1. We operated throughout much of COVID and it was one of the healthiest, calmest periods we've experienced. Being outdoors, in community, and connected to nature felt more important than ever.
2. We have supported the establishment of many bush kindy and nature programs through our training and mentoring. Experienced nature educators often return to our professional learning for its creative and reflective approach.
3. We can usually spot a jumping ant nest from metres away. It's a skill developed through necessity.
4. The weather in Guanaba often seems to have its own agenda. If the rest of the Gold Coast is sunny, there's a reasonable chance we're watching storm clouds roll in.
5. We have known some of our older children since they were babies. Many families stay with us for years, and it is a privilege to watch children grow over such a long period of time.
6. We built our own playground, and it never really stays finished. It changes and evolves alongside the children who use it.
7. We always carry more layers than we think we'll need. Life at Birdwings has taught us that a day can contain sunshine, wind, rain and blue skies before lunch.
8. We are named after the Richmond Birdwing Butterfly, one of Australia's most spectacular butterflies and a species closely connected to our local area.
9. Some of our children can identify more local plants, birds and insects than many adults.
10. Some of our best learning experiences were never planned. We support children to pursue their own goals and interests, but we also trust the possibilities that emerge when nature changes the plan.
Birdwings Forest School
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Award-winning therapeutic nature play programs and nature connection training on Kombumerri Country, Gold Coast.
18/06/2026
We have not talked about our journal for a while, but if you have been following us for some time, you will know how beloved it is within our program.
It is a storybook of our experiences together. It holds our play, our discoveries, our questions, our thinking and the moments that have shaped us as a community. Over time, it captures children's developing ideas and the many ways they represent, revisit and refine their understanding of the world.
It also becomes a record of the life we share with this place. We notice seasonal changes, celebrate growth, and wonder about the animals we encounter. We ask questions about what they are doing, why they might behave the way they do, and what their lives might be like beyond the moments we observe.
One of the things we love most is sitting together and turning the pages. The journal has a remarkable way of reigniting memories of lived experiences.
A photograph, a sketch or a conversation recorded months ago can transport us back to that moment. Children remember details we have forgotten, share new insights, and continue lines of thinking that began long before. The journal often draws out fresh conversations and new ideas from experiences we thought had already run their course.
For us, documentation is not simply about recording learning. It is about creating a living record of our shared experiences; one that children can return to again and again. It helps us honour their thinking, notice growth over time, and keep important questions alive.
If you are interested in deepening your own approach to reflective, child-led documentation, we have a webinar that explores this work in more depth. We also work alongside educators and teams who would like support in developing documentation practices that genuinely centre children's voices and thinking.
16/06/2026
Winter holidays on the Gold Coast are the best - the best weather for play, campfires and bushcraft. That's exactly what we plan to do with on our school holiday program. Will your child be there? Every Friday in the school holidays - places are limited.
https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1542651
Our yearly neighbourhood community service, trimming the roadside camphor laurels for our Winter Spiral ✨️
14/06/2026
How good is fire-baked damper?? It was the finale dish at today's 🍷 Scenic Rim Food & Wine Festival Campfire Cookout, after baked potatoes, chilli beans and toasted apples. We still have more events coming up! More family fun, and more campfire yum.
Don't worry about the kids these holidays - book them in to our school holiday program and we'll play all day together. In our special kids-only space we'll have adventures, go exploring, light the campfire, learn some bushcraft and PLAY all day.
Sound good? We can't wait!
Every Friday in the school holidays for children aged 5 - 12 years
Gunaba, Gold Coast.
https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1542651
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