Recently teachers watched children working in the sandpit, and we were eagerly told by the children that they were building a house.  They showed us that they were working on the bathroom especially.  "Here is the toilet" as they pointed to the hole in the sand.  "Here is the shower" they showed us another defined space.  "This is going to the be the bath and it is going to go over here" they explained pointing to the black bin and then to a spot in the bathroom.

"We're going to have a bubble bath".  "I have bubbles in my bath at home" they explained.  "Would you like some actual bubbles?" we asked.  With a great excited agreement, bubbles were found and stirred into the bath.  It was suggested that a foot spa could be brought in as an extension and the children liked this idea.

On the deck the children discovered the foot spa, with some special foot bubbles in warm water and a towel.  We explained how it worked and what the rule were and left them to try it out.  The food spa became a bit of a social space.  then the space got really social, as children watched, asked questions and waited for their turns.

What a nice experience it was to be able to stop and have some self care moments like this in a busy kindergarten day.  Learning to slow down and look after ourselves is not something we know, it is a skill we have to learn.  Often life and play is so busy, we forget to stop.  This turned out to be a time for some children to have some space and quiet time by themselves, and for others a social time of conversation and practicing social skills.  The children have asked for us to do this again, and some of the Mum's have said "awww I would love that".  Maybe we need another foot spa day especially for our grown ups and then our Mum's can have foot spas and coffee.