Video transcript – Connecting with practice: Opportunities for learning in natural spaces 

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This video shows a two-year-old child and a number of three and four-year-old children in a group setting in an outdoor space. Two experiences captured are: an educator alongside a very young child holding a chicken; and several children playing in a sand area with water, pipes and sand.

00:00 – 00:05
Audio: [Music]
Visual description: The ECRH logo followed by the video title appear on a white background: ECRH, Early Childhood Resource Hub. Connection with practice: Opportunities for learning in natural spaces.

00:06 – 00:27
Audio: [Ambient sounds of children playing in the outdoor area of a children’s education and care service.]
Boy 1: Ooh, there’s a bit there.
Girl [from off-screen]: Will it get sick?
Educator [from off-screen]: I think he will. Yes.
Boy 1: That's better. 
[The children in the sandpit chatter happily.]
Visual description: Four small children play in a sandpit, with the three playing in the sun wearing hats. A pipe runs from a water tank to a channel dug in the sandpit. A girl pours water from a bottle into one of the holes cut in the top of the pipe, which runs into the channel. She walks away into the garden while the other children scoop sand from the channel.

00:28 – 00:59
Audio: [Ambient sounds of children playing in the outdoor area of the service.]
Educator [singing]: “Ee-i-ee-i-o / And on that farm he had a chicken / Ee-i-ee-i-o / With a...” 
Educator: What sound does he make? What sound does a chicken make?
Girl: Book-book.
Educator: Book. That’s right. 
Educator [singing]: “With a book-book here / And a book-book there / Here a book, there a book / Everywhere a book-book / Old MacDonald had a farm / Ee-i-ee-i-o / And on that farm he had a...”
Visual description: The camera pans right to the educator and small girl sitting near the sandpit. The girl is holding a fluffy-headed chicken in her lap, which the educator gently pats. The educator sings, at which time the girl begins to pat the chicken. 

01:00 – 02:39
Audio: [Ambient sounds of children playing in the outdoor area of the service.]
Educator: Gentle, gentle, gentle. How about you hold your hand under here and then use that hand? That's right. Be gentle. I think they laid some eggs this morning.
Girl: Oh!
Educator: Ohh! And we had egg sandwiches for morning tea, didn’t we? 
[Child cries off-screen] 
Boy [from off-screen]: Look, look!
Educator: Is someone crying? Can you hear someone crying?
Boy [from off-screen]: We’ll get more water! More water, Lexi!
Educator: And the daddy chicken’s called a rooster. He’s got the big plume on his head and he goes, "Cock-a-doodle-doo!" 
Girl: It’s soft.
Educator: A little bit longer, then we’ll let him have a run around the yard because he’s been cooped up all night, stuck in the cage. A little bit more?
GIRL: Yeah... 
WOMAN: OK, we’ll let him go now? Let him go?
GIRL: No.
Educator: No? He’s a cute chicken. Yes. Can you see his face under there? You can’t see it with all his feathers. See under there? 
Visual description: The girl and the educator continue to sit near the sandpit with the chicken. The educator imitates a rooster’s plum with her hand on her head. 

02:40 – 03:33
Audio: [Ambient sounds of children playing in the outdoor area of the service as an aeroplane engine loudly drones overhead.]
Educator: What can you hear? What can you hear in the sky? A big aeroplane? A big aeroplane?
Girl: A plane!
Educator: Yeah, a big aeroplane. 
Girl: Oh!
[Another aeroplane engine drones.]
Educator: Another one.
Girl: Another one.
Educator: Another one. Mummy and Daddy are going on their honeymoon in a big aeroplane to Fiji, aren’t they? Are you staying with Nanna and Poppy?
Girl: Yes.
Educator: Yeah? You’ll have lots of fun. 
[Child playfully screams off-screen.]
Educator: We’ll let him go now. We’ll let him go?
Girl: Daddy’s at work.
Educator: Daddy’s at work, is he? 
Visual description: The girl looks up at the sky as the aeroplane passes overhead. The educator and girl continue to sit and talk as the chicken sits in the girl’s lap. 

03:34 – 03:55
Audio: [Ambient sounds of children playing in the outdoor area of the service.]
Educator: Yeah, he wants to go now. Let’s let him go. Let him go. Let him go because he’s been cooped up all night in the cage. There you go. 
[Girl cries.]
Educator: Oh, it's OK. He needs to have a run around. Hey, chickens don’t like to be nursed all the time, sweetheart. They like to run around. They’re going to go and find some worms. 
Visual description: The educator gently takes the chicken from the girl’s arms. The chicken wanders off. The girl points after it as the educator soothingly stroke her cheek.

03:56 – 05:00
Audio: [Ambient sounds of children playing in the outdoor area of the service.]
Boy 1: Let’s see, Lexi, if some water can get through this. Let’s see if your water can get through that. Let’s see, then.
Lexi: It’s going to be so hot.
Boy 1: No, water melts sand and gets it out of the way. Nearly up, nearly up, nearly up, nearly up. Nearly up.
Girl [from off-screen]: Stay there with Maddie.
Girl: Stop. 

Visual description: The children at the sandpit dig the channel deeper. One boy continues to shovel sand while another boy packs damp sand into a hole in the pipe. Lexi is crouching down at the water tank filling a bottle. Another boy walks over to look at the channel. Two other girls who have been playing near the sandpit walk by.

05:01 – 05:21
Audio: [Ambient sounds of children playing in the outdoor area of the service.]
Boy 1: Let’s see. Nope. 
LEXI: Sand can melt, can't it? 
Boy [laughing]: Oh, no. 
Lexi: Do you want me to turn it on?
Boy 2: No. 
Visual description: Lexi finishes filling the bottle and stands aside for the second boy to fill a small watering can at the tank. Lexi pours the water into a hole in the pipe as the first boy crouches near the channel. When it reaches the sand blockage, the water overflows from the nearest hole into the channel. The second boy watches Lexi pour the water and then crouches by the tank to fill the watering can. Lexi approaches the boy and offers to help.

05:22 – 05:31
Audio: [Music]
Visual description: The ECRH logo followed by the video production credits and copyright appear on a white background: ECRH, Early Childhood Resource Hub. www.ecrh.edu.au. Copyright 2015 Commonwealth of Australia. Source: National Quality Standard Professional Learning Program – Early Childhood Australia.

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