School’s kitchen mud to measure for new entrants

A mud kitchen for new entrants at a Richmond school is prompting learning through play.

Built with five-year-olds in mind, the pint-sized kitchen is part of Saint Paul’s Catholic School move towards play based learning for new entrants.

Saint Paul’s Catholic School principal Maureen Phillips said her vision came to life with the help of the children and creative builders.

She said the children drew plans ‘‘with all sorts of things on them’’ which helped the builders bring the concepts into reality.

Over the Easter holidays, Sherlock Landscaping owner Geoff Sherlock and contractor Tony Pearce transformed a garden into a new fenced off area which included a wooden kitchen work space, a sandpit and a water tank to collect rain from the classroom spouting.

‘‘I don’t think any of us knew what we were going to come back to after the holidays, they had the ideas in mind and they made it happen’’, Phillips said.

New entrant teacher Jane Howley said when the children arrived to school after their Easter break they were amazed to see their new playground.

‘‘They absolutely love it.’’

She said the children were taking control of their own learning without even knowing it.

‘‘In the mud kitchen, there’s so much volume and capacity and maths work going on but they wouldn’t always know that they’re learning .. because they’re measuring and comparing.’’

The water tank was also a great tool, Howley said.

The tank had a clear spout has a float in it for children to gauge how much water was left and how much they were using.

Some of the children made cards for Sherlock and Pearce to thank them for their new play space.