Nature Play
Bush Kindy Program - Bambara Explorers
Bambara means Forest in Yuggera language, who are the traditional owners of this land. It’s the perfect name for our Bush Kindy. It’s all about exploring natural environments, which is so beneficial to children.
Behind Stretton Early Years and Kindergarten is a big bush area, just waiting to be explored. Our
Educators deliver part of our program offsite, amongst the natural environment in walking distance from our centre. Because the children will be walking offsite, Bush, kindy is considered an Excursion.
Each nature activity is carefully designed for Bush Kindy to contribute towards improving children’s learning, health and wellbeing.
Bush Kindy Protective Clothing
The children wear our special bush Kindy clothes. This consists of long pants, long tops and their own gum boots. They are also sprayed with Aerogard prior to their excursion, to protect their skin.
We also believe that there is no wrong weather - just wrong clothing! So the children are still able to enjoy their bush kindy excursions, even on rainy days! We have high quality, fully waterproof wet weather suits that the children are able to put on to ensure they are kept warm and dry. Because the best part about Bush Kindy is the muddy puddles!
Some of the activities children will enjoy may include:
Rock Skipping: Skipping/skimming stones in the creek.
Sneaky secret agent mission: Bug discovery. Children will create mini search parties and seek out bugs and insects.
Identify native plants and trees amongst the bushland: Children will be able to recognise a range of native plants and trees that grow around Stretton Early Years and Kindergarten.
Nature scavenger hunt: There are so many ‘natural treasures’ to be found, like leaves, stones, flowers and bark.
Become a master grass whistler: Learning to whistle using a blade of grass is so much fun!
Plant and tree leaf collection book: Children will collect and collate the leaves we discover to help them remember which leaves belong to which plant or tree.
Nature art: Nature inspires creativity and it’s the ideal backdrop for beautiful nature-inspired artwork.
Look for shapes in the clouds: This is where creativity and imagination take flight! Seeing a shape formed amongst the clouds and describing it to classmates and Educators builds awareness and confidence.
And more!
Each activity is carefully designed for Bush Kindy to contribute toward improving children’s learning, health and wellbeing.
Our Community Garden is named “Omaroo”, derived from the Aboriginal term meaning,“Beautiful View”. We wanted to build the Community Garden for the purpose of bringing the local Community together! And so, it was established in 2021 with a little help from a Woolworths Grant.
Local families visit the garden to pick the ripe produce that we have growing there. We have also been fortunate enough to have families contribute to the garden by planting various fruits and donating plants for everyone to enjoy.
The Community Garden consists of a variety of fruits, vegetables, herbs, bush tucker, plants and flowers. It is a large space at the back of our Centre which the children also frequently visit during Centre excursions. The children help to care for the garden by watering, weeding, picking produce and learning about where food comes from and how the different fruits and vegetables grow.
The Community Garden is such a rich learning environment for the children to extend upon their knowledge. It strengthens the children’s awareness of the various cultures, the types of food they eat, and how it can be used in cooking and daily life.
The Community Garden has also helped us positively connect with the local community. We have received a donation of Red Dragon Fruit plants from James Martin MP, Member for Stretton and a local daycare centre also uses the Community Garden for their Bush Kindy Excursions. We look forward to growing the Community Garden over the years with the help of the children and our local community!
