01 Jun Real deal tractors

Responding to children’s interests is a fundamental part of learning in early childhood education. So when the Candlebark group were offered the opportunity to see real farm tractors, tools and machinery for themselves— they jumped at it! And that’s how they ended up at Mansfield Power Ag in Mansfield!

Rachel Devere, Candlebark’s Kinder teacher, is very aware of the importance of pursuing children’s interests so she listens intently to the kinder children’s conversations and watches their play, and then extends on their areas of interest.

And that’s how these Candlebark children went from sandpits and mud pits at The Farmhouse to the “real deal” machines where even the tyres are bigger than the children!

Ky and Mark Cronin kindly hosted the Candlebark group at Mansfield Power Ag and enabled the children to learn through tactile and engaging play.

“The excitement was high and the noise level followed”, Rachel said, as these kinder children relished the chance to walk amongst the machinery and climb aboard to see what it’s like!

Kim Stoney, Founder of The Farmhouse, explained, “This approach, called experiential learning, enables children to be hands-on, more interested and more motivated to engage. Research shows learning in this way deepens the memory of the activity and imprints more learned skills from the experience”.

“It’s wonderful to be out in the community so often,” said Kim.