Today, Naomi was captured demonstrating some growth in her play. When she arrived to kindy, she gave her mum a big hug and was content with looking around for some activities to do. First, she tested out the coloured pins and boards that children can use to create various designs. As she sat and focused on her mahi, I asked her what each colour was of the pins as she used them. She quietly responded with the correct colours of “red”, “blue”, “green”, and yellow”. She had also shown me her little bunny friend that she had been carrying around and she was trying to do her activities while holding onto bunny carefully. I asked, “do you want bunny to sit on the chair while you play?” She replied with a sweet smile “yeah”. She then placed bunny on her chair but then she realized she had nowhere to sit. So, without intervention on the kaiako behalf, Naomi went to the stack of extra chairs and pulled one down for herself. She was then happy to continue her activity at the table on her own chair with her bunny nearby.
The tamariki were playing in the cave and came across many different sized snails, they carefully placed them onto a mat and sat back and watched the snails intently, waiting in anticipation to see what they were going to do. I could hear Ocean saying, “aww how cute, and then the smaller tamariki repeated both Flynn and Beau saying, “they are so cute”. As they observed the snails, they were showing such care telling one another to be careful, “deas big ones and small ones,” said Beau.
Recognise
We as kaiako love seeing our tamariki develop and use different ways of learning and caring for themselves/ their learning too. In this experience we can recognize Naomi’s ability to take an interest in a particular activity. She’s also able to share her knowledge of colours with others. Contribution/Mana tangata: Children become increasingly capable of using a range of strategies and skills to play and learn with others/ te ngākau aroha. She has then demonstrated some problem-solving skills by finding a place for her bunny to sit and then figure out that she needed a new chair. The chairs are pretty heavy but not a problem for our strong little Naomi. Exploration/Mana aotūroa: Children become increasingly capable using a range of strategies for reasoning and problem solving/ te hiraurau hopanga.
The tamariki are showing communication skills as they are learning to express to each other their ideas and feeling’s and showing that they are Kiataki of our planet by being respectful of all living creatures.Te Wheke-Taha tinana: The relationship of the child to their physical world. It concerns taking responsibility for ourselves, the respect and reverence of living things and the natural cycles of the physical world.
Respond
Naomi could benefit from more problem-solving experiences around her play interests. We will encourage her in her regular day to day play and document to see her growth.
We will continue to demonstrate and teach respect for our environment and the creatures that live in it.
