KEIKI EDGEWATER – Paint and Sip inspired by Kambarang Season 🖌️ 🥛

The Noongar season of Kambarang, which tends to coincide with October and November, brings us more warmer days scattered with rain and cooler evenings. This has resulted in an eruption of colour in our Edgewater garden with the bottlebrush and pink plum blossoms bursting into bloom 🌸 The children enjoy adventuring to the Toddler’s yard to look closely at the colours, textures and shapes of the flowers. Educators have planned and created a range of activities to extend on and scaffold the children’s interest in the garden and their learning about the season of Kambarang.

A very special activity planned for the kindy children was a Paint and Sip session inviting them to sit with the blooms, relax in nature, and to paint their own interpretations of the bottlebrushes and the pink blossoms. To enhance the experience, the children were offered a choice of drink to sip as they let their creative juices flow; water or milk! Each stroke contributed to beautiful pieces of artwork depicting the flowers of Kambarang season. In line with the season of Kambarang, there was a little bit of drizzle that afternoon making the Paint and Sip session magical - the sunshine slowly peeked through the garden, making the raindrops look like fairy glitter on the leaves 🧚 ✨ This was a wonderful experience celebrating the stunning and colourful season of Kambarang in a fun, artistic and meaningful way.

This beautiful experience supported the development of both mind and body. The children connected their knowledge of the Noongar Seasons with the changes they were witnessing in nature, whilst strengthening the muscles in their shoulders and wrists as they brushed paint onto the upright easels; a physical movement that will support the children to hold a pencil and use scissors when they attend big school. It is also linked to our philosophy which empowers children to develop a true appreciation and love of the natural environment and its relationship to their world 🌿

#keikiearlylearning #spacetogrow #100languages #paintandsip #preschoolprogram #keikicute ...

KEIKI CATALINA - Small creature encounters 🐛🪲

Since the onset of Spring, we have had lots of insects, lizards and birds visiting the Keiki Catalina garden. To extend on the children`s interest in bugs, the kindy room enjoyed a wonderful insect incursion. They were able to get close to insects, bugs and even a bob tail lizard, whilst also learning all about how to care for the different animals in our environments. The children had so much fun meeting our special visitors and were very brave as they held and touched the different creatures!🦎

🦋 This incursion aligns with the Earth to Sky value in Keiki`s philosophy, as children are encouraged to respect, connect with and look after the natural world around us. Thank you to @ecoactionwa for coming in to visit! ...

KEIKI MINDARIE PRIMARY – Remembrance Day 🌿

Yesterday at Keiki Mindarie Primary the Preschool children acknowledged Remembrance Day, honouring and commemorating Australian service people, both past and present. Through stories, photographs and a variety of thoughtful provocations, we engaged in rich discussions about the significance of the poppy flower and why it is worn as a symbol of remembrance.

In the morning, a small group of children embarked on a special adventure to Mindarie Primary school. They went with a gold coin donation to purchase a poppy from the front office, and then continued on to explore the library. They borrowed books to learn more about the meaning of Remembrance Day, the symbol of the Poppy and stories of the soldiers who have served during wartime. As they walked around the school grounds, the children observed the ways the school paid tribute to this day - like flying the flags at half-mast and classroom windows decorated with poppy artwork.

This day invited the children to develop an understanding of our community and the significance of why we remember them. Engaging in this exploration encouraged the children`s curiosity and empathy, deepening their appreciation of traditions and ceremonies, and builds upon their values of respect and gratitude 🎖️❤️

#keikiearlylearning #spacetogrow #lestweforget #remembranceday ...

KEIKI MINDARIE PRIMARY – Diwali, the festival of light 🪔

Last week many communities across the world celebrated Diwali, the festival of light. At Keiki Mindarie Primary, one of the educators celebrates Diwali and she shared her traditions and knowledge with the Preschool children, including what makes Diwali special and how it brings families together. She brought in beautiful pieces of jewellery as well as traditional clothing typically worn during this festive time which the children had opportunities to try on. The educators then set up experiences for the children to investigate Diwali in creative ways including designing their own henna hand art and using their fine motor skills to craft tea light candles. The children were fascinated by the stories and the vibrant displays! It was a meaningful and fun way to explore the Diwali celebration and to learn about a culture that may be different to their own ⭐ ...

KEIKI HAMERSLEY – Spooky science 🥼 ⚗️

The Kindy children at Hamersley had a visit from Steph at Einsteins Australia for a Halloween-inspired science incursion last week. It was a spook-tacular sight to behold as the children, who were dressed in their best costumes, explored and investigated with different experiments. They discovered cause and effect as they mixed up a melting pot of monster slime then created a chemical reaction to make their mini volcanos hubble, bubble and foam 🌋 They also discovered the power of magnets through a haunted house set up 🧲

Thanks @einsteinsaustralia for sparking our curiosity with these super fun and creative science experiments! ...

KEIKI EDGEWATER – Happy feet and sharing hands 🙌

We welcomed back the wonderful @happy_feet_fitness to Keiki Edgewater last week to help us celebrate National Children’s Week. It was our bubble party day and the toddlers were ready to move their bodies to music and dance the day away! The theme for the incursion was “sharing and turn taking” which supports our toddlers with their cooperation and social skills.

The children sat down and listened to a story about sharing with friends and how important it is to take turns. They then joined in with rolling balls to each other, working so well to share the balls and having a fantastic time in the process. Next, bubbles started floating through the air as the children put their gross motor and balancing skills into action, busting out their best dance moves in an exciting bubble dance party! What a way to celebrate National Children’s Week whilst helping to develop the children’s social skills 🎶 💃

#keikiearlylearning #spacetogrow #bubbleparty #happyfeet ...

KEIKI MINDARIE KEYS – Cleaning up our coastline 🏖️

As part of our current sustainability focus and the National Children’s Week’s theme “Children have the right to a clean and safe environment”, a small group of Mindarie Keys children and their educators participated in a special excursion to Quinn’s Beach for a clean-up. Prepared with their hats, vests, gloves and litter pickers, the children were eager to walk along the sand and carefully collect any rubbish they could find, safely tucking it into a rubbish bag. The children spoke about why it was important to stop rubbish from ending up on the beach and did a wonderful job spotting the unnatural objects that don’t belong on our beautiful shoreline. While they were walking, they also became curious about the sea sponges that had washed up and spent some time observing the strange creatures in the sand.

This was a lovely and rewarding community conservation experience for the children that has extended on their recycling efforts back at Keiki, whilst building their connection to our natural environment. 🌊 ...

KEIKI MINDARIE KEYS – Using recycled materials in play ♻️

The Keiki Mindarie Keys children have been focused on recycling during the past month, including using lots of different materials in their play that were donated from families, educators and shops nearby. Educators created engaging activities following the children’s interests and tailored to different ages:

💚 Our youngest age group practiced their motor skills by painting on recycled cardboard boxes and using shredding paper to make paper mâché. One of the educators also made a sensory path for the babies to explore and climb on.
💚 The toddlers worked on their fine motor skills using small, recycled objects for sorting and counting. They also used recycled cardboard boxes attached to the fence to paint on.
💚 In addition to building the most fantastic cardboard ice cream shop, the kindy children extended on their creative thinking and problem-solving skills by using different shaped materials in the garden for open-ended, loose parts play.

Using recycled and reused materials wherever possible is part of Keiki’s Earth to Sky value within our Philosophy. Not only do these materials support creative thinking and open-ended play, but they also help contribute to a more sustainable world. 🌏 ...