We had a Christmas story out ready to read to the children (as you do at this time of the year). One of our boys had been given a balloon frog from his new “Buddy” at school and had brought it into kinder.

It reminded us of a great Aussie story called “Tiddalick – the frog who caused a flood!” by Robert Roenfeldt.

We found the book in our library and read it to the children instead of the Christmas story – it is way more fun when we can be spontaneous!  It is about a greedy frog who drinks up all the water in Australia leaving it in drought. The animals get together and conspire to make Tiddalick release the water, which causes the flood.

Jesse sat at the front of the group …

and slowly blew up the balloon as was warranted in the story …

until it was fit to burst!

At the climax, to much laughter, he let all his air (the water) out until …

Tiddalick was again just an ordinary and embarrassed frog.

Once again we are reminded that props can really enhance the telling of a story – the other children were transfixed!

The Tiddalick play continued outside in the water tub …

filling him up with water and air ..

then releasing the “flood ‘

At times that ballon frog looked seriously ready to POP!

Here you can enjoy viewing the wonderful “Aboriginal Dreamtime Story  - Tiddalick” !

Following our exciting day with Wild Action we had a big chat about all the animals we had seen and handled, as you do.

The children were then provided with a small amount of plasticine, googly eyes etc., and some fairly small cards to create their favourite ‘Wild Action’ animal.

We were interested in seeing how they would cope with the size restriction.

They did very well!

We loved their mini animals.

Most made animals they had seen the day before …

and others just created their favourite animal!

They dictated gorgeous stories to our student teacher. Many of the children wanted them to go straight into their “special books” (their portfolios) which shows how highly they regarded their creations!

By limiting the size of the animal made and the amount of plasticine used, we found the children’s concentration and attention to detail was enhanced …

Now how’s that for focused!

Hello!

There was much excitment last week when “Wild Action Animals” rocked up to kinder!

Our children had been anticipating their visit for over a week …

and couldn’t wait to see which animals our zoologist friend Katie had in store for them to see.

Wild Action Animals is a wonderful learning experience for the children which includes loads of information and interaction with a variety of uniquely Australian Animals. Not only did we get to handle all of the animals, we learnt a lot of new facts and interesting words too.

We learnt this little “Sugar Glider” is a mammal who can glide for up to 100 meters and is nocturnal.

A “Bettong”  is a marsupial who is extinct on the mainland of Australia.

This “Little Lorikeet” is commonly found in trees in our area of Croydon but are rarely seen due to their excellent camouflage.

“Green Tree Frogs” are amphibians who can breath air and drink water through their skin which they shed every three days.

In Australia we don’t have any tortoises and the “Murray River Turtle” has his nose on the top of his head and has his skeleton on the outside.

A “Stumpy Tailed Lizard” is a reptile and he carries his food in his tail.

The Lace Monitor (Goanna) grows to around 2 meters long, runs very fast and uses his strong claws for climbing tree and his long tail to whack dingoes to keep them away. Monitors are the only lizards that have a forked tongue.

“Black Headed Pythons” are non- venomous so he constricts his prey until it suffocates.

An “Olive Python” is a reptile with 220 stomach muscles. When he flicks his forked tongue he is smelling.

Australian “Salt Water Crocodiles” are the largest reptiles in the world who can grow to around 6 meters long and live for up to 150 years! The ‘spikes’ on his tail are called scoot scales and he has a third eyelid called a nictitating membrane!

“Wild Action Animals” has been a true highlight of our kinder year for several years now!

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.

Most years as a follow up to our Wild Action incursion, we take the children to the Healesville Sanctuary on an excursion. It is a wonderful place to see and learn about our unique Australian animals.

One year we bought a set of Aussie animals from the Sanctuary shop and we pop them into all sorts of imaginary play areas, sometimes by themselves and sometimes with other creatures. Here we have used sand as a basis. The sand is great as it can be dry as we have it here, or wet so that the children can sculpt it however they like. Add a few logs, plants and rocks and there you have it!

In keeping with our current interest in Australian animals we taught the children a new version (one we made up ourselves) of an old favorite song.

The original is:

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree,

merry, merry king of the bush is he.

Laugh kookaburra laugh kookaburra,

Gay your life must be!

Our new version sung to the same tune is:

Crocodile sits in the muddy swamp,

Eating all the children – chomp, chomp, chomp.

Snap crocodile snap crocodile,

Chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp!

We have had a great incursion to our kindergarten called “Wild Action – the zoo comes to you“. A very animated presenter shows and talks about a selection of Australian animals, reptiles in particular, with a lot of hands on action by the children.

It is a great starting off point for many aspects of the curriculum. There is the obvious discussion about Australian animals and comparison of the different species – mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians  – and what sets them apart from each other. Our first follow up was putting together a book about the show, the animals we saw and what we were told about them. Reading and discussing it together was a fabulous large group activity, and then the children referred to it individually.

Following that the children drew a picture of their favourite animal (not always the one they held) and labelled it themselves. In most instances the children copied the names, but some are at the stage they can write words by themselves or with a little prompting. School children would probably be able to write more extensively and descriptively.

We added their photos of when they held the animals, then everyone came to the front of the group and read out their own stories.

The children really enjoy story writing and being able to read their stories aloud to their friends.