Hello and welcome to Wednesday everyone!
This morning we gathered on the big green hill and read one of our current favourite books “What’s more scary”. It is an interactive lift the flap book where we get to choose which is the scariest animal on each page as a young boy called Jimmy goes on an imaginary jungle trek. All our friends really enjoyed sharing their thoughts! Following our fun story we gathered outside to have our morning tea that was gobbled down very quickly by all our friends – spiced raisin toast served with sliced banana, pineapple, melon and apple and grape – delicious!
After morning tea, we came indoors to practice and refine our scissor cutting skills. This was especially well received by Ivy, Ollie, Arlo, Asher and Zander. What started as a rather basic collage activity (with paper patty pans and glue) became more and more complex as the children got to test out cutting a different variety of materials including paper straws, thin paper, felt, corrugated cardboard and fabric. There are many benefits to cutting with scissors, including:
- Independent movements of each finger
- Strengthening hand muscles
- Bilateral coordination skills (two-handed coordination)
- Visual motor skills (eye-hand coordination)
- Visual perceptual tasks (directionality)
- Fine motor skills (separation of hand, finger dexterity)
- Focus and attention
We also enjoyed playing our group board game “Tummy Ache”. This is a great game where we learn to make decisions about healthy food choices and not so healthy food choices. Games such as this really help our friends to learn vital social skills such as turn-taking and cooperating, and also enhance each child’s problem-solving abilities. It is also a wonderful way to engage in give and take verbal communication/banter and humour!
We also enjoyed our “scratchboard Australian animal shapes”. Each of the children was given an Australian animal, and then we used the base of a texta to scratch away at the black finish to reveal orange and red hues underneath. The children were very keen to take these home today and to finish them with their families tonight. Enjoy mums and dads! 😊
Other play-based experiences enjoyed by your children today included:
- Drawing on paper with textas – Zander drew a detailed picture of his family and lots of buildings
- Playing with the wooden train tracks and trains – Kaylee showed great concentration today as she pieced together wooden bridges, tracks and trains
We hope you all have a safe and happy evening with your loved ones. Love Miss Donna and Miss Livia XX
