Carina Heights Child Care & Development

🫧 Bubble Breathing at CHCCD 🫧

This week our educators have been trialling a slightly silly — but actually very effective — mindfulness activity… bubble breathing 🌈

Bubble blowing naturally encourages slow, controlled breathing, helping to support emotional regulation, mindfulness and nervous system calming for both children and adults.

And honestly… watching a group of educators standing around blowing bubbles together was surprisingly therapeutic 😂💛

As part of our focus on wellbeing and mindful moments, families will also notice our new take-home mindful bubbles available to support calm, connection and regulation at home too.

Because sometimes everyone needs a bubble break 🫧

At CHCCD we believe that embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives into our everyday practice creates meaningful opportunities for children to develop respect, understanding and connection to Country, culture and community. 🌿
Each Friday we celebrate Floral Friday, where educators, children and families are invited to wear floral prints, flowers and natural colours as a way of honouring nature, connection and togetherness. 🌸
Through these shared experiences we continue to create a sense of belonging, celebrate diversity and strengthen our commitment to reconciliation in authentic and meaningful ways. 💚💙🤍

Did you get your groove on today? 💃🕺🩰🪩
At CHCCD, we came together to celebrate International Dance Day with energy, laughter, and plenty of moves! It was a great way to connect, have fun and express ourselves.

Our educators believe that through dance, children build confidence, creativity, coordination, and a love for movement that supports their overall development.

ANZAC Day
Today, Carina Heights Child Care and Development pauses to remember and honour those who have served and continue to serve our country.
We take a moment to reflect with gratitude and respect for the courage, service, and sacrifices made, and the legacy they leave behind.

“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.”

Lest We Forget

At Carina Heights Child Care & Development, our educators believe children are capable, confident, and active contributors to their learning and wellbeing. 💛
This week, our Kindergarten children have been exploring the Convention on the Rights of the Child through our safety committee meetings, sharing their voices, ideas, and understandings of what safety means to them.
Through meaningful conversations and creative expression, children have been learning that their voices matter, their ideas are valued, and they have the right to feel safe, be heard, and belong.
Together, we are creating a class poster that reflects the children’s thinking—showcasing their understanding of their rights and making their voices visible across our centre community.
We are proud to support children to develop confidence, agency, and a strong sense of identity as they learn what it means to be safe, respected, and empowered. 💛

🌺 Thank You – ANZAC Commemoration Service 🌺
A heartfelt thank you to our families and community members who joined us for our ANZAC Commemoration Service.
We are especially grateful to those who shared their personal experiences of serving in the Navy and Army, read the children the story Anzac Ted, and brought in meaningful personal items such as uniforms, hats, medals, and equipment. These authentic contributions provided the children with rich, hands-on learning experiences and helped bring the meaning of ANZAC Day to life in a very real and respectful way.
Together, we also listened to the Ode and reflected on its meaning, supporting the children to engage in remembrance in a calm and respectful way.
It was a truly special morning of reflection, connection, and community, and we are so thankful for the way our families came together to support the children’s learning.

🌺 Lest We Forget 🌺

Our Youngest Citizens Remember
Today, our babies visited our “Lest We Forget – Our Family Connections” display. With gentle guidance, educators thoughtfully shared photos of staff and families’ loved ones who have served, pointing to each image, talking about the poppy, and using calm, respectful language to introduce these important ideas.
Our baby room educators believe that even our youngest children can begin to build a sense of connection, belonging, and respect through meaningful, shared experiences. By creating a warm and responsive environment, we support early understandings of community, storytelling, and remembrance in ways that are safe, nurturing, and age-appropriate.
These small, intentional moments lay the foundation for empathy, curiosity, and connection to the world around them.
Lest We Forget

🌿Preparing Our Special Place🌿
Our Kindergarten children have been busy helping prepare our outdoor space for our upcoming ANZAC Commemoration Service.
Together, we cleaned, weeded, swept, and polished our commemorative area, working as a team and taking pride in caring for a very special place in our service. This experience supported children to develop responsibility, teamwork, and respect for both community and environment.
As educators, we value experiences like this as they provide meaningful, real-life opportunities for children to contribute to their community, develop a strong sense of belonging, and engage in shared responsibility. It also allows us to support children in understanding important cultural events in an age-appropriate and respectful way.
We are so proud of their care, effort, and sense of connection as we prepare for this important event.
Lest We Forget

Today our toddlers celebrated Earth Day with a hands-on adventure in our citrus orchard 🍊🍋
With baskets in hand, we explored the trees, discovering oranges, mandarins, lemons and limes growing in nature’s care. The children showed curiosity, excitement, and joy as they carefully picked fruit and added it to our shared harvest.
A beautiful moment of connection with the earth, teamwork, and wonder as we learned where our food comes from 🌏💚

🌺 Happy Floral Friday from our Henny Penny chickens! 🐥🌼
Our little chicks are multiplying very quickly and we now have 9 fluffy chicks who joined in our Floral Friday celebrations today! Their pen was decorated with bright flowers and flower peg dolls, which the chicks were very curious about as they explored their space. 🌸🐣
Each week we celebrate Floral Friday as a way of acknowledging and celebrating the vibrant cultures of the Torres Strait Islands. These small moments help create opportunities for children to connect with culture, nature and the living things around them in meaningful ways.
Our educators believe experiences like this support children to develop respect, curiosity and a sense of belonging as they learn about the diverse cultures that make up our community. 💛

Today our yard teams held Children’s Outdoor Committee meetings in their playground spaces 🌿
Together, educators and children had meaningful conversations about safety in the outdoor environment. The children shared their ideas, experiences, and perspectives about what helps everyone feel safe, supported, and happy when playing outside.
These discussions are helping us create our Outdoor Agreement – a shared set of ideas developed with the children, not just for them. By listening closely to children’s voices, we are supporting their agency, sense of responsibility, and belonging within their environment.
The children’s ideas will be documented and turned into a visual Outdoor Agreement, which will be displayed in the yard for children to revisit during their play. This helps ensure the agreement is meaningful, child-led, and part of our everyday practice.
We believe children are capable contributors to their community, and this process reflects our commitment to honouring their voices. It also aligns with the Early Years Learning Framework, supporting children’s agency, wellbeing, and collaborative decision-making.

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