Irresistible Ideas for play based learning » plants

::: sowing seeds

admin — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 14:01:57 +0000

We were having a bit of chat with the children about the birdlife we find in our kinder garden. As you all can imagine, we don’t get a lot – who would visit a place which is full of rampaging four and five year olds?

Although our resident family of magpies never fail to visit us daily!

One of our familes recently donated a feeder for the wild birds and slowly over time we are getting less of the crows and Indian minors, and more rosellas …

and corellas which is very exciting!

As we were refilling the birdfeeder one day …

the children commented on the ‘grass’ growing under the feeder and were interested to learn it was the bird seed growing!

We talked about the variety of seeds in the mix …

and how lovely it felt!

We popped some seed into tubs and added different sized pouring containers so the children could have some sensory fun.

After enjoying the lovely experience of it for a while we though it might be fun to plant it and see what grew.

We were lucky enough to have a lot of clear baby food jars which we thought would enable the children to witness the root sytem taking hold.

So with a bit of cotton wool …

a scoop of seeds …

and a good squirt of water the children planted out their own miniature gardens.

All they’ll need now is a dose of sun which they will have to get at home as it is term break here and we didn’t think they would survive two weeks without some tender loving care. Fingers crossed the children will rock up with some nice interesting growth in their jars when we return to kinder!

lifelike lizards

admin — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 14:01:03 +0000

You can buy some wonderful props quite inexpensively if you look around.

These gorgeous lizards are available from toy shops and look very lifelike.

We like to use them both indoors and outdoors …

as they are extremely solid.

We love to create natural play spaces for them …

with lots of earthy and sensory materials.

They really are irresistible …

and a good size …

with delightful features …

encouraging lots of imaginative play.

Resulting in wonderful play based learning!

fishing pond

admin — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:39:26 +0000

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!