Easter at Buckle My Shoe!
So Easter season has come and gone for the year and our little learners have been busy!
Themed Experiences
To celebrate Easter, we have had a fun week filled with different themed experiences to support our tamariki’s interest and understanding of this holiday.
We spent some time during our morning mat time exploring the history of Easter and it’s traditional meaning. The children had hot cross buns, Easter eggs and of course the Easter bunny on their minds - so learning provocations were set up through different curriculum areas based on children’s conversations.
For the love of Art…
We have noticed a huge interest in Arts within the centre, so mediums such as paint, dye, collage materials and play dough were available for children to create bunny masks, explore patterns with Easter eggs and make Easter cards for their families.
Through art experiences, children are given a way to express themselves, their ideas and thoughts and this is a big part of the Buckle My Shoe philosophy. Te Whariki states,
“the arts are the first literacies for tamariki as it involves the use of symbols that convey meaning”.
Budding Entrepreneurs
Role play also became part of this, with a hot cross bun shop opening on the outside deck. Signs were made listing the cost for a hot cross bun and our technology basket came out – using props such as an old EFTPOS machine, cellphone and calculator to add more depth into the scenario.
In no time, the hot cross bun shop began selling other items – represented by recycled boxes of food and more shop keepers and buyers were needed. Conversations involved prices of items, what foods were bought from the supermarket when shopping with parents and what could be seen labelled on the boxes.
Yum, yum, yum!
Everyone loves Easter treats - so what better way to explore than to get our taste buds involved? We researched some quick & easy ideas; and together decided to make Easter crackle nests. Our tamariki loved being part of the process from start to finish and of course enjoyed taste testing their treats for afternoon tea.
Food technology promotes literacy (when our children look at the recipe, as well as mathematical concepts such as weight, measurement and volume) as they add additional ingredients to the mix.
Yumminess continued…
The taste testing didn’t stop there. On Wednesday, we brought fresh hot cross buns from the bakery across the road and enjoyed these for morning tea.
Our tummies filled with hot cross buns, we had heaps of energy to do a few of our favourite bunny action songs like ‘Mrs Bunny looks funny’ and ‘Sleeping bunnies’.
A visit from the Easter Bunny!
To end the week, we had a surprise visit from the Easter Bunny who left Easter eggs around the front and back of the centre. To make sure we were able to collect our eggs safely, each child was invited to create their own Easter basket using recycled materials such as egg cartons, boxes, feathers and straw.
Attaching a handle required a balance of hand eye coordination and multi tasking – but in no time, everyone was ready by the door eager to go find some Easter Eggs!
Returning with their baskets full, we had a centre of happy bunnies! 😊