Here in Hummingbee Kindy, the children have been settling into our Kindy rhythms and participating enthusiastically in our drawing, craft, painting and baking activities. It has been a delight to watch the warm connections being made among the children as they engage deeply in creative play together.
 
This term, in our Kindy garden, the children have been busy harvesting Madagascar beans (the children counted over 100!), sunflower seeds, star fruits, native mulberries, midyim berries, and making delicious lemongrass, mint and lemon myrtle tea to share.
 
Summer has been holding on with some very hot days, but the Kindy children have been delighting in finding secret signs that Lady Autumn is here: dew drops glistening on spiders' webs and grass, mist hanging low in the valley under Grandmother Koonyum, mushrooms popping up all around, and the starry star fruits ripening in our kindy garden.
 
Now that autumn is here, we are busy with our preparations for our Kindy Autumn Festival at the end of term; practicing our songs and dances, preparing food and making decorations. The Autumn Festival is also known as the Harvest Festival and it is a time to celebrate the bounty of Mother Earth with gratitude and reverence. Our Kindy festivals are joyous celebrations that lift the children out of the everyday and into the mystery and magic of the seasonal rhythms and the natural world around us.

Kara Mallory
Kindergarten Teacher

Working towards a sustainable future is one of our School's strategic goals and children are never too young to start learning how to care for our planet. Recently we began a project to replace all of our disposable sponges with knitted reusable cleaning cloths. Parents and grandparents have enjoyed learning to knit and supporting us to minimise our footprint and the children are proud to use the new cloths for all their busy work.

Daily house duties are very important at Playgroup. These very first steps are an integral part of our educational program. We sweep and scrub the table after baking our bread together. Some children are very focused on their tasks and others need a little more motivation by being brought in gently by their parents or myself. Having the same routine every day helps the children to know what is coming next.

It is wonderful to see so many fathers and grandparents bringing the children to Playgroup, bringing a welcome diversity to our mornings. 

Some of the older children will be heading off to Preschool next year and their play has become more engaging and interactive with each other. It is very exciting to watch their tea parties and creative dressing up becoming richer and more imaginative.

Some of our youngest children have just attempted their very first wet on wet painting; some are making little blue-banded bees out of banksias and fleece and others are painting their completed clay work. What will we do next? Well I’ll keep that as a surprise!
​
Carina Halliday
Playgroup Coordinator

We are all very happy to be back at Birdsong Kindy this term. We have been noticing the changes in our Kindy garden, and out beyond our Kindy gate on our nature walks. We see which flowers are blossoming, which leaves are unfurling, and which trees have their branches covered in tiny buds, ready to open as Lady Spring comes closer.

The wattle trees are shining bright, covered in their sweet smelling golden suns, and we have made some Wattle Blossom friends to play with in Kindy. We used our tiny, most careful stitches to sew their golden gowns and matching crowns.

We have found ripe bananas at the Farm and made banana muffins on baking day. We have also been gifted some sweet, golden pumpkins and have made pumpkin soup and bread for a rainy day feast earlier this week. What a gift it is for children to prepare delicious treats, from the food grown here on our very own Farm, to share with our class and families. Soon we will have enough silverbeet for baking day... I wonder what we will make!

We are also noticing changes in our Kindy friends. Some are a little taller, some a little stronger, some with shorter or longer hair, some with missing teeth, or brand new adult teeth, and all are a little shinier.

Last week in Kindy was Birthday Week! We celebrated a birthday each day of the week. Each child in Kindy has a birthday celebration honouring them and the gifts they bring to our Kindy. We tell the Birthday Story and sing our Birthday Song. 
Today is a special day, today is Susie's Birthday.
Sent to us from the stars above.
She brings to us her gift of love.
Today is a special day, today is Susie's Birthday.

As we light the candles, we hear a little about the birthday child, a little picture from each year of their lives before they have joined us at Kindy. It could be something they learnt to do, their favourite thing to eat, or a memorable adventure they had with their family.

Each child is gifted with a birthday crown made just for them. We all make a drawing and include birthday messages for the birthday book and share fruit sticks to celebrate! These celebrations help us to create a class community where everyone is honoured and included. The children love, not just their own celebration but the chance to celebrate with their friends. Each one is a special day for the whole class.

Kat Barwick
Birdsong Kindergarten Teacher

As winter solstice draws near, the in-breath is completed. The earth soul has drawn its forces down beneath the soil. The earth elementals (gnomes) have become intensely active underground, moving at will through the layers of rock and mineral.

In the winter night, the moon rises high in the sky, staying for about fifteen hours above the horizon, while the day time sun is gone after only nine or so hours. The moon, which regulates the ether body of the earth, now has a greater influence than the sun.

Our own consciousness is intensified in winter when our thinking life, which is connected to the gnomes, becomes active. It is especially in the activity of thinking that our ego manifests itself. It is in these times that we are being asked to stay conscious and free from despair and loss of hope—to remember the light in the darkness.

The source of energy we need is the “inner” light, the sunlight that was absorbed into the earth during the spring and summer and that is now, in winter, present beneath the ground and transformed into the spiritual light within.                   
 
We will gather together and walk the spiral one by one (parent and child) and light our lantern in the centre. We will be singing our songs the children have learned. The spiral-walk and lighting the candle represents our journey within and finding our inner light. Winter solstice has been regarded as especially sacred and a time to remember to bestow love and light on all living beings on the planet.
 
Warm wishes to all,
Carina Halliday
Playgroup

In Term 2, our Rainbow Lorikeets have welcomed a new family, and our Sunny Sunflowers three new families! We are also very happy to welcome Brigid, our new gardener, who is helping us to weed, plant, prune and grow. Recently, on one of our first sunny days, Sunny Sunflowers and our Star Daisy neighbours stirred and sprinkled a biodynamic preparation to nourish our plants that give us their fruits, flowers, vegetables and shade.

At last, our outside spaces are firming up after all the wet, and this week we are once again able to use our grassy area for games and play. Thank you, Sunny Sun and Brother Wind! Our sandpit sees many wonderful creations in play, from whole villages to lakes and bridges, bakeries, pottery studios and more, individually, with a friend or in larger groups.
 
We’ve walked to The Farm and had lovely conversations with our cow friends there, as well as exploring, with delight, the properties of mud and puddles, and connecting with the wider environment around our Preschool home.
 
We are now busily preparing for our Winter Festival, learning new songs and making lanterns and candles, to remind us of our inner spark of light that sees us through the cold and dark of winter.
 
Each week, the children bake bread and help to prepare their own morning teas. Apple crumble is a favourite — using the ‘apple twirler’ to peel and cut the apples, and measuring and stirring the crumble, as well as making birthday cakes for our birthday celebration days and chopping juicy fruit for our morning teas.
 
In this cooler weather, cosy cubbies are a regular feature of play; using tables, chairs, play-stands and large cloths, the children create the cosiest homes imaginable, then live out many scenarios in our cubby villages.
 
Both groups of parents came together recently for an evening, connecting, sharing and learning together. We experienced the children's morning circle and spent nourishing time chatting and tie-dyeing, along with open conversations about how our roles as educators and parents support the children’s development.

Joanne Owens
Little Shearwater Preschool

Although we have been seeing a lot of grey, rainy days this autumn, in Kindy we know that a cloudy day is a chance to search for rainbows!
 
Rainbow Glow shines so bright, she fills our hearts with love.
A warm glow shines within us all when a rainbow shines above.
 
We started our term with busy fingers, as the Kindy children wove their own autumn rainbows, made rainbow crunchy buns and tie-dyed rainbow Kindy shirts as well as rainbow starry craft bags.
 
Last week our school celebrated IDAHOBIT Day. In Kindergarten, 'Rainbow Day' was a day to celebrate the diversity of people in our wonderful community and world. In the words of one of the Kindy children, “We celebrate that all people are different and all people are beautiful”.

Kara Mallory
Hummingbee Kindergarten

​These last few weeks are a very special part of our year at Kindy, bringing a feeling of completion and rounding off to our year together, as the children begin their transition to Class 1.
 
Sand play, mud play and water play are becoming favourite activities at outside play time. The children continue to stretch the capabilities of their limbs, trying new things on the monkey bars, playing skipping games and building elaborate constructions taller than they are!
 
This week we went for a walk to “the Big School” and a visit to their Class 1 classroom. The children enjoyed sitting on the bigger chairs and having a play in their soon-to-be playground.
 
We have spent a whole term finger-knitting, weaving, feeding and sewing our beautiful Green Sheeny Turtles - a wonderful long-term ‘will’ project. Filled with pride at the completion of all their busy work (and rightly so!), the children have discovered the pleasure and satisfaction of making something beautiful which requires perseverance and thoroughness. The turtles have been swimming all around our Kindy, playing games with the children, getting cuddles in rest time and swings in the hammock, too.
 
Last week we began a woodwork project — making paddle boats, with lots of sanding, painting and hammering, as well as tie-dyeing the sail, tying knots to secure the anchor and, finally, launching, at the end of term, when the children will be well and truly ready to launch themselves on the next step of their own exciting journey into Primary School!

Kara Mallory
Hummingbee Kindergarten

Hello from Preschool! What a delight these last weeks have been. The children come with smiles and laughter, and play and work all through the day. They have a wonderful sense of confidence and resilience despite all the changes that are happening around them – a picture of Preschool as a safe and predictable place to be.

We have painted, drawn, listened to stories about a secret nest of Mrs. Honeyeaters, played finger and feet games, dug holes and found worms!

Thank you to our parents for supplying extra morning tea and supporting the changes. Although the children are still enjoying their crunchy buns on Fridays!

We welcomed a new assistant to our group, Kristy, and the children embraced her soft and kind ways at once. These final weeks of the year will fly by before we know it. Hopefully we will have a fine day next week for a picnic by the creek.

Margaret King
Preschool 

​Throughout the Kindy year, we offer the children a variety of tasks which have been carefully planned to meet them where they are in their development. Early tasks are short and sweet, designed to be completed easily by the children, giving them a boost in confidence as they see their finished crafts displayed around the room. Later in the year, the tasks become longer, more challenging and have more steps involved.

Late in Term 3, each Kindy child finger-knitted balls of wool in all the rainbow colours. Some children thought they would never be able to finish one ball, let alone all the colours, but one-by-one they all got the hang of it and by the beginning of Term 4, were beaming and proud and ready for the next step.

This term, we began to weave our rainbow finger-knitting onto a round weaving board. Again, many children thought they would not be able to finish all their colours, but the whole class kept trying, and encouraging each other until now, almost all our weaving has been finished, and the children are, rightly, very proud of themselves.

There were many guesses about what our weaving might be... a pillow, a new rug for Kindy, a nest, or a shell for a turtle. This week at last, the children were each given a green turtle to begin to feed with fluffy wool. When the turtles are full and strong, their shell will be sewn onto the body and they will have a beautiful turtle, that they have made themselves, a reminder of what can be achieved when they put their mind to something.

We choose longer-term, multi-step projects at this time of year for this very reason—to allow the children to carry this inner feeling of confidence with them into Class 1 and beyond.

This term, we have begun welcoming our students into the gunyah, Shearwater's special space, as part of a dawn ceremony, where we pay respects to the elements that make it possible for all life to exist.
 
The gunyah is where we can learn how to conduct ourselves in a ceremonial space and be reminded of our connection to the life-giving forces that unite us all.
 
In the timeline of humanity, these ways of paying respect have been integral. More recently we have not been doing this as well as we can. We value the exploration of where we originate from and honour our connection to nature and spirit. We strive for the children to feel connection to this place and to be strengthened by it.

The children have returned to Preschool this term with enthusiasm and confidence. Joyfully connecting with friends and engaging in our Preschool activities — baking, cleaning, telling stories and playing with friends. Building whole towns of fantastic towers, searching for mulberries or enjoying a quiet  picnic with a friend.

And on one magical sunny day Whisper Wings and Flutterby Butterfly visited the Preschool garden, fluttering their pretty wings from flower to flower.

Gabe O'Neill
Little Shearwater

In Kindy, we connect closely with nature and the cyclical rhythm of the year. Our stories, songs and actions encourage reverence for Mother Earth as we observe the seasonal changes.
 
In autumn time, the children painted flower pots in autumn colours reflecting the golden leaves falling, bright autumn rainbows, rosy red apples and orange pumpkins.

In winter, the children planted their bulb babies in their pots, tucking them into Mother Earth’s warm blanket.

Last term, the children watered their bulb babies diligently as they eagerly waited for them to grow.

This term, the children were greeted with green shoots growing tall towards the sun, a sign to show that spring was on its way.

Now that the children are learning from home, their pot plants have travelled home with them, just in time for their Dafodilly Dancers to blossom and dance in the springtime breezes.
 
Yellow, yellow daffodils
You’re dancing in the sun.
Yellow, yellow daffodils
You tell me spring has come.
 
At Shearwater, we celebrate the seasonal festivals that are connected to cosmic events such as the autumn and spring equinox and the winter and summer solstices. When the children participate in the festivals, they are able to experience the deeper mysteries of life, through simply observing and connecting with the rhythms of nature.

The spring equinox  on September 23 is a time to celebrate the energies of rebirth, and renewal.  It is a season of wonder as new life begins; baby animals are born and flowers bloom. There is much to celebrate, even in these uncertain times!
 
At Kindy we would normally be celebrating our Spring Festival in our last week of Term 3 before the holidays start. Here are some ideas for creating your own family festival at home. It is important to note that with young children, the preparation for the celebration is as important as the celebration itself.

• Find a good spot to make a seasonal table with your children, and keep adding new treasures found in the garden or during daily walks in nature. Your child may like to add special springtime drawings or paintings to their nature display too.
• Let your children help prepare a special meal with fruits and vegetables that are in season, like these Fruit Floaty Boats.
• Decorate the family dining table with a special cloth, candle, flowers in season.
• Light a candle and say a verse or sing a song before sharing your special family meal.
• Share seasonal stories, sing, dance, make music or play some games together as a family.
• Go on a springtime treasure hunt and make a family mandala out of the collection, or spend the afternoon getting creative and making things out of your treasures e.g. make flower crowns for the whole family out of jasmine vine and colourful flowers, create ‘wonder sticks’ out of nature finds, bright wool and beads.
• Go for a walk and look for signs of spring, then recreate them out of colourful beeswax, play dough or clay.

 
The Kindy children have been busy bees in their own homes, creating their own nature tables, nature weavings, wonder sticks, springtime beeswax crafts, practicing their Mother Bird and blanket stitch, making flower crowns, and much more! It has been heart-warming to see so many photos of the children doing their Kindy work, and hearing stories of the wonderful family activities that are taking place. Perhaps there are some craft ideas here that your child may like to do at home too?
 
Kara Mallory
Hummingbee Kindergarten Teacher
​

Here at Preschool, we have been enjoying the amazing weather - lapping up as many sun forces as we can. We have been out and about on the Farm, meeting our beloved farmers, who often feature in our stories at Preschool - our new friend Farmer Spike; our trusted old friend Farmer Andrew; and don't forget our much-loved gardener Renate, who the children flock to like bees to honey, wanting to help with any busy jobs she may have. 

Also in our stories is Nic Nac Gnome who lives in the very big trunk of Grandfather Fig Tree. He uses a special curly key to unlock his door. So, when we went past the grapevines on the Farm, each child found their very own curly key before we headed over to Grandfather Fig, where the the children searched and searched, all over Grandfather Fig's big roots; in tight little corners; and way up high into those ever-reaching arms, until they finally called out "we found the door!". 

After all of our adventures under the sun, we sat underneath the shady branches of Grandfather Fig and enjoyed a delicious picnic while we watched the High School children practice their high jumps.

How blessed we are to be part of such a special school, with so much to do and see.

We are looking forward to seeing what the farmers are doing next week! 

Susan Denney
Preschool Group Leader

​In Birdsong Kindy, we have started the term celebrating many six-year-old birthdays! Each child has a birthday celebration throughout the year. Parents send stories honouring each year in the birthday child's life, to be told with the lighting of the candles. We sing our Kindy birthday song and the child is gifted with a birthday crown. Each crown is hand-dyed and stitched and imbued with love. The children receive this gift proudly, knowing it was made especially for them. One birthday child even wore theirs to bed this week! Each child in the class draws a picture to be bound into the birthday book, and messages are added, thanking the child for all the gifts they bring to our kindy. To finish our celebration, we enjoy fruit sticks made by the birthday child's family.

The six-year-old birthday is an important one to honour. The Kindy year can bring many changes, physically, socially and emotionally. We support the children in Kindy by viewing them with kind eyes, knowing they are all experiencing a transition and are striving to find balance and harmony within themselves.  We set out our days and weeks with a strong routine and rhythm, helping them gain confidence in the familiar while they grow and change. We also hold consistent, firm and loving boundaries for the Kindergarten child, knowing that children look to adults for guidance, acknowledging them as individuals while supporting them to participate safely and harmoniously within the class setting and the broader community. 

Outside we continue to enjoy the glorious winter sun. The children run, jump, climb, balance, build, carry, push, monkey bar and expand their bodies, working on muscle development as well as gross motor skills. We balance this "breathing out" with our "breathing in" times; story, drawing, craft, baking and painting, building on concentration and fine motor skills.

Kat Barwick
Kindergarten Teacher

It is buzzing with activity here at Playgroup. We are in the process of finishing our clay work - a different modality to explore with our senses. Some children needed some time to get used to the sticky, soft wetness and others went straight to work exploring. A great big thank you to Ben for putting all our little pieces into the kiln to be fired. We are all full of anticipation to see the end product after the glazing.

Some parents have started knitting slipper socks to keep little feet warm. It is a wonderful activity to do, particularly together with some friends, drinking tea and sharing life’s experiences.

We have been painting and printing some treasures from our garden onto wet paper; autumn leaves, grasses, flowers… all different kinds and shapes, to be made into winter lanterns to light the long nights ahead. 

We welcomed a new baby at Playgroup this term. Her first day out was with us at Rosewood Cottage, sharing so much joy and love.

Our guinea pigs are well loved, but sadly we need to find a new home for Lovely Wilder who has outgrown his cage. He will need some company, of the guinea pig or bunny kind. If you are interested please come and see me at Playgroup.
 
As winter arrived this week, we reflected on the wisdom of Rudolf Steiner who reminds us that our own consciousness is intensified in winter, when our thinking life becomes intensely active. It is especially in the activity of thinking that our ego manifests itself and, at these times, we must strive to remain conscious and free from despair and loss of hope - to remember the light in the darkness.
 
With warmth and light,
Playgroup Coordinator
Carina Halliday

We have been having lots of fun in the autumn sun (and rain) here at Birdsong Kindy. Even though it has been much wetter than usual we have still been able to notice the changes all around, helping us to feel that autumn days are here.

From our Kindy table we can see the mistlings dance on Lady Koonyum each morning as Wonder Waterfall rushes down. We have noticed the colours changing in our garden (and even seen the first gold-tipped leaves), and of course, we have seen the autumn rainbows shine bright above our Kindy when the rain dancers and sun dancers play together.

We are learning new songs, rhymes and dances ready to share with our families when they come to celebrate with us at our Autumn Festival next week. We hope they will bring their dancing shoes! Our clever hands have been busy making invitations, decorations and costumes, too.

Kat Barwick
Kindergarten Teacher

​A warm welcome to all of our new families and of course especially our ‘old’ friends. The new year and Term 1 is in full swing over here at Rosewood Cottage Playgroup. We have been very lucky to have been gifted three guinea pigs with a great little hutch. The children are holding them with the supervision of the parents in a little pouch made from a repurposed towel… this makes the guinea pigs feel more secure and it is easier for the children to cuddle them. This is a new experience for some of the children who are eager to feed them grasses they find in the garden. The older children enjoy helping me clean the hutch and making sure they have enough water.

It is wonderful to observe the children’s enthusiasm to help and imitate the adults. "I can do it, too!". Putting up all the chairs on the table takes a strong will and perseverance, and sometimes the helping hand of a friend. Not only does this activity strengthen gross motor and social skills, it is also an example of learning that is entirely self-directed.

Our parents have been sewing a little felted toy for their children; some are making bunnies, others bilbies or chick-shaped egg warmers for Easter.

Our first painting experience was with Lemon Light yellow - a summer color, which we turned into a Sunbeam Spiral. I am looking forward to observing the autumn changes in our garden and painting with the colours of Golden, Vermillion and Carmine red.

Carina Halliday
Playgroup Coordinator

​Preschool's Banksia Rose Blossom and Rose Bud children have been coming together to enjoy a cooked morning tea every morning with Rudolf Steiner's Grains of the Day in mind. Monday we have creamy rice pudding, Tuesday barley flake apple crumble, Wednesday millet pancakes with raspberry sauce. 

We set our table with flowers picked from our garden, candles and much love, respect, reverence, and gratitude. We sing a little song as we serve each child "from you I receive, to you I give, together we share, that's how we live", before enjoying our meal together. Quite often a child will call out a heartfelt thank that comes freely from their own being. Sometimes the children will ask for seconds or thirds!

At the end of morning tea, one of the children is chosen to ring a little bell to let everyone know that morning tea is finished. Then we snuff out our candle, and the children carefully wash their bowls, cups and cutlery, put away their place mats and wipe down the table before going off for inside play.

With their well-nourished tummies, the children set off for an adventure, transforming our room into a magical playground. One group of children made a boat out of tables, with chairs on top to sit on. Next, they jumped out of the boat into the water to learn how to scuba dive! While scuba diving was happening, over in our cozy corner a few children had so much work to do taking care of babies and doing busy house work.

Everything comes off our shelves during morning play. But quick as a wink, with a happy tune, all of our playthings are back on the shelf in just the right spot, ready for songs and group games with Farmer Beau, Mrs Moo and her baby calf, Mother Cluck and her three chicks Cheeper, Peeper and Feather. 

Then it's time for lunch around our table, before off we go again for some more adventurous fun, playing in our garden and enjoying the rain with our new friends. What a great start to our new year.

Susan, Jess, Margaret, and Odette 

Hummingbee Kindergarten was buzzing with excitement during our orientation last week, as the children enjoyed a lovely puppet show story and explored their inside play space, while their parents got to know each other, fluffing and puffing wool fleece and stitching their rest time pillows. 

As the days go by, friendships are forming and the children are learning to share and care for their Kindy play things while they build cubbies, castles, buses to ride on, farmlands for the animals, cafes and homes for the dollies and much more.
 
We have celebrated our first birthday, and the children’s clever hands have been drawing colourful pictures, winding wool to make art folders, painting and baking buns together.
 
Outside, the children have been busy exploring our garden. They are loving finding grasshoppers and caterpillars and watching the bees collecting pollen, as well as discovering tasty white mulberries, cherry tomatoes and mint to eat. They are challenging themselves on the monkey bars and wobble bridge, building sand castles and waterways, baking sand cakes and digging in the mud pit making “concrete” for their roads.

Everyone loves taking care of our little guinea pig sisters, Ginger and Blueberry, who are also enjoying the gentle cuddles and hand feeding.

We are all looking forward to many many more happy days together!
 
Kara Mallory
Hummingbee Kindergarten Teacher