The Little Brick House NZ

Rice Bubbles Easter Eggs 🐰🐣 🥚 🍫

Happy Easter!!!

Ingredients:

4 cups rice bubbles
200 grams marshmallows
100 grams butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

Melt butter and marshmallows in low heat. Add rice bubbles and vanilla extract when the all goes. Mix well and place in desired mould. Let cool and unmould.

Chocolate Drizzle

1/2 cup chocolate or white chocolate melts
1 tsp vegetable oil
Sprinkles

Melt in the microwave in 30second intervals until consistency can be drizzled. Decorate with sprinkles.

Colour Changing Playdough 👍🏾❤️ It's the magic of process play and science!

🩷 playdough + 💙 salt = 💜 playdough

To support this learning, we are unpacking what the word “process” means in our play. We are identifying the steps involved in gathering resources, creating, problem-solving, and reflecting.

We have been exploring the idea of process, understanding the steps and actions involved in creating change or achieving a result.

Community post
🧧 Xīn Nián Kuài Lè! (新年快乐)

To celebrate Chinese New Year, we enjoyed a very special day of learning, creativity, and delicious food! We made dumplings together. It was the first time we used a visual recipe, which empowered tamariki to be fully involved in the cooking experience. The activity began by identifying the ingredients, tamariki explored them by looking closely at their appearance, smelling them, and feeling their textures before we started preparing the dumplings.

Using the visual recipe aligned beautifully with our current programme planning focus on learning about steps and process. Tamariki were able to follow each stage in sequence, understand what comes first, next, and last, and actively participate in every step. This supported their developing skills in sequencing, problem-solving, independence, and working collaboratively with others.

Tamariki absolutely loved the dumplings, and we enjoyed them for both morning tea and afternoon tea!

🥟 😋 ❤️ 👍🏾

Getting there.. will add more soft elements, fairy lights and hanging plants❤️🍃💚

I am feeling emotional reflecting on how impactful and valuable our profession is. Being a teacher is challenging, but deeply rewarding when we see a child’s progress. So many unseen hours go into learning how to read and understand each child’s communication cues, building relationships, creating visual supports, sharing these with whānau, and using them consistently.

One beautiful success story we have seen recently is a learner who found it very hard to join group times and express their needs. With the support of visual cues, such as choice boards, emotion cards, and visual schedules, they began to understand what was happening next and how they could communicate. Over time, they started pointing to pictures to share their feelings, choosing activities independently, and confidently telling us when they needed a break. Seeing them participate, interact with their hoa, and feel understood and valued has been incredibly special. Their confidence has grown, and they now share their needs and emotions with much more assurance.

Please take time to praise the teachers of your children, trust them, and make them smile. Teachers are very good at holding their own worries quietly so that your children are surrounded by calm, safe, and loving presence.

Please kōrero with your child’s teachers about their progress and challenges, they can help. Let them know if the strategies they’ve shared have worked or haven’t worked. Your feedback is incredibly important. It reassures us that our mahi is noticed and that we are walking this journey together with you and your tamariki. ❤️❤️❤️

This Model of Communication can be adapted to kōrerorero with tamariki, whānau and colleagues.

I had a pleasure of unpacking this tool together with other leadership topics with my fellow Head Kaiako. I look forward to more professional development sessions with Sarah Tocker, an amazing leadership coach.

The Rosenberg Model of Communication is better known as Nonviolent Communication (NVC). It was developed by psychologist Marshall Rosenberg to support respectful, empathetic, and effective communication, especially during conflict.

4 Key Steps

NVC is built on four components, often remembered as OFNR:

1. Observation - What happened?

Describe what you see or hear without judgment or blame.

Focus on facts, not opinions or interpretations.

Ie. “When I see toys left on the floor after tidy-up time…”

2. Feeling - How you feel?

Share your emotions honestly, not thoughts or accusations.

Ie. “…I feel worried and overwhelmed.”

3. Need - What you need/value?

Identify the underlying need, value, or intention behind the feeling.

Ie. “Because I need safety and shared responsibility in the space.”

4. Request - What you’d like to happen?

Make a clear, specific, and doable request, not a demand.

“Would you like to help put the toys away before we move to the next activity?"

Why It’s Powerful? (especially in ECE)

* Builds empathy and connection
* Reduces blame and defensiveness
* Supports emotional literacy for tamariki
* Aligns beautifully with Te Whāriki’s focus on relationships and manaakitanga
* Helps kaiako model calm, respectful communication

Feeding the children's urge to combine and transform 👍🏾❤️