Johnson House
Waratah Room
Story by Educator Shelley
Earlier in the year the children in Johnson House Waratah program planted some basil which has been enjoying the summer sun and growing in abundance of late.
This week, we planned to make a healthy nut-free pesto pasta to showcase one way basil can be enjoyed in cooking. Cooking is an integral part of the Johnson House program, and it is so wonderful when we can incorporate homegrown ingredients.
In the garden, the children eagerly picked some fresh basil. Once we had collected what we needed, we headed back into the room to start on our pasta. Whilst walking back the children spontaneously made up a song “we’re making basil pesto! …yay …. we’re making basil pesto!”
After washing the basil, the children picked the individual leaves and flowers from the stems. There was some discussion about how we didn’t use the stems or flowers because they would give the pesto a bitter taste. We spoke about what exactly does ‘bitter’ taste like? “Like a lemon!”, one child exclaimed.
As a replacement for pine nuts and cashews, we used crumbled up toasted flat bread. The process of crumbling the flatbread encouraged the children to use their small hand muscles to break up the bread. They further extended their fine motor skills using the pull string garlic crusher which was a lot of fun too! Each child got up close to the blender as we made the pesto to observe the changes in the mix, such as colour and texture.
Now, the moment of truth—what would our pesto taste like?… It was delicious! A great effort by everyone involved!
Family Day Care Sydney Wide
Story by Educator Support Officer Alix
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in our Family Day Care Sydney Wide services out on the Northern Beaches of Sydney.
Educators Lisa, Simone and Melissa’s gathered with their children at their weekly playgroup session at Newport Community Centre on Wednesday. Prior to attending, the children had worked on creating their own Christmas coloured tie-dyed tee-shirts, which they chose to wear to their annual playgroup Christmas party.
They also had the opportunity to celebrate the end of year get-together with cookie decorating, a musical group time and creating decorations.
A bit further up the peninsula, at Leanne’s Family Day Care in Avalon, Leanne surprised her children, by decorating her service with red and white Christmas decorations. Even her special garden animal statues got into the spirit!
Community Playgroups
Story by Playgroup Coordinator Rebecca
Wow, what a year it has been. How time flies!
Over the course of 2024 we have laughed, learnt, had fun and made friends. We have explored and experimented, crafted and painted (often ourselves), made connections with others and generally had a great time.
Throughout the year we have watched our children grow and learn through ‘unstructured play’ experiences that have allowed them to learn and practice new skills at their own pace. Unstructured play isn’t planned—it just happens, and it helps foster your child’s creativity and imagination, often in ways that we, as adults, don’t think about.
Our group times are an example of a structured play experience, where we sing, read stories and sometimes dance. This type of play is predictable and helps your child to learn about routines, and concepts such as ‘what happens next’ and to practice listening and participating in group settings.
Play builds confidence, helps develops essential physical, social, language and communication skills and encourages children learn about themselves and the world around them.
Let’s keep on playing and learning!
