Kool Kidz Preston

Last week, we had the joy of celebrating our beautiful 4-year-old kinder graduates, an unforgettable milestone wrapped in love, pride, and pure magic. We hosted a private presentation, bringing together families, friends, and loved ones to honour the children and a phenomenal year of growth, learning, and friendship.

It was a truly special evening. The children stood tall and confident, singing their songs with shining eyes and proud little smiles. They farewelled this chapter of their journey with grace and excitement, ready to step into the next stage of their lives with courage and curiosity.

Parents shared that they left with full hearts touched by the memories, the joy, and the beautiful sense of community. It was a night that celebrated not only how far the children have come, but the bright future awaiting each of them. A night filled with warmth, laughter, a few happy tears, and the kind of moments that stay with you forever.

The Jitter Bugs had an absolute blast during our Traffic School adventure this week! The children explored the importance of red, amber, and green lights, discovered how pedestrians stay safe, and learned why following road rules helps everyone on the road.

Then the real fun began! They jumped into their repurposed cars and played a super-exciting round of Red Light, Green Light, putting all their new knowledge into action. The room turned into a mini roadway filled with giggles, safe drivers, and lots of 'beep beep'— look out! moments.

This activity supported several valuable learning outcomes, including:

* Developing an understanding of community safety and how road rules protect us.
* Building gross motor skills through running, stopping, and navigating space.
* Practising listening and responding to verbal and visual cues (red, amber, green).
* Strengthening social skills, such as turn-taking, sharing space, and cooperative play.
* Enhancing problem-solving and decision-making, as children worked out when to go, slow, or stop.

It was a fantastic, high-energy way for our Kool Kidz to build road-safety awareness while having loads of fun!

Our Snuggle Pots absolutely love creating music and magic! Their wonderful educator set up a music board using everyday repurposed items, giving the children endless opportunities to explore sound. Using their voices, hands, and imagination, the children created unique rhythms, discovered new sounds, and filled the room with laughter and joy. Through this playful music-making, they practiced listening, experimenting, and expressing themselves, all while having unlimited fun!

Learning outcomes:

* Creative Expression: Children explore sound using voices and everyday items to create music.
* Fine & Gross Motor Skills: Children develop coordination through striking, shaking, and manipulating objects.
* Listening & Auditory Skills: Children notice differences in pitch, volume, and rhythm.
* Collaboration & Social Skills: Children share ideas, take turns, and create music together.
* Imagination & Curiosity: Children experiment with repurposed items, discovering new ways to make sound.
* Emotional Expression & Fun: Children express themselves, experience joy, and build confidence through musical play.

The Kindergarten room has been loving their crafting experiences, and today they created beautiful sun catchers. Through this activity, the children explored how light travels through different materials and reflects different shades of colour. They chose an outline of their favourite image and carefully filled it with layers of colourful tissue paper to create their own masterpieces. Once finished, the children held their sun catchers up to the windows, watching the colours glow and come to life as the sunlight shone through. It was a magical blend of creativity, curiosity, and discovery.

Learning outcomes:

* Creative Expression: Children experiment with colours, materials, and design to create unique artworks.
* Fine Motor Skills: Children develop control and coordination while cutting, placing, and layering tissue paper.
* Scientific Exploration: Children observe how light passes through materials and how colours change or blend.
* Decision-Making: Children choose colours, patterns, and outlines to personalise their creations.
* Curiosity & Inquiry: Children ask questions and make discoveries about light, colour, and transparency.
* Sense of Achievement: Children build confidence by creating something to display and share with others.

Our Jitterbugs are ever so curious about role play and the wonderful world around them. To further extend their interests, the room created a vibrant Farmers Market experience. The children were able to “feed” the animals at our petting farm, explore how organic produce is grown, and discover where food comes from and how it travels from the farm to the supermarket. They eagerly took on roles as farmers, shoppers, and sellers—sourcing, weighing, and paying for their produce. The children loved making the connection between farms, markets, and supermarkets, and how each part works together. It was a beautiful learning experience filled with exploration, imagination, and meaningful play.

Learning outcomes:

* Understanding the world: Children learned where food comes from and how farms, markets, and supermarkets connect.
* Cognitive skills: They practised counting, weighing, problem-solving, and sequencing the journey of produce.
* Social development: Role play encouraged teamwork, turn-taking, cooperation, and confidence.
* Language growth: Children expanded vocabulary and engaged in meaningful conversations about farming and food.
* Motor skills: Hands-on activities like feeding animals and handling produce supported both fine and gross motor development.
* Creativity: Imaginative play helped children explore real-life roles and create their own market environment.
* Early financial literacy: Using play money introduced simple concepts of buying, selling, and value.

The Beatlebugs were learning all about life cycles, and today’s adventure was all about frogs! We explored the amazing journey from tiny eggs to wiggly tadpoles, then to little froglets, and finally to fully grown frogs sitting proudly on our makeshift lily pads. Our educators transformed the room into a magical pond—a lime-green swamp complete with floating chia-seed “eggs,” lily pads, and even pretend reeds. The children eagerly observed, touched, and counted the “eggs,” pretending to be tiny tadpoles swimming through the water and hopping around as little frogs. They asked thoughtful questions, shared their observations with friends, and used their imaginations to act out each stage of a frog’s life. Laughter and excitement filled the room as the children connected science with play, discovering firsthand how creatures grow and change in the natural world.

Learning outcomes:

* Scientific understanding: Children could identify and sequence the frog life cycle from egg to adult.
* Vocabulary growth: They confidently used new words related to frogs and life cycles during play and conversation.
* Sensory exploration: Children engaged with textures such as chia-seed “eggs,” water, and lily pads, deepening their understanding through touch
* Curiosity and inquiry: They asked questions, made observations, and shared ideas about how frogs grow and change.
* Imaginative play: Children used the pond setup to role-play frog movements and behaviours, extending their learning creatively.
* Collaboration: They interacted positively with peers, taking turns, sharing materials, and working cooperatively around the pond.

Our Honeybees transformed into brilliant little scientists once again as they slipped on their lab coats and stepped into a world of travelling sound. Using just three simple resources a plastic bowl, tightly stretched glad wrap, and colourful pipe cleaners the children discovered something truly magical.

Our educators created a smooth drum-like surface by pulling the glad wrap tight across the bowl. When the Honey Bees used their voices, giggles, and big bold sounds, vibrations travelled through the air and across the surface, making the pipe-cleaner “trees” dance and bounce. The children watched in awe as their voices created movement, pure excitement, curiosity and wonder filling the room.

What began as a simple setup turned into a powerful scientific moment filled with laughter, experimentation, and sensory discovery. The Honeybees weren’t just playing… they were learning how sound travels.

Learning Outcomes:

* Scientific Thinking: Children discovered how sound creates vibrations and makes objects move.
* STEM Exploration: Experimenting with volume, pitch, and distance introduced early sound-wave concepts.
* Communication: Using their voices in different ways strengthened confidence and expressive skills.
* Problem-Solving: Children tested ideas and observed what changed the “dancing trees.”
* Sensory Learning: Visual movement and sound offered a rich, hands-on sensory experience.
* Confidence & Identity: Wearing lab coats and experimenting supported their self-belief as capable little scientists.

Our Snuggle Pot babies enjoyed a sweet sensory experience as we explored ocean life. Educators froze coloured water into icy rainbow cubes, and the babies loved touching, holding, and making little marks as the ice slowly melted. They watched the colours appear on the paper and giggled at the cold, slippery texture turning the room into a tiny ocean-inspired wonderland.

Learning outcomes:

* Sensory Discovery: Babies explored cold, colour, and movement learning through touch, sight, and curiosity.

* Little Scientist Moments: Watching the ice melt sparked early thinking about cause and effect.

* Growing Hands & Coordination: Grasping slippery cubes helped strengthen developing fine motor skills.

* Social & Emotional Joy: Babies connected through smiles, sounds, and shared wonder as they explored together.

* Early Expression: Even tiny marks made with melting colours supported early creativity and playful communication.

The Jitter Bugs also took part in the National Recycling Week celebrations with an engaging and thoughtfully planned activity created by our educators. Using a specially designed, reusable recycling game, the children were introduced to a variety of everyday waste items and learned about the important role each recycling bin plays in caring for our environment.
Educators guided the children through discussions about what materials can be reused, what can be recycled, and why it is important to dispose of items correctly. The children were then encouraged to sort through a collection of clean “rubbish” items and decide which bin each one belonged to. This hands-on experience supported their problem-solving skills, encouraged deeper thinking, and strengthened their ability to classify and make informed decisions.
The activity not only built their knowledge of recycling but also fostered a sense of responsibility and environmental stewardship. Through meaningful play, the children gained confidence in recognising recyclable materials and understanding how their small actions can contribute to a cleaner, more sustainable world.

The children in the Caterpillars Room proudly participated in National Recycling Week. This learning experience helped them understand the importance of caring for our environment and the role we all play in reducing waste. Together, the children explored how to minimise rubbish, pick up litter, reuse materials, and recycle correctly.

They especially enjoyed engaging in pretend clean-up play, carefully sorting items into the correct bins and practising responsible habits. These early experiences help build a strong foundation for environmental awareness and empower the children to make a positive impact on their world.

Today, our curious little scientists in the Honeybees Room dived into the world of science and discovery as they created their very own lava lamps! With eager hands and wide eyes, the children carefully combined food colouring, water, oil, and a very mysterious secret ingredient to create a magical bubbling reaction. The room was filled with excitement and gasps of amazement as the colourful bubbles began to float, pop, and dance to the top just like real lava lamps!

Through this hands-on experiment, the children explored the concepts of cause and effect and chemical reactions, predicting what might happen next and testing their ideas with curiosity and confidence. They chatted eagerly about the colours and movements they observed, using expressive language to describe what they could see. Working side by side, they took turns, helped one another, and celebrated each other’s discoveries. Their enthusiasm and persistence shone through as they explored safely and with great joy

It was an afternoon filled with laughter, learning, and a little bit of science magic! Our Honeybees proved that when curiosity and creativity come together, even simple ingredients can lead to the most spectacular discoveries! 🌈💫

From January 2026, Australian families will be guaranteed at least 72 hours of subsidised early childhood education and care (ECEC) per fortnight, or 3 days a week.
The 3 Day Guarantee will replace the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) Activity Test
Many families will save thousands per year under the new legislation
In a landmark moment for Australian families, the Albanese Government has successfully passed legislation for the 3 Day Guarantee for early learning, ensuring every child can access vital early education opportunities. This pivotal legislation celebrated as a “huge win for children,” will open doors to life-changing early learning experiences for tens of thousands of children across the country.

From January, all families who are eligible for CCS will receive enough Child Care Subsidy so they can attend a minimum of 3 days per week!
We believe every child should have the opportunity to access quality early learning and this change is a HUGE step in that direction.
It’s a big win for families who are looking for work, or who work casually or are studying - these families can now plan with certainty.
From next year families will either have 72 or 100 hours of CCS per fortnight.