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16 Areas of Play at BestStart Highfield
Kia Ora and Welcome to Best Start Highfield. We aim to provide our tamariki with a range of experiences to support them in developing, building, and extending on their skills here at Best Start Highfield.
To achieve this, we as a team focus on our 16 areas of play, which provide exposure to our tamariki to have their first-hand experiences to become independent and confident in their learning. Play provides a platform for children to acquire the competencies of problem-solving, collaboration, and collaboration within their groups.
Tamariki practice their decision-making skills, move at their own pace and discover their own interests during the play. Kaiako at the Best Start Highfield, provide open-ended and intentional setups for tamariki to link their learning with our NZ Early Childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki.
The 16 areas of play that we focus are Science and Nature, Clay and Play-dough, Messy play, Collage, Puzzles, Blocks, Sensory Baskets, family/dramatic play, Carpentry, Music and Dance, Manipulative Resources, Water, Book/Story telling props, Sand, Painting and Drawing and Physically active play. These different experiences are important for child development because it stimulates the brain, fosters cognitive growth, builds imagination and creativity, improves literacy, encourages independence, promotes physical fitness, delivers emotional and behavioral benefits, and enhances social, language, and math skills.
Play is valuable to children-very valuable. In fact, the benefits of play cannot be overstated. So we as a team run, sing, and dance with our tamariki. Play games with our tamariki and have fun!