Author: Flinders University Childcare

Community in a Washing Basket

Flinders University Childcare Community 4 Comments

A Special Message from the Director Today’s blog is taking a different tone to the usual. Most of the world has had a rough and bumpy last 13 weeks, and so has Flinders, but for far more reasons than you may think. Things are said to happen in threes, and by the middle of March, I thought we’d had our three, and I was moving on. I was very much mistaken. The beginning of March brought a stove ignition problem. It took three visits from a tech and three days of creative meal preparation from the centre’s fantastic cook, to be fixed, and all the while the children were fed. I thought this was the end. The next week, the industrial dishwasher in the kitchen decided it would get in on the action. It needed a new control panel. We did a fair bit of dishwashing and wiping during this week; it was okay, and we smiled through. The next breakdown was the washing machine. The digital code on the panel told me it was a blocked overflow pipe, and I knew how to fix it thanks to Dr Google. This breakdown was not going to cost us time or money! Alas, my ability as a washing machine technician was lacking; we needed a professional. The fan needed replacing, and it was going to cost, but it was fixable and quick. Over the next fortnight, the two heaters in Sturt House went, and we were unable to get replacement partsRead more

A Pot of Tea

Flinders University Childcare Nutrition No Comments

Winter is certainly upon us; it’s cold and a little gloomy, however the outdoor program at Flinders is as strong as it is in the warmer months. The children are navigating the change in weather well. With support, even the youngest children are beginning to recognise their body’s need for extra layers of clothing and a change in hat. Some children even wear gloves, mittens, and gumboots, warming right to the tips of their toes and fingers. Just as educators adjust the program in response to the winter season, so the children adjust their play. Keeping their shoes on in the sandpit, seeking shelter when they feel drops of rain, recognising the need for gumboots with puddles and doing a little more running when they feel cold. The outdoors is important all year round and the colder months teach the children about body awareness and looking after their wellbeing. The winter menu provides children with hearty meals, warming them from the inside of their bodies. Alongside this, the educators have been making lemon verbena tea with the children during some mornings. Warm drinks and warm food encourage the children to take a moment and find joy in good nutrition and delicious tea. It is delightful to see a group of children, mug in hand, chatting about what they see, feel and smell. A time to gather and enjoy the simple pleasure of each other’s presence and calm those rosy cheeks. To make your own lemon verbena tea, simply add aRead more

Winter Menu

Flinders University Childcare Nutrition No Comments

Food is an essential part of the programs at Flinders. Not only are meals a time to feed the body, they are a time to feed the community and the soul. Food and menus at Flinders are carefully planned to ensure they meet a range of requirements, including the guidelines developed by Nutrition Australia. The meals at Flinders are seasonal; during the summer months they include lighter foods and in winter we eat heartier, warming foods like soups and curries. All food at Flinders is prepared in-house, in our commercial kitchen by our cook. The meals are made from scratch wherever possible from locally sourced ingredients. Whole foods are the foundation of all meals. Allergies and other dietary requirements are catered for, including plant-based options. We are delighted to move to our winter menu for 2020, welcoming back such favourites as Build-your-own Baked Potato, Black Bean Soup with Corn Salsa, and Lentil and Vegetable Lasagne. For those of you who would like a taste at home, here is the recipe for Black Bean Soup with Corn Salsa: Black Bean Soup Ingredients 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 large onion, chopped 1 stalks celery, chopped 2 carrots, chopped 2 cloves garlic chopped 1 tablespoon ground cumin black pepper to taste 2 cups vegetable broth 2 cans black beans 2 can whole kernel corn 2 can crushed tomato Method Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Sauté onion, celery, carrots and garlic for 5 minutes. Season with cumin, and black pepper;Read more

Numeracy in Play

Flinders University Childcare Numeracy No Comments

Sometimes when we are talking about learning we get caught up in buzzwords – STEM! STEAM! Literacy! Numeracy! We think about content, we think about assessment, we might think about NAPLAN and all the things that are ahead of us. It all feels really complicated. Competitive. And complex. But does it have to be? Learning in the early years is really, fundamentally, all about play. Play and playful investigations enable children to experience the world in a wide range of ways. Play in carefully constructed environments builds a strong foundation of experience, upon which children can later build structured content knowledge. Indeed, without this strong foundation of experience, children will find it quite difficult to later build this structured content knowledge. “If it hasn’t been in the hand and body, it can’t be in the brain” Bev Bos The wise words of Bev Bos are backed by substantial research. Take, for example, mathematics. When teaching children mathematical content in a school setting, teachers tend to follow a particular sequence – concrete (physical resources), iconic (pictures that represent physical resources) and symbolic (using symbols such as number sentence to represent physical resources). Children often move back and forth through these various stages as they encounter increasingly complex concepts, or unfamiliar ideas. If we expand this out from a single content area and instead look more broadly at the learning and development of children, we can see the connection between the importance of play-based learning before embarking on direct instruction. Take theRead more

A Slow Return

Flinders University Childcare Inquiry-based Learning No Comments

As the situation in Australia begins to regulate and we experience a decrease in restrictions children are gradually returning to Flinders. It is wonderful  to reconnect after time away. The Houses and gardens are gradually filling with colour, light, and the sound of children playing. It is like music. As we reconnect, we observe the children as they rediscover their peers, educators and environments. Inquiries, questions and curiosities that had emerged prior to March are no longer quite the same; children have moved and the dynamic has shifted. And so, we watch carefully, wondering what will happen, waiting to see what path the children will lead us down next… Some possibilities we have seen so far; Millipedes, and the wonderful world of minibeasts Sticks as sculpture and art media Jellyfish – did you know jellyfish don’t have eyes, a nose, a mouth or a heart? We are all beginning to look forward, to the unknown future, and place our trust in those around us. As our community rebuilds, we look forward to discovering what our youngest citizens will see and explore. We look forward to seeing the world anew, alongside.  

Meaningful Work

Flinders University Childcare Children as Citizens 2 Comments

Outcome 2 of the Early Years Learning Framework discusses children’s connection to community, peers, and the wider world. It addresses the importance of relationships, and the way children, in the context of these relationships, begin to understand their rights and responsibilities as citizens. Viewing children as citizens, with rights from birth, is sometimes difficult to comprehend as it requires us to dramatically shift our perspective. This reframing can be complex, but as educators, we have an ethical and legal responsibility to undertake this work under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Whilst the shift in perspective requires ongoing critical work, the way in which this manifests in our practice with children is much more transparent. The simplest experiences can often be the most powerful, and this is certainly the case when we think about children as citizens. The EYLF states: When children participate collaboratively in everyday routines, events and experiences and have opportunities to contribute to decisions, they learn to live interdependently.” Early Years Learning Framework p.24 At Flinders we interpret this to mean that active, meaningful participation in routines impacts on children’s understanding of citizenship. When children are supported to participate in cleaning and caring for the environment and resources which they benefit from, they feel a sense of authentic contribution: not only do they experience the joy of playing in this space, they also feel the satisfaction of caring for it. Children frequently seek to participate in cleaning and associated environmental care routines, however asRead more

The Power of Play in Adversity

Flinders University Childcare Play No Comments

We are unashamed advocates for the power of play in learning. The Philosophy and programs at Flinders are built on a foundation of play, which is supported by the Early Years Learning Framework, the National Quality Standard, and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Given this, it is unsurprising that our answer to the questions; “How do I help my child manage their stress during the COVID-19 outbreak?” is “Let them play”. Play is widely recognised as an important physical, cognitive and emotional coping mechanism for children. Children are designed to play, and through play they learn many important ways of managing stress, develop resilience, and process difficult circumstances. Child-led play can be a powerful tool for supporting children’s wellbeing during this period of time. You can learn more about the power of play by listening to this podcast from Emerging Minds.

Talking with Children about COVID-19

Flinders University Childcare Wellbeing No Comments

As much as we try to shelter young children from the stress and anxiety we may be feeling as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is nigh on impossible to do so with the intense media saturation and significant day-to-day impacts communities are feeling. Children have found themselves spending more time at home, not seeing their family and friends, no longer participating in activities like swimming or dance, or even just going to the local playground. For many families, changes are more complex and significant. It can be hard to know the best way to manage information at times like this, how best to talk about the subject with children, or if we should at all. Even if we choose not to talk directly about the pandemic with children, they are likely to have recognised the changes and limitations that are occurring in their lives, and may also be overhearing or exposed to snippets of information. It is important to recognise that children do not have the same ability to understand and rationalise the reasons behind limitations placed on us at this time, and that children’s ability to co-regulate or self-regulate is highly dependent on the level of stress their special people are feeling. Emerging Minds is an Australian childhood mental health advocacy organisation, who have released some suggestions for talking about COVID-19 with children. Some of their key suggestions are listed below, and you can read more here and here. As with all resources, it is important toRead more

The Value of Kindness

Flinders University Childcare Wellbeing No Comments

Kindness is an important part of the programs at Flinders and is a value that forms the foundation of behavioural and social learning. We see kindness as an invaluable aspect of humanity, and as an essential part of effective community engagement. In role modelling and teaching kindness, we hope to help educate a generation of children who engage in radical kindness, who are empathetic and considerate. “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” The 14th Dalai Lama Part of our approach to teaching kindness is recognising spontaneous acts of kindness. In keeping with this, we would like to acknowledge the kindness we have experienced within the Flinders community over the past couple of weeks. Thank you to those in our community who have; brought us essential and difficult to get items such as nappy wipes, disinfectant, toilet paper and hand sanitiser emailed us beautiful, considerate and respectful words in response to our communications written cards and notes of thanks delivered flowers, chocolates and other delights to brighten our day demonstrated empathy and understanding as we attempt to navigate the new territory of education and care at Flinders in the time of COVID-19 made us laugh and cry with stories and moments of joy from home Experiencing these kind acts shows us that the vision of a generation of children who are radically kind is not a dream, but an emerging reality. Kindness grows from kindness, and these children, your children, are experiencing it in spades in their homes andRead more

The Importance of Nature

Flinders University Childcare Wellbeing No Comments

Nature is a tricky mistress, isn’t she? While we deal with the challenging aspects, like global pandemics, we are also heavily reliant on nature for our positive health and wellbeing. At Flinders, we are making the most of spectacular autumn weather, heading outside early and coming in late. We continue to share meals outdoors, to use the outdoors as a location for learning, and to ensure free-flow between the indoor and outdoor environments as much as possible. Nature provides us with solace and comfort. Getting out into the fresh air, into wild spaces, have been shown to improve wellbeing and mental health. It is an essential part of our self-care, especially as we navigate uncertain times. As we head towards the Easter long weekend, many of us are no doubt missing our previously planned trip away, which no longer fits into government recommendations regarding essential travel. But there are still some things that we can do to break the monotony of home and connect with the natural world: Set up your tent in the backyard and have a sleepout Take a walk in your local National Park or Conservation Park. Whilst many facilities are closed, taking a walk through your local park is a great way to get out into the fresh air. You can find out more details on the Parks SA website Try your hand at nature weaving Go on a nature scavenger hunt in your backyard or on a neighbourhood walk We wish you a peaceful longRead more