Murray House
Story by Educator Jung
This week in Murray House the toddlers have been busy exploring music in numerous ways. They made music with the piano with Educator Mandy, and sang some of their favourite nursery rhymes, such as ‘Old MacDonald had a Farm.’ They examined the different pitches of tone and sound that each piano key made. The music became even more enjoyable after Educator Jung added props, such as puppets, to sing along with the nursery rhymes such as ‘Five Little Ducks’ and ‘Old MacDonald had a Farm’, as well as dancing ribbons. The puppets were an excellent resource for the children to use to connect the sounds and the animals. The children used the dancing ribbons to express themselves, spinning around while swinging the ribbons up and down and side to side.
Music and movement is an essential part of our daily program for Murray House toddlers. As children participate in music experiences, language skills are supported, and they also learn to interact with other children in a positive way.
Robinson House
Connecting with land through play
Story by Educator Susana
On Monday the children in the front room of Robinson House did an Acknowledgement of Country in the Goose Paddock. The children were intrigued by the different colours and hues of the leaves in this outdoor space—the lightness and darkness of the purples, the red, burgundy, yellow, brown, golden, green and other colours that the children couldn’t name. Instead, they described the shapes of the leaves, and identified the similarities of these shapes to other objects: ‘A star’, ‘This looks like a star’ and other things they thought the leaf shapes resembled.
The children used their hands to scrunch some of leaves, and we noticed the noise they made when we walked. Is that the noise of a nature walk in autumn? Can a season have a sound that identifies it?
The children observed, looked, touched, smelled, and shared their thoughts and sensations. They made patterns and shapes such as love hearts, circles and flowers with the leaves.
Then we all sat to watch the leaves falling down. They did make a beautiful sight. I believe the children enjoyed the experience with their senses and embraced the moments of calm and beauty as they smiled with curious looks and a true sense of wonder.
Robinson House purchased a rug with a large Aboriginal symbol. We looked up the rug symbol and found that it was ‘campfire and people gathering’. Some of the children decided to replicate the symbol with the leaves collected. The children watched their peers work, guiding their ideas, and suggesting to place more or less leaves in the middle of the picture, saying ‘This is the fire, here are the symbols for people.’
Family Day Care Sydney Wide
Story by Educator Support Officer Catherine
With a diverse group of Family Day Care Educators in our Inner West Hub (including Spanish, Mexican, Italian, Chinese, Taiwanese, English, Indian, Indonesian and Filipino) there is not only a heightened awareness of inclusive practices, but also much rich material to celebrate!
One of our Educators, Linglan Hseih, has been reflecting upon the significance of Ramadan with her service’s children and families, and has looked at the importance that colours and patterns play in the Muslim world.
One of the many activities that Linglan developed was a simple art exercise that not only explored shapes and colours, but also letter recognition as well.
Linglan also recreated the Kaaba using loose materials, and she coupled this with informative books borrowed from the local library to present a thoughtful and multi-layered display for the children to explore and talk about. (The Kaaba, also spelled Ka’bah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaʿbah al-Musharrafah, is a building at the center of Islam’s most important mosque, considered by Muslims to be the most sacred spot on Earth).
With the advent of Eid on May 12, which is celebrated by Muslims at the end of Ramadan, Linglan is also looking forward to celebrating this special holiday with her children and families.
Community Playgroups
Story by Playgroup Coordinator Rebecca
This week at Playgroups we have been looking at the natural world and insects. It has been exciting for us to discover that we can use leaves, twigs, branches and things from our environment in craft and fine motor activities such as tree branch threading. We also learnt about insects with wings and no wings at our science centre. By examining insects with magnifying glasses we were able to sort the insects into groups. We have enjoyed learning about insects this week.
