12/08/2026
A little peek inside our new-look Koala Room (3-4 Years Old) .
At Mayfield, we recognise that every educator brings their own strengths, experiences, ideas and philosophy to their practice and this means our learning environments don’t all have to look the same.
This week, Michelle has stepped into our Koala Room and has been busy transforming the space to reflect her own philosophy and approach to early childhood education, drawing inspiration particularly from the Curiosity Approach and Reggio Emilia principles.
At the heart of Michelle’s approach is a strong belief that children are capable and competent learners. Her vision for the Koala Room is a calm, welcoming and homelike environment where children are trusted with real responsibility and given opportunities to build independence through meaningful everyday experiences.
Throughout the room you’ll find authentic, real-life resources alongside natural and open-ended materials. Real crockery and glassware, kitchen equipment, scales, homewares, jewellery and other everyday objects become meaningful resources for play, exploration and learning.
These resources aren’t simply there to look beautiful. Children are taught how to use them safely, care for them and return them respectfully. By trusting children with real things and genuine responsibility, they have opportunities to develop confidence, independence, respect and practical life skills.
This approach extends into everyday routines too. Children will be encouraged to take an active role in their day setting tables, serving their own food, caring for their belongings, cleaning up after themselves and taking responsibility for the environment they share with others.
Sustainability is also an important part of Michelle’s philosophy and has been carefully considered when creating the Koala Room. Wherever possible, resources are reusable, repurposed, preloved, natural or sourced from everyday life rather than continually purchasing new, purpose-made resources.
You’ll also notice very little is laminated. This is an intentional choice to reduce unnecessary plastic and explore more sustainable and authentic ways of presenting children’s learning within the environment.
Even the walls have a purpose.
Rather than filling wall spaces simply for decoration, they have intentionally been left relatively bare for now. Over time, they will become adorned with meaningful documentation photographs of the children engaging in real experiences, their words, ideas, questions and voices, and evidence of the learning actually taking place within their room.
The walls will gradually begin to tell the story of the children who belong within the space.
Everything within the Koala Room has been considered with purpose, while still leaving plenty of room for the children themselves to influence what it becomes.
And most importantly, it isn’t finished.
As the children explore their new environment, their interests, ideas, relationships and individual needs will continue to shape it. Experiences will change, resources will evolve and the environment will grow alongside the children.
The Koala Room is just one example of the different philosophies, strengths and approaches individual educators bring to Mayfield, and we love that our environments can reflect the educators and children who spend their days within them.
Here’s a little look at the beginning of the Koala Room’s next chapter.
If you would like to book a tour and check out our other rooms and amazing educators visit our website, we would love to see you!
https://mayfield.com.au/centres/queensland/cannonvale/
