Centre: Yoga/Meditation (Spiritual/Moral)
(Creative/Aesthetic)
Explained: Gross motor activity to get the
children to sit for a moment, breathe and
meditate. Watch the video ‘Nibs the Octopus’ by
Cosmic Kids Yoga (link below) and make sure the
is sufficient room for each child to sit, see the
screen and no one is bumping into each other.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUBRoLRioiY
The purpose of this centre is to take a step
towards helping children with their self-regulation
skills whilst making it fun, engaging and they can
learn about different animals in the video such as
a lionfish.
What you'll need: iPad, tablet, laptop, speaker,
room for children to space out and still see the
screen.
Science Learning: Children will learn/discover
physical attributes of sea creatures such as a great
white shark and an octopus.
EYLF Links: 3.1, 4.4, 5.5
Mat Session:
The educator will read the text ‘Goodnight
Ocean’ by Becky Davies and Carmen Saldana in
the morning mat session or the mat session
before lunch/rest time. During rest time, the
educators can play calming ocean sounds for the
children to relax to.
After rest time, children will play inside or outside
and then come in for their afternoon mat session.
In this scenario, the children are full of life and the
educator will put on a YouTube yoga/meditation
video such as Nibs the Octopus by Cosmic Kids
Yoga and the children will follow the yoga
instructions, breathe, and self-regulate.
Conclusion:
Educators will create a sea themed ‘calming
corner’ and will discuss with the children, that
when they feel angry, upset or any other
heightened emotion, they can go into the calm
corner and self-regulate their emotions using any
breathing technique, sensory bottles they made
together or any of the yoga moves they learnt.
Objective:
Children are beginning to learn how to
self-regulate their emotions with the help
of yoga/meditation.
Centre: Ocean Sensory Bottle /Ocean Waves
Explained: Sensory bottles are also known as ‘calm
down bottles’ as they have stress relieving
properties. Educators and the children will create the
sensory bottles together and whilst creating them,
educators can use a plate and mis a small amount of
oil and water together and see what happen. Once
the children see that the oil floats on top of the
water, the educator can ask the children what they
think will happen once they are in a bottle together,
will the oil and water mix or will one float on top?
What you'll need: Sensory bottle: Clear water
bottle/mason jar, blue glitter glue, silver glitter,
shells, water, green food colouring (optional).
Ocean waves bottle: Clear water
bottle/mason jar, vegetable or baby oil, blue
food colouring.
Science Learning: Whilst creating the sensory
bottles, children will learn about the different
substances (oil and water) and what will happen
when it is ‘mixed’ together. Will they mix or will one
float on top of the other due to density differences?
EYLF Links: 4.2. 4.3
2<|||
Centre: Shell Sorting and Home Discussion
(Cognitive/Language)
Explained: Before conducting the activity, the
educator can read ‘A House for Hermit Crab’ by
Eric Carle to open the discussion of shells as a
home. What animals live in shells? Educators can
discuss what a shell is and the importance of a
shell for a sea creature as it is their ‘home’.
Discuss how the shell homes are different to their
home – does the shell have a kitchen inside?
The educator can also ask the children to describe
and/or draw the shells in detail, classify the shells
in different ways and count them.
What you'll need: Seashells of various sizes,
shapes, and colours, treasure boxes.
Science Learning: Classifying shells in different
ways such as size, colour and potentially shape.
EYLF Links: 4.2
(Campbell et al., 2021)
Centre: Icy Ocean Sensory Bin and Ice Melt
(Physical: Fine Motor)
Explained: This is a fine motor activity as children
will be using droppers, pipettes and/or eye
droppers to melt the large, coloured ice cubes
with warm water to discover what sea creatures
are ‘stuck’ inside the ice.
What you'll need: Sea creatures, shells, plastic
containers, food colouring, eyedropper/squeeze
bottle and water (to freeze and then warm water
to help melt the ice).
Science Learning: In this experiment, children
will be introduced to the concept of melting,
through the experiment, children will discover
(with the help of an educator) that warm water will
melt the ice block and they can find sea creatures
that are hidden in the ice.
EYLF Links: 4.1, 4.2
(Little Bins for Little Hands, 2014).
Assessment & Recording: (What are we
assessing? How are we assessing? How are we
recording?)
The children will be assessed on their
participation in the Yoga/meditation activity
and notes will be made if they use the sea
themed calming corner to regulate their
emotions.
The children will also be assessed on the shell
sorting activity – can they classify the shells
by size, colour and/or shape?
The assessment types the educators will be
using in these scenarios are anecdotal notes
to write down anything the child says or does,
their tone of voice, facial expressions, and a
checklist to see if the children can correctly
classify the shells by size, colour and/or shape.
OUTCOME 1: Children have a strong
sense of identity
Children feel safe, secure, and supported
Children develop their emerging
autonomy, inter-dependence, resilience
and sense of agency
Children develop knowledgeable and
confident self identities
Children learn to interact in relation to
others with care, empathy and respect
OUTCOME 2: Children are connected
with and contribute to their world
Children develop a sense of belonging to
groups and communities and an
understanding of the
reciprocal rights and responsibilities
necessary for active community
participation
Children respond to diversity with
respect
Children become aware of fairness
Children become socially responsible and
show respect for the environment
OUTCOME 3: Children have a strong
sense of well being
Children become strong in their social
and emotional wellbeing
Children take increasing responsibility for
their own health and physical wellbeing
OUTCOME 4: Children are confident and
involved learners
Children develop dispositions for learning
such as curiosity, cooperation,
confidence, creativity, commitment,
enthusiasm, persistence, imagination and
reflexivity
Children develop a range of skills and
processes such as problem solving,
enquiry, experimentation, hypothesising,
researching and investigating
Children transfer and adapt what they
have learned from one context to
another
Children resource their own learning
through connecting with people, place,
technologies and natural and processed
materials
OUTCOME 5: Children are effective
communicators
Children interact verbally and non-
verbally with others for a range of
purposes
Children engage with a range of texts
and gain meaning from these texts
Children express ideas and make meaning
using a range of media
Children begin to understand how
symbols and pattern systems work.
Children use information and
communication technologies to access
information, investigate ideas and
represent their thinking