This year the indigenous concept of yindyamarra has continued to be strong and resonant with the children at kindy. Yindyamarra is a wiradjuri word that means to go slowly with honour and respect, to care for yourself, others and the environment and to be observant and kind. We begin each day by saying “We play on yuggera and turrbal country. Here is the land, the water and the sky, here are our friends, and here am I. Today I will go with yindyamarra my heart”. Many mornings have included discussions about what this means and our kindy leaders (those children who are doing a second year of kindy) have been quick to explain their understandings, as have some of our new friends. “It means to be good,” said one friend. “Not hitting,” offered another. A kindy leader had an experience to share which he felt illustrated yindyamarra. “We were at school and someone was by themselves so we asked him if he wanted to play our game. We included him in our game, that’s yindyamarra.” What a fabulous insight. After thinking about it a younger friend said, “I look where I’m going so I don’t bump into things,”. Looking after yourself is indeed yindyamarra!
We have started learning other indigenous words, mainly from our local yuggerabul language, which the children find fun and interesting – as families you may have heard some of these words from your child and wondered about them. “bigi” for sun, “gadam” for rain, “gulambarun” for the magpies who strut amongst us and clean up our crumbs – we like to think of these as the first names of things in this place and it is respectful, yindyamarra even, to learn and use them.
Following are some examples of our play and learning recently:
- Exploring the garden and discovering many large and beautiful spiderwebs. This has led to discussions about how our families deal with spiders at home, and which family member is the most afraid! In Blue Group we made a giant spider web of our own with yarn and both groups made spiders and flies to stick in it. We’ve read stories and had discussions about the important role spiders and insects play in the environment as we observe them in the garden.
- The climbing tree has been a focal point so far this year as children develop their courage to find a way up and get down again. We have used these moments to discuss “safety checks” and making choices that are safe for yourself and others.
- Sensory play and learning with play dough, clay, water and paint. Sensory experiences provide opportunities for children to learn and think scientifically about their world and to develop their language as they describe textures, sights and smells. Sensory play can contribute to wellbeing and calm feelings for many children too.
- Lots of spontaneous, self-directed play and exploration. We provide open-ended resources and big chunks of time for children to initiate their own projects – this encourages independence, curiosity, decision-making, creativity and social development, to name a few outcomes. We have really seen the children’s independence and perseverance growing.
- A little research project to answer the question from a child – do fish sleep? We found out that they don’t sleep like we do, but rather rest by poking themselves into some coral or mud, or simply floating.
- A giant ball run with the long PVC pipes. The children worked hard as a team to move the pipes and connect them together down the rocks.
- We’ve had such a muddled start to the year with Covid and then the floods. We’ve had some group discussions and chats one-on-one to give the children opportunities to express their thoughts and feelings about the big things that have been going on. Every child is different – some have noticed a lot about things happening in the community while some others have not, some children want to talk about things while others do not. Both are ok – but we are always here to listen and acknowledge thoughts and feelings.
- A fun Playball session with Coach Dave involved throwing and kicking balls, catching hoops, following instructions and a fair amount of chasing the Coach. Playball is a fantastic and age appropriate introduction to sport and physical activity for young children.
- Imaginary role play about butterflies, pirates, families, dinosaur swamps, putting on shows, takeaway delivery, pizza shops, vets, camping….the list goes on! Imaginary play is a natural and vital aspect of children’s play for which we provide ample time, space and resources.
- We’ve been really loving storytime and music time – you may have heard snippets of some of our songs like the The Ants Go Marching and Boa Constrictor.
- Aunty Sharron visited and spent some time with us sharing some first nations perspectives such as only taking what you need and not wasting – she gave the example of catching an echidna and using every part of it – eating the meat and then using the quills for tools and jewelry. She shared some of her own beautiful songs and dance with us – we had fun dancing like dinnawan (emu) and banda (kangaroo). Aunty Sharron is a wiradjuri gamilaroi elder who has been visiting our kindy for many years, and who says she will continue to visit our lovely kindy even after she has retired – what a special lady.
We are making plans and looking forward to our Bush Kindy program starting next term.
Thank you to all our families who responded so quickly to come and help us clean up after the big rain event. It was heartwarming to see so many in our community, including children, grab rakes, shovels and leaf blowers and get our kindy all ready to welcome the children back.
Thank you to Chris and Kate Robinson and their girls for coming in on Saturday to chop and clear the branches that fell after the big storm last week, what a generous gift of your precious time.
Thank you to our new committee members for taking on the roles, we appreciate your support and hope that you find it to be a rewarding and enjoyable experience.
