Outdoor Kindy Week 2014 Term 4, Day 3
November 12, 2014Nature Connect – Frogs’ First Week. The Beginning..
May 26, 2015With each season comes the emergence of whole new set of challenges. We have had plenty of experience in learning to cope with the cold and the wet that term 2 & 3 tend to throw at us, but todays forecast of 37 degrees really presented us with a whole new realm of challenges and learning opportunities.
The day involved constant and ongoing risk assessment. There was no way we would put the health and safety of the children or staff at risk just to remain outside. We gave the children the opportunity to discuss at morning meeting all the ways we could keep ourselves happy and healthy on such a hot day. “stay in the shade”, “drink lots of water” ,”play in the ‘pool'”, “don’t run around”, “go inside”, “wear sunscreen”, “get wet”, “spray each other with the squirter bottles”.
As always the children bought so much prior knowledge to the conversation, and together we discussed the importance of doing all of these things. We also explained that if we deemed it was too hot to stay outside, we would all need to go inside.
Thankfully for most of the day the cloud cover hung about, and we have a lot of shaded areas in our outdoor environment that we could utilise through out the day.
The cooler morning saw many under the shade of the apple tree creating with pegs, wire and pens…
Blowing bubbles…
or using the tools at the making table…
playing in boxes…
finding treasures…
or helping with the engineering feat of relocation of the cascading ponds to the digging patch where the water could be channelled into the surrounding garden beds…
We emptied the bit of water that remained in yesterdays pool onto the garden and made it even bigger.
The majority of the children spent a good part of the day soaking wet! They moved from the pool to other activities and back again. Even those that were reluctant to get their feet wet were eventually lured by the refreshing coolness of the water.
For those that weren’t that interested in being totally wet all the time, the mist kit above the sandpit provided a wonderfully cooling place to be.
We had so much fun challenging each other to fill our hats with water and tip it on our heads…
In the afternoon this became the ‘ice bucket challenge’ …a bucket of water tipped over your head. Superman was the first one to decide this was indeed a great idea,
his enthusiasm spurred on a multitude of others following in his footsteps.
Even the ones who kept backing away from the challenge, eventually decided it was indeed too much fun to pass up…
Katie decided that the bucket was way to small to be any challenge at all, and upped the anti considerably by tipping a huge container of water over her head, much to the delight of the chanting crowd of giggling children…
After lunch we decided to spend rest time inside to let our bodies relax and have some time in the cool. While we continued to enjoy being wet and cool we chopped up fruit and Lee made us delicious, icy cold fruit slushies in her thermomix.
As our last Outdoor Kindy Week for 2014 has come to an end, we will continue the process of reflection. What worked? what didn’t? what did we do well? what could we do better? and most importantly, where to now?
2014 has been a fabulous year of learning for us and the children. Outdoor kindy weeks, beach kindy, bush kindy, forest kindy – without your support in having your children prepared for all of these adventures, we couldn’t do what we do! We thank the parents and families for their amazing support and encouragement, and wish you and your children all the best as they move off to school. We hope that the memories, love of learning and craving for knowledge that they have all shown during their kindy year stays with them forever. Each and every one of them will always hold a special place in our hearts.
Written by Nic
12 Comments
What a fantastic day we had. How amazing are our children as they continue to learn and create no matter what the weather or whatever Mother Nature throws at us. Playing in the outdoors and in nature has no barriers for the children and they truly are little learning sponges, soaking it all up. I wonder how many children went home and encouraged their parents to take on the bucket hat challenge?
What a fantastic day we had. How amazing are our children as they continue to learn and create no matter what the weather or whatever Mother Nature throws at us. Playing in the outdoors and in nature has no barriers for the children and they truly are little learning sponges, soaking it all up. I wonder how many children went home and encouraged their parents to take on the bucket hat challenge?
what a cool day !!!!!!! enjoyed getting wet and watching the joy and laughter on the children’s faces when they poured water on themselves…what a wonderful place to work xxxIt has been an amazing year with the children, love the final words of the blog, great job Nic xx
what a cool day !!!!!!! enjoyed getting wet and watching the joy and laughter on the children’s faces when they poured water on themselves…what a wonderful place to work xxxIt has been an amazing year with the children, love the final words of the blog, great job Nic xx
Wow! The day is never over until you’ve read the daily blog, thanks Nic! This one made me reflective not only of the outdoor kindy day that our children experienced today but the whole amazing year. May have been some water here in my eyes reading the last bit, not because going to school is sad but from being appreciative and proud of what my child has got out of kindy year, thank you Lobethal Kindy!!!!!
Wow! The day is never over until you’ve read the daily blog, thanks Nic! This one made me reflective not only of the outdoor kindy day that our children experienced today but the whole amazing year. May have been some water here in my eyes reading the last bit, not because going to school is sad but from being appreciative and proud of what my child has got out of kindy year, thank you Lobethal Kindy!!!!!
Wow Nic! A very heart felt blog post. It really is starting to feel a bit too much like the end now 🙁
I don’t know how we are going to be able to say goodbye to these kids!
Wow Nic! A very heart felt blog post. It really is starting to feel a bit too much like the end now 🙁
I don’t know how we are going to be able to say goodbye to these kids!
Could not have said it better Kerri. So overwhelmingly happy because of the experience and love that each and every teacher shares with all the kids but also a few sad moments reflecting back over the year that it is all about to end as our kids move on to school. Kobi i know has had a fantastic time this week just like other weeks but it is not until one of your blogs comes through that i actually know what he has done for the day. The smile on his face in the photos mean so much seeing the joy that kindy brings to him since he will not discuss much with us of his day.
Thank you thank you thank you – will never be enough for what you have given our 2 boys over the years.
Could not have said it better Kerri. So overwhelmingly happy because of the experience and love that each and every teacher shares with all the kids but also a few sad moments reflecting back over the year that it is all about to end as our kids move on to school. Kobi i know has had a fantastic time this week just like other weeks but it is not until one of your blogs comes through that i actually know what he has done for the day. The smile on his face in the photos mean so much seeing the joy that kindy brings to him since he will not discuss much with us of his day.
Thank you thank you thank you – will never be enough for what you have given our 2 boys over the years.
What an awesome time the kids have had again. Well done to all you ladies who work so hard to give our kids a magical kindy experience.
What an awesome time the kids have had again. Well done to all you ladies who work so hard to give our kids a magical kindy experience.