Involvement in the Community

Involvement in the Community
Name
Institution

Involvement in the Community
I did not know that I could have the power to bring positive and measurable change to
young children until I got the chance to be involved in a community at Tilli Tadpole early
learning (Brisbane airport), a chance which was accorded to me by my cousin who is the
supervisor at the facility. Tilli Tadpole early learning is a government and ACECQA accredited
child care center which inspires and nurtures individuality in every child. With their passionate
early childhood educators with vast experience, this child care center uses a unique research-
based approach to inspire a lifelong love of learning in children. My 40 hours placement at this
child care was an emotional experience which has so far helped me in lessening tension and
focusing on positivity. Tilli Tadpole early learning offers childcare services to children of all
ages until they reach the school going age, for instance, they have different categories including
0-12 months old, 1-2 years old and 3-5 years old. These categories have different care needs.
During my placement, I got to spend time with children in the age of 3-5., a unique category with
preschool children. I must admit that these children are wonderful. One thing I noticed is that
they are more creative and they love experimenting more with toys, games and ideas. Although
they are more interested in playing and making up games, they still need support and
encouragement (Richter et al., 2017). This gave them a sense that they have the ability to do and
accomplish what they needed and wanted, hence determination and confidence. I also engaged
these children in singing and dancing which highly contributed in teaching behavior and basic
social skills. I also helped with feeding the children as most of them played with food or with
toys rather than eating. According to Britto et al. (2017), nutrition in early childhood is very vital
for the development of a child’s physical and mental health and growth. To ensure that these
children’s growth and development is healthy and free from diseases, I actively engaged in

feeding them. Also, most of these children are still young and may not be able to properly feed
themselves (Aboud, & Yousafzai, 2015).
Critical Reflection
One moment that greatly impacted me and the children is when I constructed songs and
taught the children. For this reflection, I will use Gibb’s model to critical reflect on this issue.
Gibb’s model is a framework which encourages people to systematically think about the specific
experiences they have had in a specific situation (Boud, Keogh, & Walker, 2013). This model is
structured in phases which make people think about an experience in details and use the positive
and negative impacts to learn from it.
Description
During my 40 hours community involvement with the children aged 3-5 at Tilli Tadpole
early learning (Brisbane airport), we played, sang and danced together. However, I realized that
the songs they sang were old and have been recycled for so long. These children had mastered
the songs and they did not enjoy them anymore. Most of them kept wandering during the singing
sessions and even engaged in non-singing activities like running around and playing with their
fellows. Since children at this age are very curious and always wants to learn new things, I
decided to come up with new songs so that they may all enjoy the singing session. These songs
were mostly based on simple preschool rhymes and numbers.
Feelings
I felt that the children were so used to those routine songs and they needed something
new and more challenging. When I was teaching these children the new songs, I felt genuine