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Weekly Sports Day Fun!

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Children love moving and movement, and being physically active is an important part of everyday life. Considering this, we kaiako started organizing Sports Day in the daycare every week and it has become very popular.

The rationale behind organizing sports day every Wednesday is primarily to help tamariki gain and refine gross motor skills, social competence, love for collaborative play, develop team spirit, and be school-ready.

Our tamariki love to play outdoors and participate in different games and sports! They are taking the agency of their own learning with great enthusiasm and awe. Nga tamariki are finding learning outdoors more motivating, enjoyable, and memorable.

Exercise also builds tamariki’s independence and self-esteem, as outdoor spaces encourage autonomy, tamariki can come to perceive wild outdoor spaces, in particular, as their own domain and develop feelings of competence and self-efficacy.

Moreover, Physically active play supports learning across all strands of Te Whāriki. In particular, it supports the Exploration strand, where children gain confidence in and control of their bodies.

Sports day will be organized on a regular basis as this will provide an opportunity for tamariki to develop positive learning dispositions as well as motivation, involvement, and endurance. The ability to take risks and successfully overcome challenges develops confidence, self-esteem, and self-efficacy or feelings of mastery, which are in turn linked to enhanced resilience.