UNY's Early Childhood Education Laboratory held a holiday program for early childhood children from July 4 to 8, 2022. "It is possible to have school vacation as an opportunity for playing together and learning more about culture in Yogyakarta. For this reason, we conduct a special program that successfully attracts children aged 18 months to 7 years old. The participants of the activity are the children of UNY lecturers and employees, as well as the community around UNY," said the Coordinator of the UNY Kinanthinastiti Laboratory, Martha , M.Pd.
On the first day, the children learned to know the surrounding environment by walking around the FIP campus and its surroundings. The second day, the children played with clay while learning to squeeze using their fingers in preparation for holding a pencil, as well as developing art, children's imagination flowing in the form of clay works. The third day, namely cooking, making klepon, one of the traditional foods from Java. The fourth day, making jumputan batik. Children learn to make batik by dyeing cloth tied with marbles to make jumputan batik. The fifth day, the activities were group gymnastics and a walk around the UNY rectorate.
"This activity provides opportunities for children to dare to express themselves through playing while learning to interact socially. In addition, through this activity, children avoid excessive use of gadgets," said Martha.
Martha continued that this activity is a preliminary program before childcare service as a child service center from the Kinanthinastiti laboratory is carried out. The laboratory program as a workshop has three developments: child care service, learning center, and research center. Children as objects of research and observation by academics need a laboratory to apply the knowledge obtained theoretically from college to be observed and studied practically.
“This holiday program is one of the programs that supports the implementation of a laboratory as a place to study, and a place to research. At the same time, it is a place to practice serving and studying children in their growth and development as well as management for students and lecturers of Early Education UNY. The application of the latest learning approaches to learning practices starting from planning, implementation, and evaluation even to management and stimulation programs, both physically and mentally, are studied and applied by students in this activity. The lecturers hope that the knowledge possessed by both lecturers and students is not only limited to knowing and forgetting but also students can apply it, modify and even find strategic ways to deal with children under the principles of learning for early childhood," she hoped.
