Welcome to a new year at Mairtown Kindergarten

Welcome back to a new year at Mairtown. We are so excited to be back at Kindergarten and are really looking forward to an amazing 2013.

We would like to warmly welcome back all the familiar faces of our families/Whanau and their tamariki along with several new families and children, it is great to see so many returning families - nau mai haere mai.

On the first day back at Kindergarten the children came across some hay bales left on the grass, all the teachers were keen to see exactly what the children would make of these bales and how they might guide their play.

One of the first things that happened was that the hay bales - through the use of our children's imaginations - became great climbing equipment; enabling children to practise their balancing and jumping. This was in fact far trickier than it looked as the bales are soft underfoot making them extremely wobbly to walk on.

As Santos told me, "Be careful, it's wobbly...look at my big jump, I'm going to do this again...ooh its so so wobbly".

The children spent all morning jumping and climbing and repeating these experiences again and again.

Just before lunch the hay bales transformed into something completely different - this time they became a castle. Leah asked if we could move the bales (lots of great team work was required for this!) and soon Leah's plans were visible; walls were built and a castle emerged. This was almost immediately decorated with cushions for the fairies to sleep on and clipboards for the fairies to 'take-notes'.

Leah, "We're making a castle...how about we put the other pillow there so there is room for all of us, all of us fairies. I will get the blue pillows so we can lift our legs onto them".

Even the hay that escaped the bales has had a role in the children's work. Here April and Makenzie are making a birds nest. As I observed the girls I could see how they were negotiating, listening, sharing ideas and knowledge and learning to work alongside their peers effectively.

Here the nest had been placed high up in a tree by one of our parents. We will have to keep a careful watch to see if any birds like this new home!

Hay bales are what we would term 'loose parts' and enable open ended play at Kindergarten. The use of open ended materials and loose parts in our programme is very important to us. Other examples of loose parts you will see at Mairtown include sticks, rocks, sand, bark, ropes, shells, bunjeys the list is endless.

"Loose parts have infinite play possibilities, and their total lack of structure and script allows children to make of them whatever their imaginations desire...Through children's handling, manipulation and physical interaction with materials and the natural environment, they learn the rules and principles that make the world operate" (White & Stoecklin, 1998).

I hope you can see how, in just one day, the hay bales have challenged the children physically and mentally. They have sparked the children's curiosity, encouraged the children to be creative and use their imaginations, allowed for the interaction and the sharing of ideas with other children and adults, and stimulated the children's senses (the hay smells truly divine!)

I wonder what new ideas the children will find for the bales over the next few days?

Christine