23/09/2026
We don't really do anything...
I was walking one of my mums through what this amazing creation on the deck was, when she was surprised to hear that the children had done all the work, and it wasn't just something we threw together to entertain them.
I can't blame her, it looks amazing.
This is a little insight into what actually goes into these projects. Our Project Based Approach means that we try to include all elements of the child's learning into constructing a project. From sketching in the Book Nook to construction in the Garden.
We don't really believe in doing these things for the children, we work collaboratively to embrace their plans and ideas.
If they were builders, they'd have the board meeting (and negotiate what they want STRONGLY), visit the urban planners and design the plans themselves (always making space for extra rockets), construct the project and of course play with it!
These guys found out about ships while we were learning about how food is transported. We learnt about cargo holds and barrels of food that are moved across the world (weirdly without rockets to move them?!). Instantly, as in about 30 seconds later, they had the giant canvas out ready to draw their own 'flags' to stick together into a canvas. Some were quite simple for a young child, while older children drew sophisticated anchors and rainbow lorrikeets, harking back to early stages of the years' projects.
Behind the scenes, our ECTs plan how we can extend and simplify the projects for these children. We research sophisticated words (like 'transport') to teach them at our morning and midday meetings, adapt songs and games to use the themes of transport and pirates, and plan out experiences with them to include their voice and challenge their logistics skills. They count and collect what they need, they coordinate as a team to move 20kg tyres with no assistance, they paint themselves from their heads to their toes in the process, but they walk away with an amazing project and an amazing outcome. They embrace the excitement of the project so that the learning feels natural.
Education is often more focussed on the outcome than the journey, but why not both?
