Playing with tyres.

Recently, the children have been finding and exploring ramps and inclines at kindergarten. 

Our outdoor environment provides a fantastic natural incline in the form of the small grassy hill. The large grassy area of our playground also provides the children with the freedom of space to enjoy lots of movement. 

Several things come rolling down our hill, sometimes it's trucks, sometimes the black barrel, and sometimes it's the children themselves.

But this week it's been tyres. 

During ramp or incline play children are exploring scientific concepts like cause and effect, measuring, and predicting but especially experimenting. 

Fortunately for us, our hill is uneven so the children get to experiment with direction as some of the tyres veer off to the sides of the playground. Sometimes the hill unbalances the tyres and they tip over stopping their journey prematurely.

The children also get to experiment with different sized tyres and the forces required to move them. They try different strategies to get them up the hill. 

They drag the tyres...

They roll the tyres...

And they force the tyres up the hill!

The children are also exploring physics concepts such as speed, distance, motion, and force. When the children are rolling the tyres on flat ground they are learning about using force to push the tyre along. 

Children tried different strategies to push the tyre and keep it upright, some pushed it from behind while others pushed it from the side...

                             

             

            

"I can't do it, it keeps wobbling" said Kendall-Lee

...And some found a quicker and easier way to move the tyres...

Getting the tyres up the hill proved to be a real challenge for some of the children. But perseverance, patience, and a little bit of teamwork paid off.

"Help, my legs are getting tired", said Jacob

Once on top of the hill, the incline reduces the amount of force needed to roll the tyre. 

              

"Whether skipping rocks on a pond or sailing a disc through the air or sending a bead through a pipe, there is something of beauty in setting a thing in motion and watching it go" Jason Avery.

Introducing baby Neo

The teaching team were so excited to finally meet Chris and Donna's new arrival, their little baby boy Neo.  

Such a bundle of gorgeousness! 

Knowing Donna as we do, it was no surprise that she's taken to motherhood with ease...calm, relaxed and fully enjoying her time bonding as a new family.  And Donna tells us that Chris is a wonderful and caring Dad too and that's also no surprise to us.  Neo is a lucky wee chap to have two loving and devoted parents that's for sure!  

We are so happy for them all. 

Over the next year, we wish Donna a joyful maternity leave, lots of love and happiness.  And we'll look forward to seeing Neo during his up and coming 'kindy visits'.  Such fun!

A thinking game...

Last week the children enjoyed the opportunity to work with wool and create their own patterns and shapes. They were excited to give it a go. Some children stayed briefly while others stayed a long time and tested lots of ideas. 

For some children the concept was very tricky. It was challenging to be able to hold the wool, apply the right pressure as you moved the wool and to hold the shape they were creating. This experience allowed children opportunities to explore and experiment, to test their theories, to gain knowledge and to engage with new mediums. 

As children worked with the wool, they developed their fine motor skills. Manipulating the wool around their fingers and around the nails to create patterns and shapes. For some children it was a very tricky concept and they looked to their more capable peers to gain knowledge and ideas to help them gain ideas and techniques for success.

"Childhood is a time of increasing independence. As children grow and develop they become more able to do things for themselves and to explore their world independently. (Touhill, 2013).

As children work with the wool they learn many concepts:

Exploring maths concepts (Shapes, fractions, patterns)

Practicing and promoting fine motor skills 

Developing spatial awareness

Creativity

Exploring symmetry

Exploring concepts such as up, down, around, top, bottom

Allowing children the opportunity to be creative and bring their ideas to the experience is important too. Children "demonstrate incredible control of the process of composing through dialoguing with the materials of art. Meaning-making through visual narrative is a highly creative and fluid process, where children become authors using multiple texts" (Wright, 2014).

As the children worked, they discussed their work with each other...

"I'm doing a big wall thing like this. Look at my one. Its cool. Do you see what I'm meaning?" Myllah

"Make a circle. Like this. I wrap it all around here and back down here"  Zoey M

"This is so tricky this triangle" Poppy

"Circles, circles mean circles. Its a round shape" Addison

 "The Te Whariki perspective is that children will participate in the symbol systems and tools of mathematics for personal, social, and cultural purposes: for becoming confident and competent" (MOE Kei-Tua-o-te-Pae 18, 2008).

Spin Art - magic happens

We were so excited to have Jaia's Mum and Dad, Janine and Ringa, visit today to share their time and expertise to create dynamic pieces of art with the children through Spin Art. 

Such an epic day!  

We must applaud their patience, aroha and dedication to ensure all the children had a turn...many, many times over!  

Children just loved it and this turned it into an all day experience for Janine and Ringa. Ka pai to mahi!  Above and beyond the call of duty that's for sure!

Some children were intensely interested in the art process, while others were intrigued by the motor that turned the spinning wheel! 

 Charlie passes over his precious art work for Ringa to hang up to dry.

Ringa was kept very busy all day. 

What I loved to see and hear was the absolute respect for the children's creations from both Janine and Ringa throughout the day.  

Children were unhurried in the process to complete their work with Janine's gentle inquiry "How does that feel to you, do you feel it's ready?"  I thought this was such a beautiful way to get children thinking about their work.  Then Ringa showing absolute respect and care with the children's completed art pieces with the gentle handling of their work...their toanga, when hanging them up to dry...always commenting on how special their work was.

Such a lovely, lovely experience and children came away feeling pretty awesome about their talents and creativity!

This is just a snippet of the art pieces created today and I'm sure the tamariki will be very keen to show you their creations at kindergarten tomorrow!

The biggest and warmest heartfelt thank you to Janine and Ringa for sharing the day with us, it was so much fun and we appreciate you both immensely!

Arohanui,

Tania