” You have the right to privacy” : Article 16 from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Our quiet space is used most days, sometimes by children retreating from the world for a little while, or by children who need that space for their private game. A curtain, even one that is transparent, makes us feel private, and we all sometimes need to be somewhere safe.
All the children have seen something about the Olympics on the television – and the gymnastics has especially captured their interest. So we did some of our best moves for each other……
…first as a group – showing off our balancing and stretching skills…
and then in the individual event…(Mia knows that gymnasts do a really fast run up before they do their somersaults and other tricks…)
….. Arley knows that they have to freeeze when they land…
…. and so does Kristy….
and when in doubt, we can always add a roll in there, like Regan.
In these Olympics, it’s having fun that wins the day, but I had to include a shot of our rowing team – hard work can also be fun.
We really enjoy using our wooden eggs and spoons – we got them as a reward from the Kids Go For your Life program when we received accreditation.
We got them out again today – what a useful activity for practising concentration, coordination and perseverance.
….many of the children have bigger siblings at school and they have quickly learnt about relays and teams – we don’t race but it’s a handy way to spread the waiting out so nobody has too long to wait.
It’s also nice to do an “old-fashioned” activity that children have been doing for many years – it makes a nice link with our grandparents when we still enjoy the same games.
And just look at Jack’s focussed body and careful steps – he’s really concentrating!
We had a busy day when we brought our bikes and scooters to kinder. We were promoting healthy exercise , (one of our Kids Go For Your Life messages), riding to school or kinder (with parental supervision just at present), science and art and language – and more – some community knowledge and road safety.
Judy, the lollipop lady , came to visit us, to tell us about her job of being a crossing supervisor.
We had thought of a couple of questions to ask her – and some of us already knew a bit about what she does because they sometimes use her crossing. But almost every child had at least seen Judy and her co-lollipop lady.
This was great, to have some first hand accounts of using or seeing the crossing – the children were able to make connections with their prior learning.
Then came the best bit – getting on the bikes!
We practised waiting for Judy to help us to cross the road, as well as pretending to be a car and stopping until she let us go.
Everyone got a go, we shared our bikes and scooters, and all in the beautiful autumn sunshine.
Thanks Judy!
We all brought fruit today to share in making and eating a Friendship Fruit Salad. The peeling and cutting and mixing all promoted lots of language about cooking at home and the fruits etc that they like (or don’t like). Cutting some of the fruit was a bit tricky – slippery or squishy or rolling away…
This was a good exercise in practising a real-life skill that we all need to master.
The conversation got onto seeds and stones and nuts and then onto the outside and the inside, the peel or skin and so on.
We all helped to make it, and most people had a taste of the different fruits, which is all we ask of them, just to try something different.
Makenzie said “I tasted it but I didn’t quite like it.”
But some people – including Billy – polished off the lot!
We had a footy day for our last day of term before our break.
Not everyone follows a team but we were all able to say something about one of the teams because everyone knows something about football in Ouyen!
Sam brought along a footy board – a coaching board where he had written all the names of the boys from kinder in the different positions. He could tell us what each position is called and what the player has to do.
We had some kicking and marking practice – the children chose whether they wanted to kick or throw, to mark or to fetch – and then there are the umpies and the crowd…
and we all enjoyed having some little savs for lunch (at the end of our healthy garden lunch).
Happy holidays and if your team is in the grandfinal, good luck!
We are on holidays now for a fortnight…
We have a very healthy crop of snap peas and silver beet, which we have been tending and monitoring – lots of excitement when we found our first pea pods!
Now it’s harvest time….
and some of the children (including some of the most faithful gardeners) announced that they don’t like peas or silver beet – or both!
Anyway, everyone enjoyed picking their share of the crop.
We used Jenny’s (from Let the Children Play) recipe for quiches in bread cases to include the silver beet.
So we had to…roll … pull..shape…cut…mix… measure… stir…pour…
and then wait for them to cook.
We also mixed some dip and ricotta for a snap pea dip.
And the verdict was….
delicious!
even from the people who thought they didn’t like silver beet …
or peas….
Real women don’t let skirts stop us!
We played a favourite game at kinder today, and there may be someone out there who doesn’t know it.
Duck Duck Goose can become Fish Fish Whale or Sheep Sheep Goat, but we usually stick with the original and we love it. You walk around the circle, touching each person lightly on the head as you say duck – then duck – keep going – duck – duck – until you pick one person by saying GOOSE to them – then you have to run around the circle and back to their place and they have to jump up and try to tag you before you get back.
Why does it work so well? Put together the power of choosing, the suspense of waiting to see if you are chosen (with having to listen to whether you are a duck – not picked – or a goose – picked!), the excitement of chasing and being chased, the skid into place before you are tagged by the goose and the enjoyment of barracking loudly for one (or sometimes both!) of the runners if you are sitting in the circle…
It all adds up to a great way to participate in a group activity, to use your memory to remember who has already had a go, and to get some running exercise – big circles make for lots of running!
We play other games as well of course, but this just seems to be one of the favourites every year – at our kinder, anyway.
I’d love to hear what your favourite outside game is, if you’ve got one.
We often have lovely days in winter – sunny and still – here in the Mallee – perfect for getting out and active. And after a break of 2 weeks, the children were very keen to get back into the swing of things. They certainly had plenty of energy to work off!
Thomas and Isaac started to set the hurdles up, but got sidetracked and went elsewhere…leaving the hurdles available if anyone wanted to use them…
It started off with just a couple but there was soon a line up waiting patiently.
Having adjustable hurdles – blocks and sticks, basically – makes a big difference to confidence levels as children choose which “degree of difficulty” they want to tackle.
And they are hearing the message that everyone is different but we can all still take part and have a go. For those who are really experienced and skilled hurdlers, the message is also that we don’t laugh when someone else doesn’t make it. There is often much more courage and effort involved for those people than for those who do it easily.
