We walked together as a group, reminding children about safety and staying together by holding a friend's hand. The children were having a sports race as they were running, hopping and jumping. This was indeed great for gross motor development and confidence building in their development skills. Te Whariki, Exploration Strand states, "Children gain confidence in and control of their bodies" (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 86). There were trees and bushes and the children created tunnel to crawl through and played hide and seek.
We then visited the alpacas. The children were calling out to Pacman and interestingly Pacman seem to response and ran towards us followed by the others. According to Mindes, 2006, "Social studies is the exploration of people's interactions in and with their social and physical environment" (p. 107). Children really enjoyed themselves and had so much fun as they had the freedom to explore the outdoor. Greenfield, 2007, suggests "Children want to be outside and therefore optimal outdoor environments are essential and being outside is essential. (p. 29).
Kia Ora Diana, this is a great entry, I agree totally that children do love nature and to explore their natural environment. Your centre is really fortunate to have these paddocks and to be able to keep these animals, these are truly special experiences that our children of today need more of. Whilst it is important to keep up with technology and changing times, we need to nurture children's connection to nature. Keep up the interesting work, the children are loving it!!
ReplyDeleteWow, what a cool working environment, you are blessed.
ReplyDeleteKia Ora Diana, you are blessed to have a environment that children can explore and investigate in, ummm and play... its awesome that the children embrace the animals and as you have stated they recognise the children too, its also great that the safety of the children is recognised but otherwise the children are free to enjoy the learning environment.
ReplyDeleteWow, the children in your centre are so lucky because they can actually excess the natural world. Imagine if your child goes to a school where there is no trees at all or no excess to any of the natural world. Well, I guess we're all different but I believe that children should have acess and taste how the natural feels like. Yes, it's so true that being outside is essential. The children would learn different things such as social skills, experience different colours and textures and they get to the see the world and its beauty.
ReplyDeletewell done girl
good experience for the children. The nature is with you and children can get a wide range of experiences.They are fortunate to be out there in comparison to many centres who are situated in closed building. A good exposure.
ReplyDeleteSee if you can find mine.
I can imagine how beautiful your centre is with those animals. I believe your children must be fascinated with those alpacas. There is no place like a natural place for children to explore. It is a bit sad for today's generation of learners it seems not many environment like yours is handy or available to them. Maybe it is different in the countryside where they can build bigger and spacious centres for children to explore. Well done.
ReplyDeleteYou are indeed fortunate to be working in such an environment. No need to explain or to teach children about nature just take them for walks as you did and they will learn more than we will ever be able to teach them.
ReplyDeleteIt was a good link to the social studies. Children's interests in animals and pets are forever.
ReplyDeleteThis reflection was a bit brief. What do you think about this event? How would you extend children's interests in this?