STORIES FROM THE FIELD
Here are two inspiring stories from centres that have transformed their environments in order to build
awareness and connections with nature and sustainability.
AN INTERVIEW WITH YUANYUAN
(EMILY) LI, ECT AT LITTLE STARS
AT SOUTHERN CROSS
Can you tell us something about your centre
so that readers have a picture of where your
centre is located and its unique features.
Little Stars at Southern Cross is a long day care
centre in the Melbourne CBD. It is located on level
three of the NAB building. The centre, including
the “outdoor” area, is under cover and there is
limited sunlight coming through the windows. It
can be cold and extremely draughty in the 3 to
5-year-old playground. At first, there were limited
natural features in both the indoor and outdoor
environments.
In 2017, we focused on the indoor spaces and
added many plants and some natural materials.
During the past 12 months our focus has been
on the outdoor space. As you can see from the
attached photos, we have created a great indoor
and outdoor environment that includes gardens,
bush cubbies, rocks, tree stumps, stones and
recycled loose parts.
What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Unfortunately, the outdoor area has a large open
window which, on a windy day, creates havoc with
the natural setting. My partner and I spent many
weekends collecting natural materials, moving
them and carrying them upstairs to place in the
area.
What drew you to start investigating and
planning for a sustainable environment? What has been your biggest success story to
date?
When I started working at Little Stars in 2017, I felt
strongly that I wanted to improve the environment,
but the question was “How and where do I start?” I
was concerned that if we did not work on building
a connection to nature, the children would not
achieve emotional, social and spiritual wellbeing in
a busy and noisy CBD environment. Because of the variety of natural materials,
loose parts and stimulating play spaces in the
outdoor area, the children spend hours and hours
investigating and playing contentedly. We have
watched the change in the way the children use
and become involved with the environment. It is
possible to transform a childcare centre on the
third floor of a CBD building into one that features
natural and sustainable resources and experiences.
However, Rome was not built in a day. I decided to
start by introducing the children to some natural
elements such as leaves, gum nuts, seed pods and
flowers. These are natural materials that they can
see, touch, smell and with which they can recognise
the shapes, learn about life cycles and distinguish
different textures.
JANUARY 2019
Have you encountered anything unexpected in
your journey?
The most unexpected outcome has been to see
how happy and involved the children are playing
together in the natural environment. This is a great
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