Monday
To complete today's activities, you will need:
natural materials suitable for making a nest
football
Overview of today's activities:
Activity 1: Butterfly breathing (5 minutes)
Activity 2: Engineering nests (30 minutes)
Activity 3: Auskick at home - part 1 (10 minutes)
Break
Activity 4: The Kindergarten day (15 minutes)
Activity 5: Putting things in order (10 minutes)
Please note, these times are an approximation only.
Butterfly breathing
Learning goal: Children demonstrate capacity to understand their emotions and self-regulate.
1. Watch the video.
Butterfly breathing
Duration: 0:55
2. Follow the video to practice butterfly breathing.
3. How did it make you feel?
4. Try using butterfly breathing when you're feeling angry or worried.
Too hard?
Take some big deep breaths, breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth.
Too easy?
Create an artwork of a butterfly. Hang it somewhere as a reminder to do your butterfly breathing.
Engineering nests
Learning goal: Children explore bird nests and experiment with ways to build one.
1. Birds make nests to keep their eggs and chicks safe.
What do you know about nests?
What are they built from?
2. Look at these pictures of nests.
Can you tell what each bird used to build their nest?
What shape is each nest?
"Bird Nest" by Sikachu! is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
"Rainspider Nest (Palystes castaneus)" by Jaxon Rice is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
"Crow's Nest Make Out of Hangers" by Bracus Triticum is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
"Nesting Western Flycatcher" by Bandelier National Monument is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
"Blue-footed Booby Nest" by Andy Morffew is licensed under CC BY 2.0
3. Look for things to build a nest with. You might want to use:
grass
leaves
bark
twigs
paper
fabric
wool
twine
cotton balls.
4. Think about the shape you will make your nest and how it will hold together.
5. Watch the video to see some children building nests.
Too hard?
Make a round nest out of clay or playdough.
Make some round eggs to sit inside your nest.
Too easy?
Nests are usually round. Why do you think this is? Experiment making different shapes nests from playdough. Which shape makes it better for the eggs to sit in safely?
Auskick at home - part 1
Learning goal: Children learn stretches and exercises that support physical health.
Watch the video and join Katie Brennan doing some footy stretches and exercises.
Aussie Rules (14 May 2020) 'NAB AFL Auskick at home with Katie Brennan: Episode 1' [video], YouTube, accessed on 1 November 2021.
Too hard?
Make yourself as:
tall as you can
wide as you can
flat as you can
small as you can.
Too easy?
After you have warmed up, practice some football passes and kicks.
Take a break
Here are some things you might like to do:
have a drink of water and a healthy snack
play or have a rest
go to the toilet and wash your hands.
"Boy with glass of water, 2000" by Seattle Municipal Archives is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio. pexels.com
"Washing hands" by magnusfranklin is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
The Kindergarten day
Learning goal: Children learn what to expect in a typical Kindergarten day.
At school, the day is organised a bit differently to what you might be used to at preschool or daycare. You will do lots of different learning activities inside your classroom, as well as go outside to eat and play. Sometimes you will go with your class to an assembly, the library or outside to play sport.
1. Watch the video.
NSW Department of Education (30 June 2016) 'My day at Kindergarten' [video], YouTube, accessed 2 November 2021.
2. Talk with someone about what you saw the children doing.
3. Which activities are you looking forward to doing in Kindergarten?
4. Which activities are you worried about?
Families - please let us know what you think about that activity
Putting things in order
Learning goal: Children sequence everyday events.
1. Look at these pictures. They show the steps to make toast.
2. If you have a printer, print the pictures and then cut each out. Next, put them in order to show how to make toast.
3. If you don't have a printer, point to each picture in order.
4. Look at these pictures. They show the stages of a plant's growth.
5. If you have a printer, print the pictures and then cut each out. Next, put them in order to show how a plant grows.
6. If you don't have a printer, point to each picture in order.
Too hard?
Talk with someone about how you brush your teeth. What do you do first? What do you do next? What do you do last?
Too easy?
What do you do that has many steps? (for example, brushing your teeth, getting dressed). Draw a picture of each step, cut them out and mix them up for someone to put in the correct order.
Extra learning activities
For families, the Digital lunchbox website links to engaging and creative learning activities for all ages.