One of the most exciting undertakings for Educators is expanding the circle for children beyond their immediate family, carers, home and centre, and taking them into the wider world to form connections and enable their confidence to grow.
Rooted in the EYLF Quality Area 6; Building relationships with families and communities, Little Grasshoppers’ Community Engage Program nurtures a sense of belonging for children and creates a network of connections that supports them as they grow.
ACECQA’s National Education Leader, Rhonda Livingstone states ‘Community is essential to quality outcomes for children. A community provides an important relationship environment; promotes belonging, a sense of identity and learning; supports active participation in the world and continuity of learning; and connects children and families to supportive relationship and resource networks. Young children develop in an environment of relationships, with a child’s community providing a vital relationship context for their learning and development’.
Encompassing Bush Kinder, Intergenerational Connections and the eponymous Community Explore, our programs provide the opportunity for our children to dive into their local community, discover something new and undertake a different form of exercise, with the parallel and important benefit of road safety education along the way.
Bush Kinder
Research shows that outdoor activities in a natural environment are extremely beneficial to children’s health, wellbeing and development.
Getting children outside of their rooms and sometimes comfort zones, provides a stimulating yet safe extension of their environment and familiar surroundings. Our LGH Bush Kinder program enables children to connect with local ecology and seasonal changes and opens their eyes to many natural elements suitable for their creative endeavours.
We also encourage children to become more environmentally aware, with conversations around the lake or waterways present and how our rubbish disposal impacts it and the animal and bird life they may identify along the way. Developing a deeper understanding of the world around them and their impact on and place within.
Bush Kinder may present in many guises from fossicking for craft items, searching for mini-beasts, or comparing clouds in an open sky.
What it always offers is the opportunity for child-led wonderings which often stimulates research and craft activities back at our Centres.
With many families living on suburban blocks and/or working full time, Bush Kinder affords the opportunity for experiences in nature they might not otherwise be exposed to.
Intergenerational Connections
The African proverb of ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ is true in many respects. We can learn a great deal from one another, regardless of age. Great meaning and purpose comes from cross-generational connections, this is especially true with the young and old.
Our visits to The Village Glen Mornington and Somerville Gardens Community Care affords our Kinder children the opportunity to learn about the normal ageing process and how to interact with people with disabilities. These visits also provide community inclusion and exposure to the many experiences of the older generation for those children without (or without access to) their grandparents.
These wonderful sessions also provide much joy, laughter and the chance to play for some residents who risk isolation in their aged years.
There are many benefits of cross-generational programs; sharing skills, ideas and inspiring movement, fun, human connections purpose and love.
It also helps the kids to learn how to interact with older people, to slow down and play in a more calm and gentle way. And while they foster more social and emotional skills, they enjoy all the extra attention they are receiving.
Our children engaging with Somerville Aged Care residents.
Community Explore
Our Community Explore excursions see children participate in a number of different activities not available in room-based early childhood education. Scavenger hunts, nature appreciation, teddy bears picnic and mapping the surrounding community. The latter providing a both a sense of belonging to a larger neighbourhood of peoples and relativity of location for them, a process which often assists with understanding where they spend their day in relation to their home or mum/dad’s workplace.
With visits to the library, local parks, ovals & athletic tracks, netball courts, the local supermarket and many playgrounds, Community Explore offers the important opportunity in all situations of road safety learnings.
The Aussie Childcare Network suggests that one of the most important concepts we can introduce to children is road safety. Road safety awareness can help to reduce the risk of serious injury among young children by assisting them to develop skills, knowledge and behaviour about the safe use of roads.
The learnings they make in the community are often reflected in the games they choose to instigate in their outdoor time.
As you’ll see the Little Grasshoppers Community Engage Programs are varied and extensive and serve to encourage all children to connect to the world around them.
To find out more about our Programs and availabilities for your child or children at one of our 5 Peninsula locations please fill out an enquiry form on our website or call us on 03 5978 0808 (ext 1.)
We look forward to welcoming you to our tribe!