Celebrating Education & Care
Learning through Play at Richmond LDC
Recently at our service, we have noticed a wonderful shift in the way children are engaging with play. What once began as simple role-play games and storytelling, has blossomed into rich, complex imaginative and dramatic play scenarios that are becoming a daily highlight in our learning environment.
As educators, we have been closely tuned in to these moments listening to their conversations, noticing their needs and thoughtfully supporting their play. By observing and engaging in discussions with the children, we have been able to extend their thinking and build on their learning. For instance, when a group of children began playing ‘cafes’ we introduced props such as coffee cups, plates, money and foods that the children have seen being served at cafes.
To further support this evolving interest, we have thoughtfully structured areas of the learning environment to inspire and encourage deeper imaginative engagement. Open-ended resources, props, costumes and materials are readily available and easily accessible to promote independence and creativity. We also rotate materials based on the children’s interests and feedback, ensuring the environment remains dynamic and inspiring.
Through these play experiences, the children are not only having fun, but they are developing vital skills including communication, problem-solving, emotional intelligence and collaboration. They are negotiating roles, making group decisions, expressing ideas and empathising with others – all through the power of imaginative play.
As we continue to foster this interest of dramatic play within our program and document children’s voices in our ‘planning floor book’, we look forward to seeing where their imaginations will take them next!
FROM THE TEAM AT RICHMOND LDC
Exploring Learning Environments at Norwood OSHC
Recently, the children and educators have been focusing on creating meaningful learning environments and facilitating children’s development through play-based learning.
Children have been engaging in a range of small world environments including a fairy garden, an ocean landscape and even a vet clinic role playing space. These learning environments have provided the opportunity for children to engage in imaginative play and make connections to the world around them. Extending on these experiences, the children have engaged in conversations about their own experiences visiting the beach. We learnt about their favourite holiday destinations and that many of the children love to visit their families’ shack during the school holidays.
The children at Norwood OSHC have always been heavily invested in constructive and hands-on experiences. To extend upon this interest, we have sourced some new resources including hammer and nail sets, and ‘Pix Brix’ sets which have fine-tuned the children’s problem solving, logic and fine motor skills.
In our team meetings we have researched the Reggio Emilia approach to the environment being the ‘third teacher’ and used this theory to support our learning program within our space. We discovered the importance of focusing on being intentional with our learning environments through reflecting on how we implement this method within our space.
After reflecting on our program, we will be responding to the children’s voices and implementing our next program around Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). We will be introducing a STEM Club by implementing experiences relevant to each aspect of STEM and providing the children with the option to choose which area of STEM they would like to engage in.
We look forward to sharing with our families more about the children’s STEM Club and the exciting play-based learning experiences to come!
FROM THE TEAM AT NORWOOD OSHC