Giggles Early Learning

Respect

Giggles ELC provides high quality care and education throughout the service by recognising that all children, families and staff are unique individuals that need to be respected. We acknowledge that children belong first to a family, a cultural group, a neighbourhood and a wider community. We foster children’s self-worth, as well as provide an understanding of acceptance for others. We celebrate, honour and promote the diversity not just related to our centre, but the diversity of the world we live in. We do this through the combination of children, staff and family input, resources and via our community. Our program reflects the diverse culture of the world we live in, by developing children’s awareness and respect for cultural differences and similarities. Though this we are able to provide a stable, safe and loving environment that fosters a solid foundation for lifelong success.

Learn

We provide educationally appropriate recourses to assist in the development of the whole child. Children initiate their own learning through play in a stimulating environment that provides variety, choice and stability. Play should be fun, exciting, hands on, spontaneous, stimulating, interesting, relaxing, comforting, social and challenging. When a child feels safe, secure and cared for, they will engage in activities and interactions that provide these experiences, which will in turn, support their cognitive and language skills and overall development.

Our learning spaces are clean and uncluttered. Furniture, materials and toys are age-appropriate and our outdoor space is designed so supervising caregivers can observe all children at all times. It is secure, has age-appropriate outdoor equipment and opportunity for running and other large motor activities. Giggles ELC operates under the premise that an effective and caring environment will help children feel invited and welcome to explore and learn.

Play

We love to play at Giggles ELC! Children learn through playing and exploring their environment and we foster this understanding by setting up ‘learning spaces’ in which the children are able to explore. These may evolve either from a chance event, an idea that has been shared or a problem posed by one or more of the children. It may also be initiated directly by the teachers. Some of these projects/learnings may last a few days to several months. The children are provided with a range of equipment that they are able to use to create, explore and delve into however they wish, allowing them to become ‘active learners’. Some of the activities that the children have opportunities to interact with are: creative (art) material, computer play, pretend play/dress ups, sensory activities, sand & water play, books, blocks, gardening, musical instruments, construction materials, puzzles & manipulatives, cooking, science materials, climbing equipment, etc. The emphasis is on teamwork between children, staff and families, rather than controlling the children’s learning. This allows for a ‘child driven program’ that creates opportunities of uninterrupted play and / or risky play depending on the interests and active learnings of the group.

In addition, play provides a wonderful opportunity for children to communicate, connect with, and enjoyment. It helps children become competent with problem solving and mastery, as well as developing their social skills such as patience, leadership and communication. Play also helps with brain development through the rich mix of cognitive, motor and language development opportunities. Importantly, play also provides an occasion for fun and laughter, both of which help children feel welcome and part of something.

Nurture

We believe in educating and ensuring children participate in practices of sustainability by promoting responsibility and respect towards the environment. Our children are seen as active participants in recycling, gardening and re using everyday household products. We empower them to make a difference in their future and do this by involving children and families in various ideas (listed below) and implementing these together, allowing them to connect with nature and the environment. In the same way as we teach the habits of healthy eating and lifestyle, we believe that children are never too young to learn to care for our environment, the creatures in it, the principles of recycling & sustainability and the food cycle.

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Recycling

Children and their families are asked to bring in recyclable material from home in order to teach the children and raise awareness of the importance of recycling. We have many discussions, investigations, research and games all focused on recycling and reusing and not wasting. We are very conscious of our world at our centre and all work together to pick up rubbish and keeping our environment clean. We use all recyclable materials to create things like robots, boats, cars, wind chimes etc.

Worm Farms

We are currently working with the children on researching how we can have the best worm farm ever! Our children show a lot of curiosity and interest with the worms and help to feed them on a weekly basis with scraps from the kitchen. This has also helped reduce a noticeable amount of waste and increased our recycling.

Vegetable Patch

Helping take care of the vegetable patches is a highlight of the day! Children show a lot of enjoyment getting their hands dirty through planting and maintaining the vegetables and at the end of each day, they are encouraged to empty their water bottles into the gardens – thus teaching them about not wasting water.