Molesworth Street Kindergarten
From Rachel, Early Childhood teacher
Outdoor Play at Molesworth Street Kindergarten
On Level 5 of the Molesworth Street Campus our children have access to an outdoor space complete with trees and gardens, a large sandpit and water fountains and sinks. In addition, we have set up further unstructured and natural elements, as these have been proven to develop children’s:
- Core, muscle and bone strength,
- Curiosity,
- Sensory exploration & wellbeing,
- Confidence,
- Social skills, connections & friendships,
- Ability to assess and manage challenges,
- Executive functioning,
- Problem solving,
- Ability to calm and self-regulate,
- Environmental and social awareness to create a sustainable future.
Many of our children are keen animal spotters, and can enthusiastically identify bees, bugs, and different species of birds that visit us.
We have worm farms and 2 planter boxes for our veggies which the children care for. City of Melbourne has provided logs and tree offcuts that the children move around the space to make campfires, balancing beans, weights, obstacles among other things.
This term, 3 of our groups planted seeds in individual pots so that the children could watch them grow, care for them as a group, and count down the weeks until they could take them home to show their families.
Kindergarten teachers are always reminded of Loris Malazuzzi’s words “There are three teachers of children: adults, other children, and their environment” and “The environment should act as an aquarium, reflecting the ideas, ethics, and culture of those who inhabit it”. At Molesworth Street Kindergarten we strive to have our outdoor space be not only a place where the children can take increasing responsibility for their own health and physical wellbeing (VEYLDF Outcome 3.2), but where they can develop dispositions for learning such as curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity, commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, imagination and reflexivity (VEYLDF Outcome 4.1).
