Outdoor Kindy Week (term 3, 2013) – Day 1
August 19, 2013Outdoor Kindy Week (term 3, 2013) – Day 3
August 21, 2013
The campfire was well alight by the time the children arrived this morning, the smell of smoke hung in the air, and there was only a hint of drizzle as the children excitedly rushed through the gate.
With help from one of our mums, and a couple of children, we put up the new tent addition for our gazebo…
it was the perfect place stories, and drawing during the day, as well as a cozy place for rest time.
We had added a pile of new loose bits such as tires, wire trellis, planks, ropes, tubes and large sticks to the outdoor area before the children arrived, and we were eager to see if they were as excited as we were about the potential of them.
As it turns out the pile still looked pretty much exactly the same after the children left this afternoon as it did when they arrived – they did play amongst it during the afternoon, but showed no interest in moving it about or creating with it today.
The highlight of the morning was definitely what is now affectionately known as the mud pit (you may remember it from yesterdays post as the ‘new’ unusable fire pit)
The children (and several of the staff) took great delight in taking running jumps into the water and seeing who could make the biggest splashes.
The more this happened the sloppier, thicker and muckier the water became, the muddier we became, and the more the laughter and excitement built.
The calls of ‘IN COMING’ could be heard through the yard as one after the other the children ran from all directions and tried to ensure a clear space for take of on their arrival at the edge of the ooey gooey mud.
It was so much fun. Like really fun. Total uninhibited, uncontrollable fun. It did hit the point that as we came back down from the euphoria of the experience, that we realised we were so muddy, that we needed to hose ourselves down to clean up a bit…..well that was just a little more fun!
Thank goodness for our waterproof pants, coats and rubber boots – they really proved their worth today…even with out any rain.
The woodwork table once again proved a popular place to spend time today. Gluing, screwing, hammering, creating and exploring how the clamps and the drill work.
Creativity was sparked by the inclusion of natural materials near the clay…
and the woodwork bench…
Chalk drawings appeared on any flat surface that could be found…
A beautiful collaborative art work was created over the day.
The children crushed ochre, which had been collected by one of the staff from the flinders ranges,
and used it to make a textured painting medium to cover a canvas on which they had masked off some areas.
They were so engaged with every one of the processes they went through to create their masterpiece, and seeing their faces as they peeled away the tape and saw what they had created was beautiful,
as was witnessing the very evident sense of pride as they paraded it around the outdoor play space showing everyone the amazing result.
There was some master chef action happening in the digging patch mud kitchen…
Some of the children had bought along vegetables to make a pot of real soup.
They peeled and chopped them….
collected herbs from our vegie garden…
snipped them and added them to the soup.
We also cooked toast and sausages on the fire.
The children worked really hard at spreading their toast with the butter and vegemite,
before devouring its warm buttery yumminess.
The chooks supplied us with a few more eggs today, so they also made it into the pan on the fire as an afternoon snack.
Eggs collected fresh from the nest, then prepared, cooked, and shared by the children.
There were quiet moments where children noticed the little things like the delicate blossoms on the peach tree….
….some spent time watching the ever changing patterns of the clouds in the sky…
there were places to hide…
and things to dig up…
…one busy little man even fell asleep during rest time and had the pleasure of a snooze in the fresh air…
An industrious group of girls spent much of the morning creating a ‘club house’. They decorated it…
collected special treasures to keep in it….
…built the practical inclusions such as a bathroom, complete with hand basin and rock and packing tape toothbrushes…
They even noticed with amazement the accidental creation of things such as this letter ‘a’ that suddenly appeared as they worked together collecting, creating, and displaying their treasures – most of which had apparently been left during the night by the fairies…
This afternoon we had the grandpa of one of our children bring his tractor to kindy for all of the children to have a look at. It was very exciting!
Our chooks were once again part of our day. They wandered about as we went on with our day…
and enjoyed some crazily relaxed time getting used to being handled….
I think Dotty is pretty ok with the concept!
As our day together drew to a close, we cooked marshmallows on the campfire…
Tomorrow is the first day of outdoor kindy week for our bugs group, and the children from the frogs group will join us for their extra day over the next two days as well. We are all looking forward to seeing what wonderful things we will get to experience with them!
Written by Nic.
16 Comments
What a wonderful day! These children are very lucky to be able to explore their natural environment and learn about the world around them. They are lucky to have TIME to follow their curiosities, time to relax, time to try, but most of all TIME TO BE A CHILD!! I think i need to invest in some water proof pants, I think i would make the biggest splash!!
What a wonderful day! These children are very lucky to be able to explore their natural environment and learn about the world around them. They are lucky to have TIME to follow their curiosities, time to relax, time to try, but most of all TIME TO BE A CHILD!! I think i need to invest in some water proof pants, I think i would make the biggest splash!!
What amazing children we have at our kindy, they really know how to make the most of every opportunity to learn. They also taught me how much fun it is to jump in puddles and get as muddy as possible, thanks for reminding us how much fun being four can be. Can’t wait for tomorrow.
What amazing children we have at our kindy, they really know how to make the most of every opportunity to learn. They also taught me how much fun it is to jump in puddles and get as muddy as possible, thanks for reminding us how much fun being four can be. Can’t wait for tomorrow.
Another day, another load of muddy soggy clothes to wash …. and get dry by morning ready for another day at kindy!
It also hopefully means another good nights sleep for my master 4 year old. (He even managed a sleep in this morning)
Does he really need to be the the muddiest, wettest child at kindy?!! 😉
Another day, another load of muddy soggy clothes to wash …. and get dry by morning ready for another day at kindy!
It also hopefully means another good nights sleep for my master 4 year old. (He even managed a sleep in this morning)
Does he really need to be the the muddiest, wettest child at kindy?!! 😉
Max had the best day at outdoor kindy today….. He got dirty and wet and LOVED it!! Thanks ladies for encouraging Max and all the children to be brave and adventurous 🙂
Max had the best day at outdoor kindy today….. He got dirty and wet and LOVED it!! Thanks ladies for encouraging Max and all the children to be brave and adventurous 🙂
I truly feel blessed and so grateful to have Lobethal Kindy as my child’s learning environment. This is the most organic and uninhibited form or learning children can get and Oscar is absolutely loving it. He doesn’t know what a unique learning environment he has and how lucky he is… this is all he knows. To him, this is how kindy is for everyone! I love OUR kindy!
I truly feel blessed and so grateful to have Lobethal Kindy as my child’s learning environment. This is the most organic and uninhibited form or learning children can get and Oscar is absolutely loving it. He doesn’t know what a unique learning environment he has and how lucky he is… this is all he knows. To him, this is how kindy is for everyone! I love OUR kindy!
I can ‘hear’ the giggles of delight and the squelching oozing sounds of splashing in the mud ….wish I could join in! The pictures are wonderful snapshots of the children totally involved in their learning. ….. I will watch your blog with interest to see what the pile of new bits looks like as the week progresses !
I can ‘hear’ the giggles of delight and the squelching oozing sounds of splashing in the mud ….wish I could join in! The pictures are wonderful snapshots of the children totally involved in their learning. ….. I will watch your blog with interest to see what the pile of new bits looks like as the week progresses !
love love love love. I can never tell you enough how grateful and appreciative we are of all the staff at Lobethal Kindy for being so passionate and inspired. We are truly blessed to find ourselves in a community that values, respects and embraces the natural learning journey of our small folk.
I hope you inspire other educators and parents (to children of all ages) to take this approach to learning – the effects of raising confident, valued and empowered children will be further reaching than we can ever imagine.
Also i have a large pile of muddy washing to do today…
love love love love. I can never tell you enough how grateful and appreciative we are of all the staff at Lobethal Kindy for being so passionate and inspired. We are truly blessed to find ourselves in a community that values, respects and embraces the natural learning journey of our small folk.
I hope you inspire other educators and parents (to children of all ages) to take this approach to learning – the effects of raising confident, valued and empowered children will be further reaching than we can ever imagine.
Also i have a large pile of muddy washing to do today…
Agree with all the comments above- so sad that I don’t have any kids at kindy at the moment, I know they would have absolutely loved outdoor kindy week! I’m all inspired to create a bit of outdoor kindy at home. Now where are my rubber boots?….
As usual, great blog- love reading the updates!
Agree with all the comments above- so sad that I don’t have any kids at kindy at the moment, I know they would have absolutely loved outdoor kindy week! I’m all inspired to create a bit of outdoor kindy at home. Now where are my rubber boots?….
As usual, great blog- love reading the updates!