Singakwenza, which means “We can do it” is a Non-Profit Organisation providing Early Childhood Education to economically disadvantaged communities.
We haven’t got a big enough office to have the whole team safely together at the same time, so we haven’t all been together as a team since Covid-19 caused our country to go into lockdown on the 27th March. We met up today for a social distancing picnic at the park, and it was wonderful to catch up with everyone and touch base again.
Our first kiddie-sized mobile handwashing station has arrived!
Most of the crèches we work with do not have access to running water where children can wash their hands. The practitioners usually fill a bucket and all the children use the same water. These stations will not only allow each child to each wash their hands with clean water, the tube on the right for liquid soap will also prevent the need for them to share a bar of soap. They will dry their hands with paper towel which can then be burnt, further reducing the risk of cross-infection. It has a push-valve tap, so the water only runs while the child is pushing it up with the back of their hand, meaning that only about 100ml of clean water is needed for each child. The waste water runs into the other container below, so that this washing station can be used both indoors and outdoors, and the grey water can be used for the vegetable garden.
We have four of these already sponsored. If you would like add to the contributions to put one of these in our other 14 creches – any amount will help – simply scan our Zapper code or email us on info@singakwenza.co.za for banking details. Thank you to designer and manufacturer, Ingonyama Nicon, for giving us an NGO discount. Including 5 litres of liquid soap and 1500m of paper towel, each station costs us R2 250 plus vat.
These types of activities don’t always need to be drawn or written. Here are some simple ideas of what you can do with coloured lids.
Try finding and making patterns at home. For example, you could do it with things from the garden (leaf, stone, leaf, stone), clothing (sock, sock, shoe, sock, sock, shoe), toys (car, block, block, car, block, block), cutlery (spoon, fork, knife, spoon, fork, knife) or clapping patterns (clap, clap, stamp, stamp) for your child to join in with or copy. Have fun with patterns and see how your child starts to become more aware of patterns around you.
As always, you will see that the final photo describes one of the vital foundational skills that this type of activity is developing. You can see that by engaging with your child in fun activities, you are not just keeping them busy, but are helping to prepare them for ‘big school’.
We LOVE our Singakwenza masks! We are so grateful to the amazing donor who has ensured that our staff will stay safe during this time. Each person will have 3 different coloured masks to ensure that a clean one is worn every day to limit the spread of infection.
“I protect you, you protect me”
#masks4all
Emotional intelligence is the ability to be aware of, control and express emotions. Young children don’t know the words that describe how they feel when they experience emotions, so you have an important role in helping them to learn these. During this challenging time, our children often act out and are naughty, when in actual fact they are feeling scared or anxious. Playing games that encourage children to talk about how they feel, letting them listen to how you feel, and starting to accurately label what they are feeling helps them to become more empathetic people.
As always, the last picture gives you a description of one of the skills that you are helping your child to develop through this play, so that you can see how you are helping with your child’s development as well as bonding with your child.
You don’t have to have Lego or building blocks for your chid to be creative and imaginative. Use whatever clean recycling you have and let your child’s imagination run free. You also don’t need to use any glue, tape or scissors. Let them build, take apart and rebuild. We’d love to see pictures of some of your child’s constructions, so please share them in the comments.
As always, the last picture gives you a description of one of the skills that you are helping your child to develop through this play, so that you can see how you are helping with your child’s development as well as bonding with your child.
