Learning and Playing together

Early Learning researchers and educators are emphatic about the rights of children to play. Childhood play is a natural instinct, and the learning which occurs whilst engaged in play is remarkably significant.

Children provided the opportunity to create, imagine, dramatise, dream, investigate and hypothesise in play situations, have their young minds opened to so many possibilities. From one experience to another, information is linked and tested in so many ways. During childhood, children have the time, the freedom from responsibilities and an innate sense of joy in ‘wondering’.

To ‘explore the world’ is a natural ingredient in children, and as adults we are highly aware of the rights of the child to do just that! Providing time to do so, is essential.

Motivation to pursue learning can be fragile and childhood play can ensure that children pursue learning with vigour.

Teachers in Campbell House appreciate, value and encourage the worth of play as a vital means of learning and continuing to learn.

“All people – and I mean scholars, researchers and teachers, who in any place have set themselves to study children seriously – have ended up by discovering not so much about their limits and weaknesses, but rather their surprising and extraordinary strength and capabilities linked with an inexhaustible need for expression and realisation”.

Loris Malaguzzi (Early Learning Educator and Researcher)
Under the sea

The children in Blue Gum Room have been immersed in an investigation of sea life. Initially, the children shared their collections of natural materials which they had gathered from the beaches and gardens they had visited over the summer holiday break.

This sparked discussion about life under the sea. We have shared many stories relating to sea creatures, explored the children’s collections of natural materials, listened to the sound of the waves inside the shells and experienced a real fish, crab and octopus. The children have learnt about how the various sea creatures move, their different body parts, what they eat, how they live and how they survive in the deep blue sea.

The children have discovered that the ocean really is a magical place!

Sarah Bethune
Blue Gum Room Teacher