Holi Celebrations
28 March 2025
October Highlights: Learning, Play, and Celebrations
Kia Ora! It’s been a busy month at the centre with lots of exciting activities and experiences for the children. We’ve recently received a large shipment of new toys, bikes, and furniture, all of which the children have been thoroughly enjoying. They’ve been using the magnetic tiles to build different shapes and have shown great interest in exploring the insect specimens that came with the new resources. In addition, our family corner has been stocked with a variety of food items, and the children have loved cooking and sharing meals together! The children also had a fun outing to the local grocery store, where they explored the different foods available and purchased the ingredients needed to make a fruit salad. They carefully chose the fruits and counted how many were required, then returned to the centre to prepare and enjoy the delicious salad they created together. Another highlight was the “Walking Water” science experiment, which left the children in awe as they observed the process. The excitement didn’t stop there—we also baked muffins for afternoon tea, and the children had a great time both making and eating them! We had two wonderful celebrations this month: Halloween and Diwali. For Halloween, the children dressed up in costumes, and the over-2s enjoyed a fun piñata activity, where they had to bash the piñata to release the treats inside. The excitement continued with our Diwali celebration, where the children made and painted diyas and even prepared some sweets to mark the occasion. Be sure to check out the photos! As for the babies, they’ve been enjoying listening to live guitar music played by one of our student teachers. Dancing to the various songs has been a great source of joy for them. The babies also took part in the celebrations, with some watching and others joining in the dancing during Diwali. It’s been a wonderful way to start the new month! Connections to Te Whāriki (ECE Curriculum) Learning Outcomes: Children are provided with an environment where: • Making connections between people, places, and things in their world | te waihanga hononga • Keeping themselves healthy and caring for themselves | te oranga nui • Playing, imagining, inventing, and experimenting | te whakaaro me te tūhurahura i te pūtaiao
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Learning about the moon
After we celebrated Matariki, all the talk, and singing about the stars lead the conversation to outer space, and the moon. We had a bit of fun recreating the phases of the moon using Oreo cookies.
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Learning about Oral Health
This month is an exciting month at Active Explorers St Lukes where we prepare for the team at Oral Health to share their exciting annual presentation. We keep close to the Auckland University of Technology where this programme is run by the students. The children at the centre play a pivotal role in this presentation designed by the students as their contribution to what is offered determines the success of this programme. For the past 5 years we have incorporated this connection into our programme at the centre and it compliments well with our Healthy Heart Award (Gold) Status.
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