Lancaster Preschool

A big thank you to our wonderful parent volunteers who sold sausages at Bunnings today to raise money for our beautiful kinder!
If you didn’t get a chance to come down and buy a snag, you can buy ‘a virtual sausage’ online to help support us.
Here is the link; (will be under the name Jessica Lloyd, who set it up for us, but funds will go directly to the kinder)
https://square.link/u/m0KIH2QJ?src=sheet
Thank you!

Sausage - Jessica Lloyd description

We run an indoor/outdoor program ALL year round… even the cold, rainy, wintery days this week! Hands on learning about our environment and the ability to listen to the needs of our bodies as we feel cold and warm.

Whilst we don't play on the road, our river offers the perfect opportunity for endless learning while splashing in puddles!

YES!! Splash on!! 💦👏👏

We love barefoot play at Lancaster!

During summer and whilst the weather is warmer let’s get our children to take our shoes off and go barefoot. Have you been outside today and felt the green grass against your toes? This simple activity is a good one to regulate emotions and boost our mood. It sounds funny doesn’t it but go out and give it a go to see if it works for you and your child. If for whatever reason you or your child cannot go barefoot then go outside and touch the grass with your hands or use another sense that is comfortable for you to tune into the nature around you for a few minutes. Observe how this makes you feel before you leave.

We are all about this at Lancaster!!
Children need lots of opportunities to build core strength and posture before they can be asked to sit and write!

💚❤️💚

Our kindergarten sessions are all about 'Active Free Play' with almost all of our time together playing inside or out, wherever each child chooses to be.

Children's minds & bodies depend and thrive on active free play. 🌿

The social skills developed in play make it the most important part of our kinder program!

Play Is The Most Rigorous Curriculum Known To Humankind The opposite of play is not work, it's rote. ~Dr. Edward Hallowell Our outdoor classroom is one big slope and within that s...

Celebrate Children's Week in Yarra Ranges by joining Eastern Regional Libraries in an online story time session about body safety.
Saturday 30th October - 2pm
Listen to award-winning children's author Jayneen Sanders read from her books about body boundaries and body safety. Jayneen is the author of 18 books on topics like body safety, consent and gender equality. Her books include No Means No! and My Body! What I Say Goes!
The session will include some simple activities where we explore how we are the boss of our own bodies! You can follow along with us, or do the activities later at your own pace.
Suitable for children aged 4-10 and their families. We request that an adult be present during the entirety of the session.
For more information and to register visit: https://www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/Community/Family

Do you live within 5km from our kinder? Thanks to Mooroolbark Wool for their support and generous donation we would like to invite you to help pom-pom-ify our kindergarten. Bags include the wool and instructions you need to make the Pom poms. We can’t wait to return after the school holidays to see a rainbow of colour on our front fence.

Are you looking for things to do these school holidays? The Family and Children's Services team at Yarra Ranges Council have put together a range of family focused, educational and nature based activities for you to do at home, in your backyard and in your neighbourhood.
Click on the link below:
https://www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/Community/Family/School-holiday-activities

Let's take a walk! Even though we cannot play on playgrounds right now there is still so much we can do outside to let off energy, explore our community (within 5kms), and have fun together.

🌿Collect sticks and create a stick maze, make a stick person, draw or dig in the dirt or make a decoration by making a nature mobile.
🍁 Collect different shaped and coloured dropped leave to make a collage.
🐦Look around and find different types of birds – which ones do you know the names of?
👂 If you close your eyes what can you hear? Without the noise of so many cars on the road the sounds of nature are so much clearer.
🏃‍♀️ Take turns choosing a different way to walk – maybe big steps, sideways, jumping or dancing.
🌷 With Spring on the way you could take photos of the emerging buds and blossoms – and enjoy the fresh air!

For activity and play ideas for the outdoors and at home check out the Yarra Ranges Families – Activities webpage at: https://www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/Community/Family-activities-and-resources/Family-activities-and-resources

We love seeing the socks and shoes come off at kinder!

There are so many benefits to going barefoot! ❤☀❤

"With kids, it's even more important that they get abundant barefoot time because the proper development of natural gait patterns and deep body stabilization depends on the super-sophisticated feedback systems that come from the nerves sensing the ground and the brain.

This happens in two ways:

1. There are nerves that interpret the shape of the ground by how the bones in the feet bend at 33 different points (joints). This creates a mental image in the brain (similar to how a dolphin uses sonar to avoid obstacles). Wearing shoes prevents any motion in these joints (except the ankle) and leaves the shoe-wearer "blind" to the environment. This is what makes stiff shoes the worst when it comes to natural development.

and, P.S. This goes for adults too.

2. There are nerves that are sensing other things about the environment. Things like temperature and terrain. These nerves, designed to convey abundant information are now stuck just reading the inside of your shoes. And what is that environment like? Damp and smooth? Ew. The more you expose these nerves to the same input over and over, the more their information gets put on auto-pilot, into a part of your nervous system called an inter-neuron.

More about the inter-neuron: You know how when you walk into a room with a fresh baked pie, it smells delicious, but after a few minutes you don't smell it anymore? Your brain moves information that is constant into a different part of your brain to free it up for other things, so the more similar your environment, the less your nerves work to perceive. And the less they work, the less healthy they are.

This is why it is important (for everyone, not just kids) to walk on different terrain, on a different path, in different weather. Carrying different weights, wearing different shoes, and eating different food. Habits are not great for biology." - Katy Bowman, Biomechanical Expert

Read more here:
https://www.nutritiousmovement.com/barefoot-not-just-for.../

This is something we see every day at our kindergarten. We have 4 hours of uninterrupted play in our 4/5yo sessions. Lots of time to 'truly play'.

YES! 👏 👏👏

And...not just for four-year-olds. Children of all ages need daily opportunities for spotaneous play ❤

Autumn in the Yarra Ranges is a special, magical time for children - as many trees change colour and leaves fall creating new opportunity for play and discovery. Time spent outside is crucial for children’s wellbeing, development and learning. Let’s get outside to explore and enjoy the abundant wonders of nature this Autumn.

We are all loving stunning Autumn colours in our playground on these warm, sunny Autumn days. Who would want to be stuck inside? Just one of the benefits of running an indoor/outdoor program means we can enjoy this beautiful space for almost all of our 5 hour session. If you would like to know more, or see our outdoor space for yourself, give us a call on 9726 8398 to organise a time to visit.

We are all loving the stunning Autumn colours in our playground. Who would want to be stuck inside? Just one of the benefits of running an indoor/outdoor program means we can enjoy this beautiful space for most of our session. If you would like to know more, or see our outdoor space for yourself, give us a call on 9726 8398 to organise a time to visit.

We are holding a TastePoint fundraiser on Saturday 1st of May and we need some more volunteers to taste and fill out a survey on different types of bbq lamb... yum! Just 45min of your time at the kinder, it’s free and it’s delicious. The company rating the meat will pay us for having volunteers taste testing.
Sessions begin at 11am, 12pm or 1pm
Please comment below or contact us at kinder
[email protected] if you’d like to join in!

Our local Celebrate Mooroolbark Festival has been running this week and finishes on Sunday. There are plenty of experiences to get involved in.
Here is the timetable for tomorrow, Saturday the 27th of March.

DAY 4 - SATURDAY 27th March Festival Program

👉9:30am Jane Monk’s Tai Chi, Active Living Hub
👉9:30 – 9:45am Bimbadeen Heights PS Chinese Dragon parade from Mooroolbark Community Centre, through shops to the Rotunda at Hookey Park.
👉9:30 – 11:00am Easter Egg Hunt @ The Parents Hub. $10 per child. Bookings essential: 03 9726 5985.
👉10:00am Official Welcome & Acknowledgement by Vince Peters at the Rotunda at Hookey Park
👉10:00am – 4:00pm Makers Market with 50+ stalls, Pony Rides, Animal Farm, Meccano & Hornby Train Display, GEORGE STREET CAR PARK, THE TERRACE & HOOKEY PARK
👉10am-1pm Adopt-A-Library Book at Mooroolbark Library
👉10:00-2pm Roving: Unicycle Paparazzi
👉10:15am Live Music at the Rotunda: Parkville Trio
👉10:30am GKR Karate Demonstration, Active Living Hub
👉11.15am Live Music at the Rotunda: Shinbone Star
👉11:30am Mooroolbark Football Club – Trick shot challenge! (register at Football Club marquee – open to all ages), Active Living Hub
👉12:15pm Rotunda live: St Josephs College school band FTG.
👉12:30pm Yarra Heights Dance Academy Hookey Park
👉1:15pm Rotunda live music: jamaell
👉1:30pm Curves Kilysth exercise demonstration, Active Living Hub
👉2:00pm Tennis for Life demonstration, Active Living Hub
👉2:20pm Live Music from the Rotunda: A Last Minute Band
👉3:30 - 4.50pm Buskers: Chris Alcoma, Blake Long & Candice Farrugia-Roberts - Coles and Liquorland location
👉6:00pm-7:30pm Live Music: Karaoke Competition @ Red Earth Lane 36 Manchester Rd Mooroolbark.

For more info: https://celebratemooroolbark.com/2021-festival/

Book your FREE tickets to the market: https://events.humanitix.com/celebrate-mooroolbark-makers-market

Book your FREE tickets for Karaoke at Red Earth Lane at: https://events.humanitix.com/red-earth-lane-karaoke-night

An online event run by Yarra Ranges Council on the 30th of March 7pm - 8pm which will discuss the role of anxiety and normal childhood development, signs and symptoms in your children, types of anxiety disorders, what’s helpful and not helpful, and methods, strategies to support your children.

Parenting Anxious Children Does your child worry, feel anxious and seem stressed at times? This online session support by Yarra Ranges Council will discuss the role of anxiety and normal childhood development, signs and symptoms in your children, types of anxiety disorders, what’s helpful and not helpful, and methods, strat...

We have welcomed 2 new members to our Lancaster Family. With much excitement our children were asked to put up their name suggestions to be put in a hat. Pumpkin and Yung Yung (Burmese for rabbit) were the names selected. Two very much loved bunnies who get to spend their days in an outdoor pen where the children can come and sit with them. At night they are tucked away safely inside in their hutch.

This wonderful program is open to the community for just a gold coin donation each week. Young children learn foundational literacy skills through songs, stories and rhymes.. and it’s a great way to get out of the house with little ones and meet other families

Some good information and tips for those with little ones finding it hard to say goodnight