Shazza's Family Daycare on Ridgelands Road

🐣 Exciting Times at Shazza's Family Daycare! 🐣

The excitement is building here! Our incubator is proudly sitting in the living area, and the children have been checking on it all day. Every few minutes they're asking, "Can you hear them chirping yet?" 🥰

We've got 35 eggs in the incubator, and we're hoping to welcome some gorgeous Silkie chicks over the next couple of days. The anticipation has been wonderful, with the children learning about patience, life cycles, and caring for living things while eagerly waiting for the first little peeps.

We can't wait to share the special moment when our fluffy babies begin to hatch. Stay tuned—we're all counting down! 💕🐥🥚

💚 KEEPING OUR COMMUNITY HEALTHY TOGETHER 💚
As many families know, illness in early childhood can be incredibly challenging.
Young children often experience coughs, colds and viral illnesses — especially in group care settings — and we genuinely understand the pressure this places on families balancing work, appointments and everyday life.

Please know:
We do not make decisions to send children home lightly.
Every decision made by our educators and leadership team is based on:
✨ your child’s wellbeing
✨ their ability to comfortably participate in the program
✨ the safety of other children and educators
✨ and the realities of a group care environment

Children need to be well enough to:
✔️ eat and drink comfortably
✔️ rest and participate in daily activities
✔️ manage their symptoms within the group setting
✔️ engage safely without requiring significant additional support due to illness

While coughs and runny noses can be common in young children, there are times when symptoms become too significant for a child to comfortably cope with the day, or where illness may begin impacting the wider group.

We know collection calls can be stressful and inconvenient. We also know our educators are often balancing the needs of many children at once while trying to provide the safest and most supportive environment possible for everyone.

That is why we are introducing:
📌 clearer illness decision-making frameworks
📌 parent and staff decision trees
📌 more consistent communication processes
📌 and stronger support for both families and educators
This is not about being “strict.”
It is about creating clarity, consistency, fairness and safety for our whole community.

We kindly ask families to continue partnering with us by:
💚 keeping children home when unwell
💚 ensuring emergency contacts are available
💚 communicating openly with our team
💚 supporting respectful conversations with educators and leadership

Thank you for your understanding, compassion and support as we continue working together to create a healthy, safe and caring environment for all children, families and educators. See less

New Week
New Vibes

Programming Reflection — Sensory & Creative Play
This week we have continued focusing on lots of creative and sensory experiences including drawing, water painting, magic sand, Play-Doh and slime play.
The children became very excited during the water painting experiences, especially while using the stamps, little brushes and small brooms on the water mats. They enjoyed watching the “magic” pictures and colours appear as the water touched the mats, showing curiosity, excitement and growing concentration skills.
We also explored magic sand and Play-Doh textures throughout the week. During these experiences the children confidently identified and named different colours while also recognising shapes including fish, frogs and stars. These activities encouraged language development, shape recognition, fine motor skills and imaginative play.
The slime experience was initially approached cautiously by some of the children, as they were unsure about the texture. However, after exploring it slowly and realising it was not sticky and did not stick to their fingers, the children became more confident and comfortable engaging with it. They enjoyed poking their fingers into the slime, squeezing it and exploring the sensory texture together.
These activities supported the children in building confidence with new textures while encouraging creativity, sensory exploration, communication and fine motor development.
Learning Outcomes
Outcome 1: Children developed confidence and a sense of achievement while exploring new textures and creative materials.
Outcome 3: Children engaged in sensory experiences that supported wellbeing, coordination and fine motor development.
Outcome 4: Children became confident and involved learners through experimenting, exploring textures and discovering cause and effect.
Outcome 5: Children communicated ideas, colours, shapes and experiences through conversations, play and creative expression.

We have Babies arriving in the Dozen
Just to cute

Come Down
Bring the Family
Great Day out.
I Will also have my Shazza Sugar Shop Pop Up Stall for you to Choose some Yummy Treats

Programming / Observation – Chicken Hatching Week
This week has been a wonderful hands-on learning experience as the children watched our chicks hatch throughout the week. Out of 17 eggs, 16 chicks hatched, giving us a fantastic success rate and lots of excitement each day.
The children showed great interest as they listened to the chicks chirping, watched them move around, and began gently touching, patting and nursing them with support. They identified the different colours of the chicks and talked about the little noises they made.
The children are now showing responsibility and care by helping provide fresh water each day, offering chicken mash, and watching closely as the chicks eat and drink.
Learning Outcomes
Outcome 2 – Connected with and contribute to their world
Children showed care, respect and responsibility for living things.
Outcome 3 – Strong sense of wellbeing
Children practised gentle touch, patience, confidence and safe handling.
Outcome 4 – Confident and involved learners
Children observed change, asked questions, noticed colours, sounds and movement, and explored real-life animal care.
Outcome 5 – Effective communicators
Children used words, sounds and gestures to describe the chicks, their colours, their noises and what they were doing.
Extension Ideas
Continue daily chick care routines, colour matching with chick photos, counting chicks, and drawing or painting pictures of the baby chickens.

Programming / Observation – Chick Hatching Day
Today was a very exciting day in care as the children witnessed our chicks beginning to hatch. Four chicks started hatching while the children were present, and they were able to watch the eggs rocking gently back and forth inside the incubator.
The children listened carefully to the soft chirping sounds coming from the eggs and showed great excitement, curiosity, and wonder. They gathered around the incubator, asked questions, and watched closely for changes.
The children also began counting the eggs and identifying the different egg colours they could see, extending their learning through numeracy, colour recognition, observation, and language.
They are now eagerly waiting for the chicks to finish hatching so they can come out of the incubator and eventually be safely held and cared for.
Learning outcomes observed:
Outcome 1 – Identity
Children showed confidence, excitement, and a sense of belonging as they shared in a real-life experience together.
Outcome 2 – Community
Children developed care, empathy, and respect for living things as they observed the chicks hatching.
Outcome 4 – Learning
Children used curiosity, investigation, counting, colour recognition, and prediction while watching the eggs.
Outcome 5 – Communication
Children used language to describe what they could see and hear, including the eggs rocking, chicks chirping, colours, and number of eggs.
Educator reflection:
This was a beautiful hands-on learning experience. The children were fully engaged and amazed by the hatching process. It created rich opportunities for science, nature, counting, colours, language, care, and wonder. Watching chicks hatch never gets old — I was just as excited as the children.