At Playhouse we believe in laying the foundations for a life-long love of learning, and have created an environment where children are nurtured and encouraged to explore all aspects of our educational programme.

We offer your child the experience of a “home away from home” whilst preparing them emotionally, intellectually and socially for their future.

Every day our Paua’s like to explore…

Outdoor play

We LOVE our big ‘kiwi back yard’ play area. We love to build sand castles, explore water play, zoom around on the bikes, swing like monkeys, grow things in our garden, hunt for bugs, extend our carpentry skills, make mud pies, test out our gross motor skills on obstacle courses, sail the seven sea’s in our dinghy and most of all have fun with our friends! These activities encourage an appreciation of the natural world through sensory exploration and our kiwi backyard provides an area where children gain increasing control of their bodies.

Group time

Group time is a key point in our day where we share songs, stories and learn about different interests. Group time promotes literacy and healthy language development and provides opportunities for sharing which builds social confidence. It is also a great way to develop memory and concentration skills.  Group times can involve the whole group or smaller age appropriate groups.  These sessions include story and language development, literacy, music and movement, turn-taking, sharing and more

Literacy

Playhouse is a language and print rich environment that exposes children to all forms of literacy through centre displays, labelling of equipment and everyday objects.  Storytelling from an early age helps foster a love of books and the written word.  Books allow children to explore a world of make believe and fantasy as well as facts.  All this develops the necessary early literacy skills needed to support children’s reading development at school

Creative arts

Let’s get creative!  Painting, drawing, crayon and dye, collage, play dough creations and are just some of the ways we explore our artistic side. Creative art develops hand eye coordination, extends fine motor skills and allows for freedom of expression.

Music and movement

Our kids love to sing and dance!  Creating music and dancing is a great way for us to express ourselves and learn more about the way we move. Singing encourages pre–literacy skills and enhances speech. Dancing allows us to express ourselves through freedom of movement.  It also helps us to build relationships.

Dramatic play

Children enjoy modeling real life experiences and dramatic play allows these to be acted out.  Through dramatic play children are able to express themselves, develop self-help skills, learn how to interact socially with others, share experiences and to make sense of the world they live in.  Children enjoy pretend cooking in the kitchen area, caring for dolls and dressing up in different outfits.  These are all great ways to extend this role play.

Messy play

These sensory learning experiences are not only lots of fun they also introduce basic science and math concepts. Messy play activities using gloop, slime and shaving cream allow our Paua’s to experiment with tactile play and express their creativity.

Cooking

Our Paua’s love to cook! What better way to encourage healthy eating habits than involving the children in the cooking process?   We enjoy making a variety of foods and explore new tastes – soups, muffins, biscuits, scones, pizzas and sushi are just some of the yummy foods we like to create. Cooking introduces basic math and science concepts and relationships are strengthened as children learn to cook and share with others.

Local outings in the community

Our Paua children love to get out and about in our community!  We are lucky to have our local park, La Rosa Gardens, just down the road that we visit frequently when the weather is nice.  We also enjoy neighbourhood walks and visiting our local shops.  As part of our ‘extension programme’ we work closely with Green Bay School and take every opportunity offered to join in school activities such as library time, kapa haka or visiting a new entrant class.

Programme

Our effective programme is based on the children’s interests and follows the New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum, Te Whariki.  We believe in creating an environment where children love learning, and are immersed in literacy and numeracy as part of what looks like play.