The team at our Fairley Early Child
hood Service celebrated National Children’s Week and Children’s Day with activities linked to the 2021 theme: “Children have the right to choose their own friends and safely connect with others”. This is based on Article 15 on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Throughout Children’s Week, the wonderful team of educators planned and created learning experiences tailored to the ideas, interests and needs of the children at Fairley, ensuring there was a special experience each day throughout the week.
The team had also planned to invite a special person (chosen by each child) into the service for a group planting and gardening experience to re-plant the vegetable gardens together. When COVID-19 restrictions made this impossible, they improvised and used the planting experiences to encourage cooperation and friendship among the children attending the service.
The Fairley educators supported the children to choose partners or small groups to collaborate with on the planting of seedlings, fruits and vegetables so they will have fresh produce throughout the coming months. Planting and harvesting their own food is also a valuable part of Fairley’s educational programming, as it enables discussions on scientific topics like life cycles, weather, insects and much more.
Children of all ages loved re-building and planting our numerous vegetable gardens. The youngest infants helped to plant herbs, which was an enriching sensory experience as they touched, smelled and tasted some of them. The toddlers and preschoolers planted strawberries, lemon myrtle, lettuce and tomatoes within their raised garden beds.
And, of course, the team found a way to include the families and special people in the children’s life. They created take-home seedling packs with a cup, soil and some seeds. This allowed children to engage with a similar experience with their special, chosen people at home.