Barmah Kindergarten and Nathalia Preschool kids enjoying 'Woka Daya'.
Photo by
Lua Ikenasio
Barmah Kindergarten and Nathalia Preschool held their final ‘Woka Daya’ (Nature Play) of the year on Thursday, September 19.
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For their final day, the children visited the Murray River and had free time to explore their surroundings and connect with nature.
According to Nathalia educator Andrea Sutton, the children benefit from the program and really enjoy it.
“It’s about children being children and also about making safe choices,” she said.
“They’ll spend the whole day exploring — there's hills that they slide down, they’re climbing out on logs and getting stuck in the mud. They’re using their whole bodies.”
The kids spent the day exploring their environment.
Photo by
Lua Ikenasio
Nature Play has multiple benefits for children, such as a hands-on approach to learning, wellbeing and physical development, learning to make smart choices and creating a relationship with nature.
Woka Daya is based on this knowledge and children are encouraged to play with one another and learn from their surroundings while the educators take the back seat to supervise.
The students spent the day near the river, building tree houses in empty trees and simply enjoying being outside the classroom.
They also had a filling lunch of sausages and marshmallows, cooked on a fire in the open space.
A lunch of sausages was eagerly awaited by the children.
Photo by
Lua Ikenasio
The program runs once a month between term one and two at different locations each year.
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