Irresistible Ideas for play based learning

Like many kindergartens and schools …

we have a supply of the old faithful indoor building blocks.

The children still use them nearly every day, but a couple of years ago we wanted to jazz up the block scene a bit and get in some new ones.

We didn’t want more of the same old thing, so managed to find these magnificent blocks through a company called ‘Mahkupu’ ( who we believe have since changed their name to ‘Block Play’).

Due to a very supportive committee we were able to purchase the full set of ‘plantation timber’ blocks which included a huge variety of wonderfully shaped blocks which mix and match beautifully with each other …

as well as a set of people and animals, and a castle set.

We also designed the shelving unit and were able to get one of our cabinet maker dads to build it to our specifications …

so the children can have access to them at any time.

Not a day goes by that they aren’t taken out to play ..

The shapes, designs and beautiful natural coloured timber makes the look and feel of the blocks irresistible to the children.

It is a bit hard to see what this started out as, but what wonderful team work and imagination was used to get it to this!

When we started discussing fossils last week, what they are, how they are found and who does the finding, the children loved the thought of being a paleontologist. So we thought, “OK, let’s give it a go!!”

After reading the story ‘Amanda’s Dinosaur’ by Wendy Orr we thought it would be fun for the children to create their own fossilized eggs.

We supplied balls of tacky clay  …

along with a variety of mini dinos, shells, stones and other small articles of interest.

The children buried their selected item deep into the middle of the clay…

and molded it into an egg shapes.

To make them more rock-like, we popped the finished balls out on the window ledge in the sun to dry out.

The next day, armed with hammers, large nails and brushes, we explained to the children how carefully the fossils needed to be uncovered to prevent them being destroyed …

then they chipped …

ever so carefully …

and brushed away …

still so carefully until …

they discovered …

their fossils!!

Most children chose to chip all the clay away …

and clean up their fossil …

while a few preferred to leave a little of the clay behind …

like the fossils they’d seen pictures of in our science books!

Of course we expected some children would be a little enthusiastic, causing their fossils to be damaged or destroyed, however, to the great delight of all of us, our budding paleontologists did such a careful job that 100% of fossils were successfully uncovered with out any damage!

And of course the fun didn’t end with the discovery of the fossils …

there was still plenty of fun to be had with the left over clay …

pounding it into dust!

What excitement … and so much FUN!

We like to have plenty of imaginative and sensory play areas for the children and this week we combined the two.

By tipping buckets of sand into last weeks water play, we created a dinosaur swamp using some mini dinosaur skeletons and a few large rocks.

The children had a very messy but delightful time burying and digging up the dinos.

They said it was a bit like being a pirate finding hidden treasure.

Water and sand went everywhere and we realised that placing the tub next to the board displaying our treasure maps …

wasn’t a smart idea!! … splish, splosh, splash!

This naturally led onto a discussion about archeology and fossils, so the next step was for the children to create their own fossils.

They used a variety of objects …

like shells, bones, coral and plastic dinosaurs.

They pressed them into clay …

leaving nice deep imprints …

then we mixed up the plaster and scooped it on top.

By the end of the session the plaster was dry enough to be taken off.

Uncovering the fossils was very exciting!

and ta-raa their very own ‘fossils’ to take home!

In the words of our friend Aiden to his Mum at the end of kinder today …

“Hey look what we found today … dinosaur fossils”

One of our boys bounced into kinder and told everyone that he was going on a holiday to “Pirate Bay”, which got the whole group talking about pirates and what they do.

The children decided they wanted to make pirate hats. Fortunately we have plenty of newspaper available, so we set up a table.

We showed the children how to fold an old favourite, simple style, triangular pirate hat …

and off they went.

They managed extremely well to follow the instructions and we were very impressed!

They folded, stuck and decorated their hats.

They did a wonderful job and they looked fantastic!

Pirates of course hunt for treasure, so many of the children went off and made their own maps.

This was very exciting!

One child even made the “X to mark the spot”!

Then they headed outside armed with their maps.

They hid treasure!

They searched for treasure  …

and they dug for treasure!

Large groups of children spent the whole morning in the sandpit digging up a large assortment of treasures.

Uncovering all sorts of things from cars, boats and spades to old shells and stones. Some children even uncovered what must have been … dinosaur bones!

While others preferred to collected ‘clean treasure’ from around the kinder.

We finished off the day with the whole group creating a map of our playground …

… all drawn by the children!

Then we went en masse, following the instructions on the map, through the playground until …

we found the treasure hidden in the ‘pirate boat’!

Naturally all the children were very excited to be able to take a piece of the precious treasure home!

Considering the early stage of the year, the children were amazingly cooperative and worked extremely well together as a group.

By the way, we changed a well known song, “A sailor went to sea, sea, sea” to “A pirate went to sea, sea, sea”! The children loved it!

If you have been following our activites, you will be aware that we love our bush box which Donna’s husband, Colin, made for us.

We have adapted it for many uses and placed it in various spots around the room.

It’s wonderful for imaginary play.

And it’s proven to be indispensable in our room!

At this early stage of the year, we have made it into a fishing pond.

The ground is green card and material, the water is blue card with plants, rocks and logs popped in for more interest.

Lovely for just one or two players …

or even more!

We all know how important fine motor construction is for childrens fine motor skills, but we find it is also great for their social skills.

We keep all of our construction materials in a set of lockers, where the children can access them at any time.

They are clearly marked with photos, so the children can identify the contents and know which tub to return the construction to when they have finished playing.

The children like nothing better than to bring boxes of construction down onto the mat to play with their friends.

We have learned through experience that if things aren’t in view of the children, chances are they won’t think about it…like they say “you can’t miss what you haven’t got”.  So if you’ve got it, let them know by making it available for them to choose when ever they please.

Children can’t have enough of this type of play… it’s physical, cognitive, social, fun, play based learning!

We are an Anglican kindergarten and are able to celebrate Christmas in a fairly traditional religious sense.

A very special part of the Christmas experience for the children is a family Carols’ night in the church, at which the kinder and pre-kinder children star.

To prepare the children for this, Father Tim takes us down to the church, where we paractice the carols we will be singing.

The children love visiting the church, and Father Tim tells them about the story of Christmas using his very old and beautiful nativity statues.

Not only do we visit the church but we also venture down stairs to see the chapel …

… where the children find another nativity scene.

As a result of these visits we like to have heaps of dramatic and imaginative play with the church visit as the basis.

We set up a stable in our bush box with all the dress ups for Mary and Joseph, sheep, donkeys, wise men, angels and of course there’s a baby Jesus.

We have a variety of nativity figures in different sizes, so we pop them around the room in various settings.

And of course we can’t forget the beautiful nativity stories available for the children to experience like;

The Story of Christmas by Vivian French and Jane Chapman …

Mary’s Baby by Jane Chapman, The Christmas book by Dick Bruna …

… and our all time favourite, Wombat Divine delightfully written by Mem Fox and beautifully illustrated by Kerry Argent.

For many years now our pre-kinder children have enjoyed a delightful puppet show by Puppeteer Jeanette Drummond of Dove Puppets.

Jeanette is a wonderful story teller who captures the children’s imaginations the moment she ventures behind her screen and raises the curtain to begin the show.

A very popular show we look forward to enjoying with the children at this time of year is Jeanette’s Christmas story  …

… which celebrates Santa Claus  …

…as well as the story of the birth of Jesus.

Jeanette’s enthusiasm and amazing ability to entertain along with her beautiful puppets, theatre, and props, keeps the children’s attention and interest throughout the entire show.

Wisely, Jeanette has a short break during the show where she connects with the children in a hands on session which includes inviting the children to feed her cow…

… and reindeer puppets …

… with miniature hand stitched fruits and vegetables.

She also sings familiar action songs with the children …

… and gets them up for a boogie, in order to get the wriggles out before the second part of the show commences.

With Christmas and the end of the kinder year so close we find that Jeanette’s Christmas story a wonderful way to introduce the children to the Christmas season.

Following our Wild Action incursion, we enlarged some photos of the animals we saw.

We then laminated them and put a velcro dot on the back so we could use them on a felt board.

By adding Australian bush props, the children could make up their own scenarios.

The children then made their own animals …

… popped the dots on the back and used mini felt boards which we had obtained from Reverse Art.

We also used these animals for a “Who am I?” game.

One at a time the children would choose an animal and pop it on the felt board out of sight of the others. They then described the creatures features, such as, “I am cold blooded, I have scoot scales on my tail, I have 66 teeth etc … Who am I?”

The children were so great at this game. They clearly took in a lot of information during our Wild Action visit!

When our Pre-kinder children arrived …

… they replaced the Aussie animals with a bucketload of felt characters and farm animals …

… and had a great time creating their own stories and play scenarios.

Quite a few of our families are heading off for holidays at the moment, mostly to sunny spots such as Fiji or Queensland. As the children’s interest in snails hasn’t waned, we asked them what sort of holiday a snail would have considering they move so slowly. The sorts of ideas the children came up with were “The next plant” or “The next door neighbours”.

We asked them to think about what sort of holiday they would like to go on if they were snails and they came up with some great destination ideas like; the moon, the supermarket, Queensland, Fairyland, the beach, the footy and the city!

They drew their snails, …

… some drew their holiday destination too.

Then an adult wrote the holiday story out for them …

… if they couldn’t do it themselves.

One child who wrote his own said, “I wanted my snail to go to the circus, but I didn’t know the word. Then I thought he could go to church, but I didn’t know the word, so he is going to the farm because I DID know that word!“

At the end of each session the children read out their own stories to the others.

Then we made their stories into books …

…  for everyone to enjoy.