By Laura Michell
Children at a Craigieburn kindergarten will go bush one day a week, learning about the great outdoors.
Hume council will trial a bush kinder program at Annadale Preschool next year, giving 33 children the chance to spend one of their sessions each week outdoors.
The bush sessions will be held in open space about 500 metres from the preschool.
The trial will be the first bush kinder program in Hume. There are 25 funded bush kinder programs across Victoria.
A report to a recent council meeting said the bush kinder program was designed to encourage children’s connection with, and appreciation of, the environment.
The council decided to trial the program after a 2018 survey of 220 families found
79 per cent expressed interested in their children attending a bush kinder.
Cr Geoff Porter, a primary school teacher, said that in his experience, programs such as bush kinders were valuable for helping children to develop fine motor skills.
“It encourages kids to play in the mud and fall over … it is important that people can immerse themselves in nature and the earth,” he said.
