Bumper Bears Early Learning Centre

Not long till the weekend now. We hope you have some fabulous activities planned with your children and family over the weekend.

A huge congratulations to Miss Wendy on completing her Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care. We are incredibly proud of your achievement and the inspiring leader you have become. Your hard work, dedication, and growth are truly commendable. Well done!

Don't forget the importance of reading to your child and with your child. Reading one book a day can help your child develop in so many ways!!

Our Juniors project work, “The Birds Who Share Our Space,” children were invited to engage in a sensory, open-ended learning experience where they collaboratively created their own interpretations of a bird’s nest using a variety of natural and recycled materials.
This learning experience supported children to develop creativity, problem-solving skills, communication, and cooperative learning as they negotiated ideas and made decisions as a group. Through hands-on exploration, children demonstrated curiosity about the natural world and expressed their understandings through imaginative and creative play.

If you are looking for a high quality early learning centre, look no further. Bumper Bears can support your family with long term Educators, home cooked meals and wonderful learning experiences.

Today, we welcomed the Kindness Co Inclusion program into our kindergarten class. A highlight of the session was the use of the “Feelings Tree,” a visual and interactive tool that helped children identify, explore, and communicate their emotions. The children were invited to place their feelings on the tree and share why they felt that way, encouraging emotional awareness and building confidence in expressing themselves.

Understanding emotions is an essential part of children’s social and emotional development. Experiences such as the Feelings Tree help children develop emotional literacy, foster empathy, and enhance their communication skills. By recognising and expressing their feelings, children learn positive strategies for managing emotions, forming healthy relationships, and building resilience. These important skills support their overall wellbeing and lay a strong foundation for future learning and success.

In the spirit of Reconciliation Week, Miss Kate connected with Trish from Living Faith Lutheran Kindergarten to collaborate on a heartwarming Sea of Hearts exchange that beautifully reflected unity, connection, and community spirit. The children at Living Faith Lutheran Kindergarten created meaningful hearts to be displayed in pots, while our kindergarten designed a beautiful hanging display for the hearts to be showcased within their service. This shared project was a wonderful expression of partnership, respect, and belonging.

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By age three, a child's brain has built most of the language pathways it will ever use. The raw material for that construction is words. Heard words. Spoken words. Repeated words.

And not all words count equally.

Research on the "word gap" found that children in language rich homes hear 30 million more words by age three than children in language poor homes. That gap predicts vocabulary size, reading readiness, and even IQ. The difference is not intelligence. It is exposure.

Here is what does not count. Television playing in the background. Arguments. Chaotic noise. The brain filters out sounds that are not directed at the child. What counts is face to face interaction. Narration of daily life. And most efficiently, reading aloud.

Five minutes of reading a day exposes a child to vocabulary they rarely hear in conversation. "Curious." "Enormous." "Whispered." Words that build the architecture for later reading comprehension.

You do not need hours. You need consistency. One board book at bedtime. One silly rhyming book in the morning. That is it.

The catch up window is real. Early intervention is more effective than later remediation. But it is never too late to start. Read to your baby tomorrow. Their brain is listening.

Play is an important part of learning and growing for children. Figuring out how things work, how things go together, how things are grown and so much more. Give children time to just play, and enjoy some play time with them too, you might be surprised by what you learn from them.

Play is crucial in Early Childhood Development. Check out this article by the Raising Children Network which explains the details of what play does for your child.
https://raisingchildren.net.au/newborns/play-learning/play-ideas/why-play-is-important