Core Skills Analysis
English
Arrie participated in a word game and shared story time, practising listening, speaking, turn-taking and responding to others. She also used imaginative play by hiding under a chair and joining a rolling game, which supported oral language, storytelling and creative expression. Arrie communicated her preferences clearly, including requesting a timer, suggesting activities and saying when she felt tired. These experiences helped Arrie develop purposeful communication and confidence in social interaction.
Mathematics
Arrie used a timer during the collaborative drawing game and changed drawings at five-minute intervals, practising awareness of time and sequencing. Folding towels also involved following a repeated process and matching or arranging objects. Through these everyday activities, Arrie experienced practical routines connected with measurement, order and duration.
Science
Arrie explored movement and balance through Simon Says, spinning and rolling while positioned inside a chair. She experienced how changing body movement affected balance, coordination and stability when she lost her balance during spinning. These activities gave Arrie opportunities to observe physical movement and respond safely to changes in her body and surroundings.
Health and Physical Education
Arrie participated in active games, spinning, imaginative movement and outdoor play, developing gross-motor coordination and body awareness. Simon Says encouraged her to listen carefully, follow instructions and take turns. After falling, Arrie communicated distress, accepted reassurance and eventually returned to activities, demonstrating supported emotional regulation and awareness of her energy levels.
The Arts
Arrie enthusiastically showed her iPad artwork, requested drawing materials and initiated a collaborative drawing game. Swapping drawings encouraged flexibility, cooperation and appreciation of another person’s creative contribution. Her imaginative backyard play also allowed her to use movement, pretend scenarios and playful ideas as forms of creative expression.
Personal and Social Capability
Arrie initiated activities, made choices and directed parts of the session, including the drawing game and use of a timer. She practised cooperation while sharing drawings, playing games, folding towels and eating with the group. Following her fall, she received support from an adult and her mum, settled, and re-engaged, showing persistence after an upsetting experience.
Tips
Tips: Create a simple visual session plan with activity pictures and a timer so Arrie can help choose the order and duration of activities. Extend the drawing game by asking participants to add one new detail, then describe how the picture changed. Use Simon Says to practise body-position words such as beside, behind, above and below, while offering a calm movement alternative after spinning. Finish with a short feelings check-in and shared story, inviting Arrie to identify whether her body feels energetic, calm or tired.
Book Recommendations
- The Colour Monster by Anna Llenas: A visually engaging story that supports conversations about identifying and organising feelings.
- The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds: An encouraging story about creative confidence and expressing ideas through art.
- Simon Says: A Book of Guessing Games by Diane Degroat: A playful connection to listening, following directions and participating in movement games.
Learning Standards
- English – AC9E6LY01: Arrie used interaction skills, including turn-taking, listening and communicating preferences, to participate with others.
- Science – AC9SPS01: Her spinning, rolling and movement activities provided opportunities to observe how movement and balance changed.
- Health and Physical Education: The session supported movement, coordination, body awareness, emotional regulation and recognising tiredness; no specific HPE code was provided in the supplied standards list.
- The Arts: Arrie created artwork and participated in collaborative and imaginative expression; no specific Arts code was provided in the supplied standards list.
- Personal and Social Capability: Arrie practised cooperation, choice-making, persistence, help-seeking and re-engagement after distress; this capability is embedded across WACAO learning areas.
- Mathematics: Use of a five-minute timer and ordered household routines connected with duration and sequencing, although no supplied Mathematics standard directly matched this activity.
Try This Next
- Five-minute collaborative drawing worksheet: swap pictures and add one new detail each round.
- Movement-and-listening quiz: give three Simon Says instructions and ask Arrie to identify which actions involved balance, stillness or movement.
- Feelings and body-energy chart: draw or select a face showing energetic, calm, upset or tired before and after an activity.
- Story prompt: write or dictate a short story about a character who falls, receives help and returns to play.