The children are involved in routines on a day to day basis, whether it be transitioning to outdoor play, washing their hands for lunch, toileting and nappy times, packing away their belongings or putting some artwork in their bags, tidying the room after play choices, sitting on the mat for group times or sitting down for lunch their little minds are constantly working hard busily thinking about what to do next!
One of our biggest focuses each day is that they get some down time before each major daily routine, meal times!! Not only to give them a well needed rest to recharge their energy for the rest of their day, but to participate in social interactions as a group. When it is time to have either morning tea, lunch or afternoon tea the children become very busy knowing what is coming. Sticking to a similar routine each meal time allows the children to become familiar with the routines knowing what is coming next and allows everyone to be active participants working together to create a calm environment for all involved.
Each meal time we tidy up the room together and sit down on the mat as a group and either do some dancing, sing some songs with actions to go along with them, read stories or play some games. Each child is encouraged to sit with the group along with the educators role modeling to the children and join in to create social moments for everyone to be involved in. When singing songs as a group the children are randomly chosen to help chose the next song, giving them a say in our program and make choices that guide our play as a group. When our group times come to an end the children are usually selected individually and asked to chose a friend to go wash their hands ready for meal times, this allows them to also make choices along with becoming social and building friendships. Once we have all washed our hands we find a spot to sit to enjoy our favorite time of the day FOOD! This is also a great time for interactions and group discussions whilst sitting all together at the tables.
✅ Everyone is supported and included in the program.
✅ Encouraged to join in with group play situations.
✅ Creates social environments for active participation.
✅ Learn from each other.
✅ Children have a say to help guide our program.
✅ Learn to follow instructions and build on self help skills.
✅ Daily routines create consistency for the children.
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