Mother’s Day at Choklits Child Care 2022

Mother's Day at Choklits Child Care and Kindergarten

American Psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner is considered a pioneer in the field of understanding early childhood development. He speaks about the complex system of relationships that interact to influence the development of children from an early age and the significance of those relationships, individually and in tandem. The diagram to the right is a visual representation of his ecological systems theory, which depicts a child’s relationships within their family, community and wider society. In the centre is the child, surrounded most closely by their family, and then other vital influences like extended families, learning environments, neighbourhoods, history, culture, law and other larger systems influencing the child.

Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Model
Diagram by Joel Gibbs based on Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological model

In life and in this model, we can see that the first circle surrounding the child, family, is identified as one of the most significant influences in a child’s life. Events like Mother’s Day give us the chance to reflect on how valuable these relationships are and an occasion to celebrate them.

As our Choklits community continues to grow, we were joyful to host two events for Mother’s Day this year, at Choklits Ringwood and our new centre, Choklits in Surrey Hills.

Plentiful Planning and Preparation went into ensuring that we could provide the best Choklits experience for everyone in our community during this special event. This takes the collaboration of many people, from our maintenance superhero, Ryan, who made sure our grounds were in tip-top shape, to the educators, children, leadership team and of course, our wonderful families, without whom this event wouldn’t exist. This kind of teamwork is special to us at Choklits, as collaboration is one of the five key pillars of our philosophy.

Celebrating Mother’s Day with Children through Gifts

Mother’s Day is all about celebrating mothers, and a key connection in doing this for children is through gifts. The joy a child feels when presenting their mother with a special gift they made themselves is a beautiful thing to witness, as are the contributions it makes to boosting their confidence, self-efficacy and expression of gratitude. At Choklits, this comprised just under 200 presents, each thought out to reflect the age and developmental stage of each child, from the babies right through to the kindergarteners.

Here’s a little summary of the projects the children at Choklits undertook for their mums;

Babies

  • The babies at our Ringwood centre made painted rainbow flowerpots
  • The babies at our Surrey Hills centre made salt dough handprints

Toddlers

  • At Ringwood, the toddlers made recycled flowerpots, to tie in with our current theme of caring for our planet
  • At Surrey Hills, the toddlers put their craft skills to the test and decorated photo frames

Kindergarteners

  • The kinders at Ringwood engaged with key ring drawing and photo frames
  • The kinders at Surrey Hills made bright canvas paintings

Celebrating Mother’s Day with Toddlers through Food

Tasty, nutritious food made fresh onsite is a point of difference we’re proud of here at Choklits, so we showcased the thought and effort that goes into the menus, nutrition and taste behind every meal or snack offered at Choklits with a yummy snack box perfect for families and little hands to share. This year, we offered tzatziki, pita crisps, cake and seasonal grapes – with a sneaky Chokliteer in every box! Of course, being Choklits, no added sugar was used, and we provided gluten and dairy free options to cater to everyone’s needs.

Celebrating Mother’s Day with Kindergarteners through Experiences

To reflect our play-based framework, the way research shows children learn best, we provided open-ended experiences for our children to share with their families. These included drawing, playdough, clay, threading and painting with native flowers, to engage their senses and activate fine motor practice.

 

Let’s not forget our classic favourite – the photo booth! We love capturing the fun, joy and love of all our community; educators, children, mums, aunties and grandmothers sharing special moments together. Aren’t the photos just gorgeous!

Mothers Day At Choklits Child Care Ringwood
Celebrating Mothers Day at Child Care
celebrating Mothers Day with kids
Mothers Day Choklits Child Care Surrey Hills

We’ve touched on the diversity of Choklits before, like in our blog about culture, and we could really see it embodied in the multi-generational guests and varied representation of mother-figures at both Mother’s Day celebrations.

 

Our community shapes our Calendar of Events throughout the year, including family days like Father’s Day and Grandparent’s Day, cultural events like Easter, Reconciliation Week, Christmas, Diwali and other opportunities to include representations of our diverse community. 

 

Especially in the current climate of building back up as we take a (maskless) breath after the last two years of COVID, lockdowns, rules and isolation, it really feels like rediscovering the pleasure of connecting with others and being able to meet together again for these occasions is truly special. We don’t think we will ever forget how much we appreciate these times of coming together as a community to celebrate, and we hope this impression will be left on the children and families in our Choklits community as well.

Choklits Child Care

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