Saturday 31 March at 8am Gwen and I made our way to the new training centre at Trinity College in Beenleigh.  We were to facilitate 3 workshops for local Goodstart Early Learning Centres.  The day was a huge success and we were so lucky to meet an amazing team of early years educators who all clearly have  a passion for their profession.

Workshop 1 – Five Cheeky Possums

There was some discussion and brainstorming about the EYLF Outcomes!

Each group brainstormed using a graphic organiser.  The ideas were later collated!

Gwen and Lisa shared the idea of Heuristic Play and the Treasure Basket.

We acted out Five Cheeky Possums being snapped up by a crocodile they were teasing – You can’t catch me!

A very cheeky possum is teasing Mr Crocodile.

Two cheeky possums hanging from a tree.

We danced to One cockatoo, two cockatoo, three cockatoo…………

The importance of touch and touching rhymes were shared.  These rhymes for the fingers help with fine motor control and the palmer reflex.

Massages on the back to rhyme were a great hit!  Touch has to be firm.  You can sing a simple rhyme like incy wincy and move your hands to the actions/words in the rhyme.

We finished off with Boom Chicka Boom before morning tea!  A great somg for learning slow/fast, loud/soft etc.

Workshop 2 – Bringing Books Alive with Mr Pfeffer’s Farm by Pamela Allen.  This workshop demonstrates the story sack and how you can do so much more with a book.

While the story was being read we used little farm animals and a simple story map to act out the story.

We used puppets and again we acted out the story.  This time each person was to hop into a boat as the story was read.  Our boat was simply a defined area on the carpet!

Each group had a turn at making Mr Pfeffer’s farm with blocks.  All kids and early years educators love block play.

Mr Pfeffers block farm with labels.

What is happening to the sheep?

Each group had a turn at playing card games with farm animal cards.

Memory – its a match!

We made butter from cream just like on Mr Pfeffers Farm.  We even got to see ‘curds and whey’!

The butter tasted great on biscuits with some jam.

Each group made a boat using aluminium foil.  Did your boat have the right design to stay afloat?

We also learnt about floating and sinking.  We had a guess before we tested!  This was a science experiment.

Will the object float or will it sink?  What do you think?

Workshop 3 – Storythreads for Storytelling

In this workshop we gave information about the benefits of telling oral stories.  Everyone then participated in a series of fun activities to strengthen their storytelling skills.

Story Sticks are a clever idea to use for group storytelling.

Trying out the story sticks to tell a fairy tale in a group situation.

An artifact story!  The groups were given something special and were asked to make up a story to share with the whole group.  They were amazing!

Another artifact story.

The day was an absolute success and Gwen and I were honored to receive such perfect feedback for each workshop.  We cannot wait to work with the Goodstart Early Learning Centre teams again!