Early Childhood News

(Pre-Kindy to Year 2)

Our New Kindy Playground!

Our children are very excited to begin playing in our new Kindy playground. Did you know that each element has carefully been designed to enhance the learning our Early Childhood students. 

Bike Path

One element of our new playground is the bike path. The bike path has been extended to include weaving through trees, and some new obstacles to manoeuvre. 

Riding a bike is not just a recreational activity; it plays a pivotal role in the development of a child's motor skills, especially in crossing the midline. The act of pedaling needs a coordinated effort between the left and right sides of the body, encouraging the crossing of the midline - the imaginary line that divides the body into left and right halves. Crossing the mid-line is an important skill to master, as the movement activates both sides of the brain, increasing brain development and improving coordination. Crossing the mid-line also assists a child’s brain when they get older, as they learn to read across a page, and write from left to right. As a child learns to pedal and steer while riding a bike, they are actively engaging both sides of their body. 

Our new bike path has even more different textures, as children will ride over bumpy stones, spongy rubber, hard concrete and even the need to balance over a wooden bridge. By engaging with different textures, children learn to activate their senses and begin to realise that the different textures present different challenges in how they navigate their body. Through sensory play, children also refine their fine and gross motor skills, as well as hand-eye coordination.

The bike path also allows children an opportunity to engage in dramatic play, as they pretend to be road users, race car drivers, truckers or even farmers. They use their language skills to instruct each other of what to do, and practise social skills of letting others pass, stopping to let pedestrians cross and sharing the bikes. An exciting element that is still to be installed are pretend petrol bowsers- which we are sure will be a big hit! 

Make sure you peak into our Kindy Playground when it is finished to have a look!