Land Before Time

Land Before Time was first released in 1997, 16 years ago... Yet today it is still a big part of children's lives. We have been hearing names of Dinosaurs and places that sound so fantastic - The Mysterious Beyond... and are so excited to go along with the children's play in this ancient mysterious setting. I am fortunate however to have some insight into this imaginary world as I have recently renewed my interest in the Land Before Time and watched the movie with my daughter Amelia. I now know of 'The Great Valley', 'Mysterious Beyond' and 'Tree Stars'. I have found my refreshed knowledge to be invaluable when playing with the children and see such appreciation when they realize I know what they are talking about... Yes! I too can speak Land Before Time Language!



Today we had a very heated discussion on what dinosaur babies to make. I asked what the flying Dinosaur was called: 'Ducky or Peachtree?" Riley piped up from his play and said: "Ducky is a swimmer" Conan said Peachtree is a Pteranodon" Riley now stands up and shakes his finger, "No he is a Pteradactyl" I agreed with Riley and said: "Yes, I'll make a Pteradactyl baby for this egg" Now in hindsight and through some google research I have found out that Pteranodon's are also flyers! So Conan was also correct and perhaps we need to further our discussion...The language of dinosaurs you see is a complicated one full of long names and specific facts. I am excited to learn this language with the children, who I am finding are very good teachers.



The idea of making eggs for the dinosaurs came from Conan's request for a cave and Asher relaying how in Ice Age the T-Rex lays her eggs in the Ice Cave. I found a nest and some very psychedelic coloured plastic eggs. We took to the Plasticine and gumnuts (for eye's) and began making our baby dinosaurs. Asher was the egg guard as he had the biggest toughest dinosaur. We decided to make a three horn dinosaur baby and handed this to Asher: He checked over his eggs in the cave and switched some babies around declaring: "Hey guys come check out my triple egg" Asher is communicating his knowledge of three being triple!! Maths is now a part of dinosaur play!



Jasper decided he was making up his own species of Dinosaur: the Volcano Erupters.... This species is born in the volcano and helps to make it erupt. Jasper gave a demonstration, in went the baby 'Volcano Erupter' and slowly he rose upwards bringing with him the cellophane lava. Imagination adds magic to our play....



Riley, Jullian and Levi had their own part of the great valley for the 'Triceratops/Three Horns'. They decided that 'Three Horns' do not live in caves. They also decided that 'Three Horns' could not be friends with Long Necks.



I tried to bring in some 'Lavender' for the dinosaurs to eat, this was rejected and green crystal connectors were retrieved from a nearby table and labeled 'Tree Stars' - a dinosaurs favourite food. Conan then collected blue crystal connectors to represent water and then found red one's.... which of course represented 'red meat'. Suddenly Asher's T-Rex had several red crystal connectors - enough red meat for a hungry dinosaur... "Look Asher, red meat for your T-Rex" This transference of objects is conducive to divergent thinking and seeing more than one solution or purpose for a problem/object.... Children's play is so rich with learning, I often find myself becoming very excited about the use of a 'connector' as red meat...

A Letter to Our Siblings

We are currently exploring relationships at Preschool and have chosen to learn about each others siblings. So far we have had Jye Asher's big brother visit preschool for a day. This was a great moment for Asher who proudly showed everyone his brother. Jye was very popular with the boys and showed them all how to kick properly and how to be a goal keeper. He built a huge sand castle and was a great role model who contributed many ideas to the play of other children.

Asher’s preschool experience was made so much more fun through the inclusion of his brother, preschool is a very big part of Asher’s life and his identity at preschool was strengthened through Jye's involvement. He enhanced the connections he has between school and home and especially his brother. They now can both share stories about preschool and discuss specific events, people and places together.

LO1 – Children have a strong sense of identity: Asher’s learning was enhanced by the supportive presence of his brother he was more open to new challenges, increasingly co-operative, able to take considered risk in his decision making and noticeably confident.

After Asher's brother visited we worked together on a letter to try and get some more siblings visit our preschool... The letter is as follows:

Dear Brothers and Sisters

Please come to preschool because there is lots of friends. There is lots of painting. We make volcano's and ride bikes. We can build racing car jumps and you can play with your sister. We can play with babies and build stuff. We can play in the sandpit. We can play together and play hide and go seek.

                                                                                 From everyone at preschool
                                                                                                                             xxx



Today we had Jaz, Malu's big brother. Joey took to Jaz straight away and wanted to be his friend. Joey is new to making friends with big kids so stood by watching Jaz play with Malu. I noticed this and suggested Joey ask Jaz if he could play? Joey was brave and asked for a turn. Jaz said 'yeah sure'... Malu retrieved the ball for Joey and he had several kicks. During our group time Joey sat with Jaz and Malu. So we can see how not only Malu experienced benefits from having Jaz at preschool. Joey gained experience with interacting with an older child. Jaz spent time with a lot of the children and each time he participated a sense of calm was felt among the group. Thank you Jaz you enhanced our day.

Noah and Gem

If we are talking about how friendships enhance every aspect of a child's day then Noah and Gem are a perfect example. Their friendship is strong and full of fun. They look for each other in the mornings, waiting in anticipation for their favorite buddy to arrive. Once they meet in the morning their faces light up and they exchange pats on the shoulder or chest bumps (very masculine way of greeting). Together they take in the playground and choose their place of play. On this day it was the sandpit and an experiment with sand began. They took turns at being buried and trusted each other not to pour sand onto their head area.
Friendships are only successful when they are reciprocal and trusting relationships - Noah and Gem are clearly capable of such a relationship.



Although every friendship has it's ups and downs and Noah and Gem can often be seen having a rough and tumble tiff. There has been some occasional biting but all is short lived and reconciled with a pat or bump to the chest. The friends eat together, sleep together and play together. They are open to new members joining the group and value how other's enhance their play.



When the duo is together they are noticeably more confident, able to persist when faced with challenges, more likely to take considered risks in their play and very open to new challenges. This friendship we can see is having a positive effect on the two boys learning and development. When one child is absent it is clear just how much this relationship contributes to their day. LO1.2