With Australia Day coming up we have been reading lots of stories about our country. Yesterday we read a big book full of information about Australia – the Island surrounded by water, the animals and where they live, and Aboriginal culture.
To extend on this we planned and implemented a sensory activity called ‘keeping Australia beautiful.’ Through our learning we know that caring for country is very important to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their knowledge and practices contribute to addressing modern environmental concerns across the country. These practices include caring for our waterways.
In this activity children were encouraged to collect the waste that was scattered in the ocean using some tongs to foster their fine motor abilities. During the experience educators discussed the impact that the waste would have on our waterways by introducing animals and ocean plants. We each removed as much rubbish as we could and placed it in the green bin. By restoring our ‘ocean’ the animals had a safer place to live contributing to more sustainable water ways.
