School holiday programmes allow children to develop social skills, build self-esteem and appreciate differences. It gives them the opportunity to have fun and enjoy quality childcare while keeping active during the holidays. Holiday programmes also provide constructive activities for children which help to improve their physical and mental health. The Early Education Centre (TEEC) recently hosted a Character-Building Holiday Programme over the course of 3 days. The main focus of this programme was sport. This is what was covered in this workshop.
Benefits of school holiday programmes
During the school holidays children are exposed to many harms, including drugs, violence, physical abuse, and more. Parents face many challenges trying to keep their children safe and protected from societal ills, more so during this period. Many parents also find that their children often complain of boredom during the holidays so they are constantly looking for ways to keep them entertained. The aim of the school holiday programmes is to keep children in a safe environment during the holiday season, keeping parents at ease. These programmes also allow children to experience being a child, to rise above their circumstances and develop their character to that which is acceptable in a functional society.
What does a school holiday programme cover?
TEEC’s recent workshop’s main theme was about sport. Here’s a breakdown of what the 3 day event covered.
Day 1: The focus was more on getting to know the children and what sport each one of them was interested in. TEEC helped to build character and encourage those children who were not interested in any sport. There were 32 children that attended on the first day. TEEC served the children oats for breakfast, pears for snack time, and macaroni and cheese and baked beans for lunch.
Day 2: The children did more outdoor activities on the field such as cricket, netball, soccer, rugby and paddle ball. There were 46 children present. They had oats for breakfast, apples for snack time, and chicken pasta with vegetables for lunch. They also enjoyed creative activities where they drew the sports they were interested in. The children then made paper balls using newspaper and sellotape.
Day 3: TEEC was honoured to have Wilfred Daniels as the guest speaker. He is a retired South African athletic coach. He motivated, inspired and encouraged the children to participate in sport, be active, travel the world and be anything they want to be! Later on in the day the programme took the children for a walk to a close-by fenced dam to enjoy the beauty of nature and to teach them to appreciate life on its own. For the creative arts, the children designed colourful envelopes and were given a handful of sweets to seal into the envelopes. There were 42 children that attended on the last day. The programme gave the children oats for breakfast, oranges for snack time, and hotdogs, grated carrots, baby tomatoes and cucumber for lunch.
TEEC’S philosophy and vision
The Early Education Centre’s vision is to create a safe space for young children to learn through play. It is very passionate about improving the quality of early learning and education of children. At the holiday programmes, it aims to keep children safe, stimulated and fed. It strives to make sure the children have good nutrition as children need nutrition to develop and be able to learn.
School holiday programmes help children develop their social, emotional and physical skills. It helps them find their identity, meaning and purpose in life and become contributing members in their communities. Get in touch with TEEC for more information on their educational programmes.