June 5, 2015 by Louise under Creativity & Imagination, Early Learning, Emergent Curriculum, Language & Literacy, movement & physical learning

Box cars started with Blaze’s idea and then quickly dominated the group’s interest for the week. Everyone needed their own personalised number plate – using their name of course. Seat belts were also essential especially as the box cars did go fast….

hunting a kangaroo

Posted on May 15, 2015 by Louise under Early Learning, Games & Activities, Learning through play, movement & physical learning

This week the children have been enthusiastic about playing a new game – modelled on hunting practices by the Aboriginal people on the Loddon Plains in Central Victoria – where the hunters had to creep and run after a kangaroo, but be ready to freeze if the kangaroo turns to look around for danger. There are some real strategists in the group – and they have been able to creep up on unsuspecting kangaroos and catch them before they turn around next. On a cold autumn day, every child has been running, ducking and freezing – and trying not to make a sound (a hard thing to do but excellent practice for executive skill development!)

More fishing

Posted on March 27, 2015 by Louise under Emergent Curriculum, Learning through play, movement & physical learning, The Natural Environment

Fishing has been an ongoing interest all term – with lots of play around hauling the big ones in – cooking – eating – and going out again. We have had songs, stories, rhymes and games. The physical activity itself seems to be the enduring interest, outside, where the rope, net and big rocks are, rather than inside with the magnetic fishing.

Who can measure or even attempt to understand the deep satisfaction that heavy physical work gives a child? the role play may be a factor, but the muscle work, coordination and physical memory is being built up each time as well. These children are engaged and satisfied in their physical selves. I wonder how many adults can say that?

Tales from the Sandpit

Language, Literacy and Learning at Kindergarten

Category Archives: movement & physical learning