QKLG 2024

Wellbeing: Learning and development area (QKLG 2024)

Important aspects of wellbeing include children’s physical and mental health, personal safety, and social and executive functions. Emotional awareness and regulation, persistence and adaptability are essential components of executive function, fostering resilience and overall wellbeing by enabling children to persevere through challenges and adjust to changes in their environment.

Children develop a strong foundation of wellbeing and resilience through establishing safe and respectful relationships and strategies that build their confidence, optimism, growth mindset and positive dispositions for learning. Strategies are tailored for each child and can include the sensitive implementation of trauma-aware practices to support children whose wellbeing may be affected by trauma, adversity or other challenges. These relationships and strategies provide children with opportunities to develop the skills and knowledge to be emotionally aware, adapt to change, work toward goals and persevere through challenges and setbacks.

Children’s sense of wellbeing is also enhanced by learning about healthy lifestyles, the importance of nutritional food, rest, personal hygiene, safety awareness and physical activity. Physical activity involves developing fine and gross motor skills that support children to move with stability, control and awareness of their environment and to manage the control of objects.

Kindergarten children who are developing a strong sense of wellbeing are:

building increasing autonomy and resilience
engaging with ways to be healthy and safe
building physical wellbeing.

Critically reflecting on Wellbeing, teachers and educators may consider:

how children’s agency and voice in health, hygiene and safety are promoted
how they sensitively respond to children’s emotions and promote strategies and skills for regulation that suit the individual ways to support children’s enjoyment of physical activity and build foundations for physical coordination and control in a range of contexts.

Key focuses

Significant learnings	Emerging phase in familiar situations with explicit support	Exploring phase in familiar situations with occasional support	Extending phase in new situations with occasional prompting
recognises and expresses feelings	responds to visuals or questions to identify their feelings e.g. points to the image on a provided visual cue that shows what they are feeling	recognises feelings e.g. uses visual cues provided in the environment to communicate how they are feeling	recognises feelings and expresses why they feel that way e.g. draws pictures to express how they feel and, with prompting, communicates why they feel that way
develops strategies to regulate emotions	copies strategies to regulate emotions e.g. co-regulates emotions with an adult by copying modelled breathing strategies to feel calm	uses modelled strategies to regulate emotions e.g. follows a familiar, suggested strategy of deep breathing to feel calm	recalls and uses strategies to regulate emotions e.g. uses deep breathing in stressful situations when prompted to think about how they could calm themselves
develops strategies to respond to change	copies strategies to manage self through change e.g. attends to, and may repeat, a positive self-talk phrase with an adult (e.g. I’m okay) and moves to a space of calm and safety	uses modelled strategies to respond to change e.g. follows suggestions to use positive self-talk and persevere when faced with changes to familiar routines	uses strategies to respond to change e.g. uses positive self-talk to work through an unexpected change, when prompted

Intentional teaching strategies to promote learning include:

identifying, acknowledging and responding to children’s emotions with care, respect and sensitivity
making connections between children’s actions and their emotions
modelling a range of ways to recognise and express feelings safely
pausing to allow time and space for children to attempt to activate inhibitory control and working memory
encouraging children to practise modelled strategies to regulate their emotions and behaviours
reflecting with children on the use of strategies to regulate emotions and manage self through change.

Significant learnings	Emerging phase in familiar situations with explicit support	Exploring phase in familiar situations with occasional support	Extending phase in new situations with occasional prompting
recognises ways nutrition, physical activity, rest and relaxation contribute to being healthy	follows directions to make healthy choices e.g. notices their body signs (e.g. yawning, rubbing eyes) when directed by an adult, to recognise they need rest or relaxation	considers choices that support their health e.g. follows suggestions to choose a restful experience when scaffolded by an adult to think about how their body feels	recognises choices they make that contribute to their health e.g. identifies when they are feeling tired and chooses how they would like to rest or relax, when prompted
manages self-care	copies modelling to recognise and communicate their personal needs e.g. responds to adult direction to communicate what their body needs and take appropriate action	attempts to manage personal needs e.g. recognises their body is thirsty with assistance and responds by getting their water bottle	manages personal needs e.g. identifies when they are thirsty and independently responds to their need
develops awareness of body autonomy and personal space	attempts to recognise and communicate how they feel about people in their personal space e.g. expresses concern when others are close to them and follows direction to move to another position	identifies their personal boundaries and communicates these to others e.g. communicates to a peer they do not want to hold hands during a game, with adult assistance	recognises personal boundaries and shows respect for others’ bodies and space e.g. recognises a peer does not like to hug hello and, with prompting, suggests an alternative such as waving
develops awareness of safe and unsafe risks to make safe choices	pays attention as others identify safe and unsafe risks e.g. with adult direction, notices how unsafe it is to flick sand and attends to the modelling of safe choices	attempts to identify safe and unsafe risks to make a safe choice e.g. responds to open-ended questioning to consider digging safely and follows suggestions to prevent sand from flicking	shows awareness of safe and unsafe risks and makes safe choices e.g. recognises that flicking sand is not safe and suggests a safer way to dig, with prompting

Intentional teaching strategies to promote learning include:

explaining ways nutrition, exercise, rest and hygiene choices support healthy minds and bodies
providing learning opportunities that allow children to have agency in their health, hygiene and personal care routines
collaborating with families and professional partners to reinforce health-related routines
explaining the purpose of safe choices and instructing children in the safe use of kindergarten equipment
negotiating rules with children when new or potential safety issues arise
providing learning opportunities for children to identify risk and practise making safe choices.

Significant learnings	Emerging phase in familiar situations with explicit support	Exploring phase in familiar situations with occasional support	Extending phase in new situations with occasional prompting
develops gross motor skills	begins to develop whole-body gross motor skills e.g. attempts walking across a balance beam with physical support	uses developing whole-body gross motor skills e.g. climbs and manipulates own body to move along an obstacle course, with encouragement	demonstrates whole-body gross motor skills with coordination and control e.g. engages in familiar physical challenges and, with prompting, perseveres with more complex physical movements
develops fine motor skills	begins to manipulate objects and equipment e.g. follows directions to use dough scissors and makes rough cuts using whole arm movements	attempts to manipulate objects and equipment with increasing control and strength e.g. uses scissors to snip short, straight lines with guidance	manipulates new objects and equipment with control, strength and coordination e.g. uses scissors with control and occasional prompting to consider grip
develops spatial awareness	begins to develop spatial awareness e.g. follows modelling to try body movement patterns, such as swaying or bending	engages in learning experiences that develop spatial awareness e.g. joins in group games and shows awareness of space to consider where their bodies are in relation to others, with adult assistance	demonstrates spatial awareness e.g. participates in more challenging group movement patterns and, with prompting, navigates space safely
uses senses for discovery	attempts sensory experiences e.g. follows modelling to attempt sensory experiences	attempts to use their senses to explore e.g. engages with sensory experiences to investigate properties of materials, with encouragement	uses senses to explore and discover e.g. uses their senses to communicate what they are learning about different materials

Intentional teaching strategies to promote learning include:

encouraging children’s engagement in gross and fine motor learning experiences to build strength and manipulate objects and equipment with confidence and control
providing choices and materials for children to practise gross and fine motor skills across indoor and outdoor environments
differentiating environments and resources to enable all children to participate in physical experiences and extend their physical development
explaining why physical activity is important for children’s bodies and brains
challenging children to explore materials with various sensory properties.

Last updated:: 31 July 2024

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QKLG 2024

Wellbeing: Learning and development area (QKLG 2024)

Key focuses

QKLG 2024

QKLG 2024

Wellbeing: Learning and development area (QKLG 2024)

Key focuses

Building increasing autonomy and resilience

Engaging with ways to be healthy and safe

Building physical wellbeing

QKLG 2024