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Exploring 16 areas of play!
We are back in the centre and we welcome back some of our Tamariki in level 3. They were all so happy to be back at centre and to have a little bit of normality after the lockdown. We continued to plan experiences as a whole centre to keep our tamariki at home connected through Zoom calls, fence visits and resource packs.
We had special days including concentrating on the 16 areas of play. Play is a valuable way that children naturally learn and for this reason it has become an important aspect of teaching and learning within New Zealand early childhood centres.
Children learn best when they have the time, space and support to explore, experiment and try things out. Providing interesting play materials and opportunities that spark interest is a good starting point. We’d like to share our experience in this important space with families at home so together we can all support our young ones to love learning.
Tamariki in the Kahurangi room enjoyed a fun whacky hair day, we explored the different things we did with their hair and loved looking in the mirror at themselves and using the hairbrushes and clips. Water and sand have been a hit with the children and a particular love has been imaginary play with the play kitchen and going shopping, so have changed the environment to suit their needs.
The new carpentry table in the Pounamu room has been an amazing resource and the tamariki have loved exploring their skills along with learning the safety and rules for the carpentry area. They absolutely loved learning to use the hammers, nails and drills. We were lucky to have our cook Jodi in our bubble and it was a great opportunity for us to get to know her and she enjoyed her time with the children. Some of the children loved the yoga moves and we did them very often. Yoga is great way to support children manage their anxiety it also improves children's emotional regulation.
In the kawakawa room bubble the tamariki have been working on their social skills by working together, sharing, and taking turns. They have also been working on their fine motor development by doing tabletop activities that provides them with opportunities to exercise their fine motor muscles. The tamariki have been also enjoying their quiet time during this difficult time and finding pleasure in reading books and relaxing.