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In Moonglade Studio this week, the educators and children have been discussing ANZAC Day.
The children had many questions during the discussion regarding the celebration of ANZAC Day and why it was a holiday. It is important to be truthful when having conversations with the children, so the educators explained that we are very lucky to live in a safe and happy country called Australia. A long time ago some people had a fight to make sure that we could stay in our country and that we could all live together safely and be happy. On ANZAC Day each year we remember all the people who may have been hurt during the big fight called a war. We are thankful to have a beautiful place to call home and that there is no need for anybody to fight any more for us to live here all together.
The educators also discussed what the acronym ‘ANZAC’ stands for and why the date was important.
The educators read a book called ‘ANZAC Ted’ which is a story about the ANZAC spirit and how, through courage, loyalty and love, a child’s teddy bear helped to bring our soldiers home. Written by Belinda Landsberry. educators explored this book with the children to develop their understanding of the importance of ANZAC Day.
Throughout the week children used various materials to make poppies; the red flowers called poppies show others that you are remembering those who fought for their country. The educators also decided to make purple poppies;The purple poppies are to honour the animals that went to war with the soldiers; this will work in well with our pet week project.
During World War I, the wives, mothers and girlfriends of the Australian soldiers were concerned for the nutritional value of food being supplied to the troops. Due to the transport of food traveling across the sea by boat the biscuits needed to be made with ingredients that would not go off quickly and remain edible for at least two months. That is when the ANZAC Biscuit was invented. Educator Despina decided to make ANZAC biscuits with the children developing their numeracy, science and cooking skills. The children were then able to take some cookies home to share with their families.
Willow Walk Kindergarten
In Willow Walk, there was much discussion about ANZAC Day and the contribution and help of our Australian soldiers in the war.
We read the book ‘ Stories of the First World War’ which has stories told by 12 different children about their experiences of war. The children asked questions about some words from the book such as “what is a war? What are soldiers? How did people get injured? What is a troop or army?” The educators answered all the questions and it led to a valuable and insightful discussion with some children recognising that they had family members that were in the war or they had seen medals that were earned in the war.
Some children also said they went to a special service on ANZAC Day where they heard people talk about the war and they heard a bugle playing a song, which led to more discussion of course…
We also looked at different uniforms of soldiers from different countries in the book and children talked about what sorts of uniform people in the Australian Defence Force wear today.
After morning tea we had a cooking experience. We made ANZAC Day biscuits. All the children showed their excitement and we all had a turn to mix the ingredients and make little biscuits to take home to share with our families.
To recognise ANZAC Day children also made poppies out of paper plates and play dough. They painted the paper plates with red paint and pasted black paper cut outs in the middle.
EYLF Outcome 1: Children have a strong sense of identity
EYLF Outcome 2: Children are connected with and contribute to their world
EYLF Outcome 4: Children are confident and involved learners
EYLF Outcome 5: Children are effective communicators
Have a trip to Aurora Early Education:
