YMCA Early Learning

At the Y one of the vision pillars is "meaningful work” to ensure every person can learn and engage in meaningful work and build a sustainable livelihood.

The children at our Truganina Centre have been exploring the water cycle through engaging, play-based learning experiences. As they pinched, poured, dripped and experimented with water, they were not only having fun but also developing a wide range of important skills.

For 4-year old child, these hands-on experiences strongly support cognitive development and enhance their fine motor skills.

Through experimentation, children begin to understand cause and effect (e.g., what happens when water is poured from different heights or containers), early scientific concepts (such as evaporation, movement, and changes in water), and problem-solving skills as they test their ideas and make predictions.

This play-based learning experience provides a meaningful and holistic way for children to develop essential skills while deepening their understanding of the world around them.

Here at our Moroak Crescent Centre we have been busy curiously "Tinkering."

Tinkering in Early Childhood Education (ECE) is a play-based, hands-on approach where young children explore and experiment with materials to understand how things work. It promotes STEM thinking, creativity, and resilience by encouraging open-ended investigation, taking things apart, and reconstructing them.

Tinkering and The Curiosity approach go hand in hand.

In a tinkering space young children can explore new things, try out different ideas and experiment with real tools and materials.

It offers an open-ended, child-led way to foster creativity, build resilience, and develop new skills like problem-solving, collaboration, and fine motor control.
It's not about right answers. It’s all about trying, testing and tinkering.

With a newly built Ambulance station close to our Wyndham Vale Centre leading to much excitement and curiosity from the children each time they hear the sirens and see the flashing lights whizzing by, our 4 year old kinder children warmly welcomed a visit from one of our lovely Mum’s, Claire, who is a registered nurse.

Claire engaged in some insightful discussions with the children around the role of a nurse, where they work, who they help and the various tools and medical instruments they use.
Claire also discussed with the children the different types of Ambulances that are used to support people, and how paramedics help their patients.

Body awareness was another topic explored with the children where they were able to learn about the important jobs our lungs and heart play in our bodies. The children were able to use a stethoscope to listen to their heartbeats and spoke about asthma and how it affects the body.

Thank you to Claire for the interactive and engaging educational presentation.

Thank you Tanu for the 5 star Google review! Our team greatly appreciate you taking the time to share your comments ⭐

At our Lightning Reef Centre, our service goldfish is a much cherished community member.

Children often chat with the fish during drop off transition times which has been beneficial in supporting them to settle into their day.

The children have enjoyed participating in our Name the Goldfish activity with many names put on offer.

Clay and playdough play supports children’s development in many ways. As children mould, pinch, and roll the clay and playdough, they strengthen their fine motor skills while developing their creativity and imagination. This supports them to develop the strength to hold pencils later in thei development.

We use clay and playdough across all of our Centres, and it continues to be a favourite learning medium for children as they explore, create, and experiment.

We would love to hear about the creations your child has been making with clay and playdough at home.

Share in the comments below. 👇

See you tonight at our Early Learning Centre Open Day and kinder information Centres!

See you tonight for a Centre tour or for our kindergarten information sessions. Meet the team between 6pm-7pm!
https://earlylearning.ymca.org.au/open-days

Last week, our kindergarten children at our Derrimut Centre participated in an exciting outdoor alphabet jumping activity where masking tape was used to create lines labelled with the letters A, B, C, and D. The children listened carefully to the letter that was called out and jumped into the matching line.

This playful experience supported early literacy development by helping children recognise and respond to letters in a fun and active way. It also encouraged children to focus, listen attentively, and follow instructions during the game. The activity further supported children’s physical and social development. Jumping and moving between the lines helped strengthen their coordination, balance, body control and spatial awareness. Children also learned to play cooperatively by sharing space, waiting for their turn and participating positively in a group setting.

Overall, the game created a joyful learning environment that combined movement, communication, and teamwork while building confidence and engagement in learning.