Major New Resources

Joey and the new aviary: We have a new budgie, Joey, who is shortly to be joined by another young budgie - thanks to Ruby's mum, Nita. Joey gave us a big fright on Friday. He is so little that he managed to squeeze out through the bars of the old cockatiel cage. Fortunately Rie was able to catch him, so on the weekend Irene and James bought a new mobile aviary (you'd be amazed at what can fit in Irene's Honda Jaz!).




Storage Box seat: We needed somewhere to store our new Timberloc construction set and on the deck was the obvious place. However, we didn't want to lose the seat on the deck so James agreed to make a locker seat. After several weekends of beavering away in the shed, we now have an amazing piece of furniture, complete with 'hobbit hole' in the end for children to access the construction set when the lid is locked.

Timberloc Construction Set: Several of our children are passionate about building so we have purchased this wooden construction set. Aimee (Workforce student) and our newest KIDSPACE kid, Anika, are busy oiling the wood before the children can play with it. Each piece slots together to make child sized constructions. Watch this space for more news on what the children do with it once all of it has been oiled.

Exploring Messy Play.

Last week I introduced Poesy to fingerpaint.

She initially approached this experience with caution, uncertain as to what the mass of pink goop was, but after a little encouragement and scaffolding she took to it like a duck to water.

Well she was a joy to watch, taking handfuls of the paint and squeezing it through her little fingers. She then experimented slapping her hand down on it appearing intrigued with the fact that by doing this she could make it splatter. She then had a little taste, but by her facials, I don't think it met the flavour test.

Through this experience Poesy is developing the concept of cause and effect, texture and taste, fine and gross motor development and hand eye coordination. Monica

Songs of the Sea

Last Thursday, Monica and Ann took Donnagh, Cian, Noah, Tarquin, Ataahua, Libby, Ruby, Zoe, Emily,and Isabella to a Capital E production at the Municipal Theatre. We also were lucky to have the help of Isabella and Emily's mum Zilda. We caught the public bus into town, and after sharing morning tea, entered the Theatre to watch the Songs of the Sea stage performance.

All the children enjoyed this outing and I think in particular, the bus ride.

Upon waiting for the bus ride home, the children also met a policeman on duty, who kindly agreed to have his photo taken with us.

All in all, an enjoyable morning out.

Through this experience, the children are developing an expectation that music, art, drama, and dance can amuse, delight, comfort, illuminate, inform, and excite, as well as an awareness of connections between events and experiences within and beyond the early childhood education setting. Monica

Being with Squeezy

Charlotte pointed over to the guinea pig hutch from the deck. I asked, "Do you want to go over and have a look?" she replied, "yes". We went and had a look at Squeezy. Charlotte suggested that she have a hold, so I went and got a towel off the line. We made our way over to the new chair on the deck and Charlotte had a cuddle with Squeezy. She patted him gently noting how soft he was. Jak then came along and took an interest in Squeezy, patting his soft fur and ears. After this, Charlotte decided to move away and Jak got a little closer. He continously patted Squeezy's fur and at one point pushed down on Squeezy a few times so I reminded him to be gentle which he was. I could see that Jak and Charlotte enjoyed this little quiet time observing and cuddling Squeezy.

It's great for children to experience looking after pets, it provides them with an experience to show empathy and care for animals.

Tamara

Paige's puku

One morning Paige was looking through her profile book. She enjoys looking back on her photos and what she was doing, particulary her baby photos. Paige came across a photo where her puku (tummy) was showing. It was a story about Paige putting sand on her puku. Paige laughed and thought it was a funny photo.

Paige knew exactly what the story was about just by looking at the photos. She lifted up her top and started to show her puku. She was rubbing it and laughing and thought it was soo funny.

"My puku doesn't have sand anymore aye Ainslee?'. 'No your tummy looks very clean', I replied.

Paige is continually developing awareness of her body parts and is confident in expressing herself about it. Paige also enjoys re-visiting her learning, via her profile book. This provides Paige with a sense of belonging and self-worth.

Ainslee

Baby Anaura

Acacia and her whaanau welcomed baby Anaura to their whaanau on Good Friday. Both mum and baby are doing well. They visited us at KIDSPACE yesterday and we were delighted to met little Anaura. Acacia was so proud to show off her little sister.

Ainslee

Newsletter April 2011