Infant and Toddler Centre

55 Stockton Street, Nelson Bay NSW 2315

Phone(02) 4024-2566

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Our Kids at Our Place Play School

ourplaceplay

❤️ Natural elements and play dough. Two of our

❤️ Natural elements and play dough. Two of our favourite resources.
#naturesgifts #finemotordevelopment #earlychildhoodeducation #childhoodmatters #letthechildrenplay #letthembelittle #creativetoddler

❤️ Morning rituals. It’s so nice to have ou

❤️ Morning rituals.

It’s so nice to have our little ones involve themselves in our morning yard check and set up. Not only has it been an awesome morning transition from loved ones but the sense of ownership and pride is priceless!
#competantandcapabletoddlers
#toddlerlife #ourplaceplayschool #infantandtoddlercare #oppsphilosophy #childhoodmatters #authenticlearning #letthechildrenplay #letthembelittle

❤️ Friday! So many creative expression moments

❤️ Friday! So many creative expression moments through drawing during the day. Many of these moments evolve from the children observing us adults writing in notebooks or our big programming book and asking to “help” or “I draw too?”. In a world full of technology it’s nice to know that creativity still flows through good old pen and paper. #letthembelittle #toddlerdrawings #authenticlearning #childhoodmatters #earlychildhoodeducation

❤️ Risky Play! Love that our garden provides

❤️ Risky Play!

Love that our garden provides so many opportunities for children of all ages and stages to test themselves at their own pace, and in this case with these mates, a good dose of friendly competition.

This play was paused once for a “safety check” as there were a lot of pots and pans and other sandpit resources around the crash zone. Once it was brought to their attention everything was quickly thrown into a pile in the corner behind the jumping log and play continued.

#riskyplay #play #attheirownpace #oppsphilosophy #authenticchildhood #childhoodmatters #safetycheck #earlychildhoodeducation

❤️ Yesterday’s art experience using natural

❤️ Yesterday’s art experience using natural paint brushes from our garden 💚🌿

❤️ Whilst today might be the last day of Natio

❤️ Whilst today might be the last day of National Reconciliation Week and the #Seaofhearts challenge, our reconciliation journey has and will continue to be one of listening, learning and embedding First Nation perspectives in our practices. We promise to keep being brave and be part of change ❤️

Thank you to the wonderful #connectingthedotsthroughculture team for putting out the Sea of Hearts challenge, our little ones have enjoyed making them and our space is filled with hearts.

#NRW2022 #BeBraveMakeChange #alwayswasalwayswillbe #floralfriday

❤️ Perfect day for an extra layer and dress up

❤️ Perfect day for an extra layer and dress ups are the perfect layer ❤️ #letthembelittle #childhoodmatters #play #letthechildrenplay #nosuchthingasbadweather #ourplaceplayschool #earlychildhoodeducation

🌺 Happy Floral Friday 🌺 And what a great da

🌺 Happy Floral Friday 🌺

And what a great day we’ve had in a sea of yellow, hearts and language.

We had a special visit by Jerry from Tomorrow Dreaming who did a special Acknowledgment of Country for us in Gathang. We also learnt how to say ‘hello’, ‘thank you’ and ‘goodbye’ in Gathang, the traditional language of the Worimi people.

We decorated hearts for our #seaofhearts challenge using the colours of the Torres Straight Island flag.

We shared another awesome Floral Friday fruit platter and a story about terra nullius called ‘Somebody’s Land’.

#NRW2022 #BeBraveMakeChange #connectingthedotsthroughculture #worimicountry #tomorrowdreaming #wearityellow #childrensground

❤️ Today we launched our Connecting the Dots t

❤️ Today we launched our Connecting the Dots through Culture’s Sea of Hearts challenge which we will work on throughout National Reconciliation Week.

We have provided a lovely little space where families can decorate a heart and write down what Reconciliation means to them whilst at the centre or families may choose to take a heart or two home and decorate at home and then bring back to add to our Sea of Hearts.

During Reconciliation Week we will engage in some collaborative heart artworks with the children, share stories and information about Australia’s shared history and those events that made some big Brave changes to that history.

We invite our wider community to participate in our Sea of Hearts challenge by sending an electronic heart message that we can print off and add to our installation. We would love to send one back to those who might also be participating in this challenge.

What does Reconciliation mean to you?

#seaofhearts #BeBraveMakeChange #NRW2022 #connectingthedotsthroughculture

💛 Our yellow tees have arrived, ready for Frida

💛 Our yellow tees have arrived, ready for Friday!!!

Have you got your yellow organised for our WEAR IT YELLOW WEEK at Play School?

We are being Brave by wearing yellow and supporting Children's-ground to help make a change in the future of First Nations children.
You can help make change by making a donation, big or small, it all adds up via this link
https://wearityellow.org.au/natasha-osullivan
or popping a gold coin or two in the jar at Play School.

Why yellow?
Yellow is the centre of the Aboriginal flag- the sun, the giver of energy and life. Yellow is also the Children’s Ground colour- fresh, energetic and hopeful. 💛

#wearityellow #BeBraveMakeChange #nrw2022

❤️ Be Brave. Make Change. Continuing on with

❤️ Be Brave. Make Change.

Continuing on with our sharing of information about National Reconciliation Week.

Did you know?

The 1991 the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody final report made recommendations to the Australian Parliament calling for a process of national reconciliation.

Parliament unanimously passed the Council of Aboriginal Reconciliation Act 1991. The Council’s vision was for “A united Australia which respects this land of ours; values the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage; and provides justice and equity for all.

2001 Reconciliation Australia was established from the Council of Aboriginal Reconciliation’s final report.

#BeBraveMakeChange #reconciliation #ReconciliationActionPlan #ourplaceplayschool

❤️ Friday’s creative art collaboration🌸

❤️ Friday’s creative art collaboration🌸

Kai had set up a little invitation to play with flowers and some paints and paint brushes.

One of our little creative souls decided to experiment with one of the big soft flowers as a paint brush and before long, everyone was painting with the flowers.

The flowers allowed children to swish, swirl and stamp paint as they desired. Once we had covered the first piece of paper we thought we’d add another layer to the canvases we’ve been working on and then finished off with another sheet of paper.

This creative experience was left out all morning allowing many children an opportunity to experiment and express them selves as they chose.

#authenticlearning #creativetoddlers #naturesgifts #inclusivepractices #earlychildhoodeducation #ourplaceplayschool

🌺 Happy Floral Friday 🌺 Each Friday we come

🌺 Happy Floral Friday 🌺

Each Friday we come together to share a plate of delicious tropical inspired fruit.

We have started using this time of gathering and sharing of food as an authentic opportunity to incorporate our Acknowledgment of Country and singing Taba Naba as our Acknowledgment to the peoples of the Torres Strait Islands.

This is the beginning of a new ritual for us and we love the journey that we are on.

To let everyone know it was time to meet today, two of our little ones walked to the meeting place shaking our kulap shakers, when we all gathered the children were encouraged to sit around the edge of the circular mat. Once seated I explained that we are sitting in a circle as it is a sign of respect to each other, that we are all equal when we sit in a circle as there is no one person in front talking, we can see each other’s faces as we talk and listen and nobody has to look at the back of someone’s head.
I also explained that Taba Naba is a traditional hand song and is sung in a seated position.

As our fruit was shared we all practiced saying “Esso”, which means thank you in the Torres Strait Islands.

#FloralFriday #connectingthedots #culturalinclusions

H and R wanted to help this morning. I offered the

H and R wanted to help this morning.
I offered them both the empty pump bottles we have been collecting, as we carried them H requested “red water”
“What a great idea”
While I was filling up the bottles H found a teapot 🫖 and brought it over to add to our set up.
R found a teapot and strainer, shall we put them here I asked R “Yes” she said

I suggested we gather some herbs from our garden. We pulled of just a few sprigs each as we want the garden to keep growing

I asked if we should set anything else up H said PAINT!

So our next set up was a painting table. Today’s post and photos courtesy of our wonderful Tarah ❤️ #competentandcapabletoddlers #takingownership #childrensvoices #earlychildhoodeducation #earlyyearslearning #oppsphilosophy #authenticlearning #letthembelittle #childhoodmatters

Be Brave. Make Change. National Reconciliation We

Be Brave. Make Change.

National Reconciliation Week (27 May to 3 June) is bookended by two significant dates that commemorate significant moments in the reconciliation journey.

27th May commemorates the 1967 Referendum and the 3rd June commemorates the High Court Mabo decision.

Did you know?

On the 27th May 1967 Australians voted 'YES' to change the constitution so that, like all other Australians, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples would be counted as part of the population.

90.77 per cent of Australian voters voted 'YES'.

Since 1 January 1901 there have been 19 referendums that proposed 44 changes to the constitution, only 8 have been passed/agreed to.

Referendums are the only way that you can change the Australian Constitution.

The 1967 referendum sought to change two sections of the Constitution in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Following the 1967 Referendum, the words “… other than the Aboriginal people in any State …" in section 51(xxvi) and the whole of section 127 were removed, allowing First Nations people to be included in the census, and giving federal Parliament the power to make laws in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. (Australianstogether.org.au)

Although there were changes to the Constitution this did not necessarily mean equality for First Nations People.

#nationalreconciliationweek2022 #BeBraveMakeChange
(Photo sourced from AIATSIS)

❤️ Our first walk for the year!! It was the p

❤️ Our first walk for the year!!
It was the perfect day to go op shopping for some new treasures for Play School, have a sneaky milkshake at Kin and buy some bread to make sandwiches for late afternoon tea.

So many things to see along the way, people to greet and things to experience!
We love how much learning happens in the simplicity and joyousness of taking a walk to the shops ❤️ #authenticlearning #toddlershopping #outinthecommunity #opshopping #itsthesimplethings #earlychildhoodeducation

❤️❤️. #authenticlearning #prewritingskills

❤️❤️. #authenticlearning #prewritingskills #attheirownpace #keepingitsimple #oppsphilosophy

❤️ As we lead into Reconciliation Week, 27th M

❤️ As we lead into Reconciliation Week, 27th May to 3rd June, we will be sharing information and stories about First Nations history and significant events.

To move towards a reconciled Australia we first need to acknowledge and understand the wrong doings of Australia’s history and of the ongoing impact it had and still has on First Nations people.

Our plan for “Be Brave. Make Change,” is to take part in the “Wear it Yellow” campaign by Children's-ground and we are taking up the “Sea of Hearts” challenge by the team at Connecting the Dots through Culture, as well as sharing information and stories.

To start our sharing we have chosen the video below as it is a powerful explanation of Intergenerational Trauma.

#reconciliation #BeBraveMakeChange #wearityellow #seaofhearts

https://youtu.be/vlqx8EYvRbQ

❤️ The simplest of things always bring so much

❤️ The simplest of things always bring so much joy. Bubbles catching raindrops in your mouth and muddy puddles. Happy Friday 😊. #thesimplethings #authenticchildhood #play #childhoodmatters #letthembelittle #letthechildrenplay #ourplaceplayschool #oppsphilosophy

💚🌿 Nature’s Gifts. Today we used the ban

💚🌿 Nature’s Gifts.

Today we used the banksia flowers from our nature tray as paint brushes for our group painting. The banksias made some great patterns as we swished, swirled and dabbed the paints over the paper.
#naturesgifts #ourplaceplayschool #autumn #lovewhatwedo #earlyyearseducation #letthembelittle #nature

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