Buttons and Bows Family Day Care

06/09/2026

🎃🧪 Something spooky is brewing at Buttons and Bows! 🧪🎃

Have you seen the Sprout Potion Play 3D set popping up all over TikTok, Instagram and Facebook? 👀✨ People are going crazy for them, and I can definitely see why!

So I thought… why not bring a little of that magic into our own Halloween play? 🧙‍♀️🪄

I’ve decided to 3D print four potion-making sets for our little ones to enjoy this Halloween! 🎃

Rather than using water with our 3D-printed filament pieces, we’ll be creating a dry Halloween sensory potion tray filled with lots of fun little treasures, such as:

🫘 Tiny beans
🍚 Rice
👻 Little Halloween ornaments
🕷️ Spooky little surprises
✨ And lots of other interesting bits and pieces to discover!

The children will each have their own potion set to explore, mix, scoop, pour and create their very own magical Halloween potions. 🧪💜

Will they be making a Witch’s Brew? 🧙‍♀️
A Monster Potion? 👹
A Magic Spell? ✨
Or perhaps a Potion of Giggles? 😂

The possibilities are endless when you let their imaginations take the lead! 🌈

I absolutely love creating resources that encourage open-ended play, imagination, creativity and little-world experiences. It’s amazing to see where children’s ideas can take them when they’re given the opportunity to explore and create in their own way. 💕

And let’s be honest… who doesn’t love a little bit of Halloween magic? 🎃🖤

I can’t wait to see what our little potion makers come up with! 🧪✨

What would your little one name their magical potion? 👇🎃

05/09/2026

05/09/2026

🐛🦋 A little surprise for Thursday! 🦋🐛

With our visit to Bayer Bugs this Thursday, where we’ll be learning all about the fascinating life cycle of a moth, I’ve been busy today making some very special icing toppers for the children! 🌿🐛

We’ll also be reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar on Thursday, so I thought these little treats would be a fun way to tie our story and our learning together. 📚💚

Now I just have one very important decision to make… 🤔

Do I put the toppers on sugar cookies 🍪 or cupcakes 🧁?

What do you think — cookies or cupcakes? 🐛🧁🍪

I can’t wait to surprise the children with them on Thursday! 💕

05/09/2026

🌸🌿 Spring has arrived at Buttons and Bows Family Daycare! 🌿🌸

As we come into spring, and with Toowoomba being famous for its beautiful Carnival of Flowers, we thought it was the perfect time to focus on plants, gardening and caring for our environment. 🌱🌼

This week, the children will be helping us plant some herbs in our garden for their mud kitchen area, as well as some beautiful flowers to place up on the deck. They’ll have the opportunity to water their plants each day, watch them grow and learn about what plants need to thrive, including sunshine, water and nutrients. ☀️💧🌿

We’ll also be making some little greenhouses using milk containers! 🌱🏡 The children will plant their own seeds and watch as they come out from the soil and begin to grow into little plants. It will be a wonderful opportunity to explore the life cycle of a plant, from a tiny seed to a growing plant. 🌰➡️🌱🌿

Once their little plants have started sprouting, the children will be able to take them home to plant in their own gardens. How lovely will it be to see their plants continuing to grow at home! 💚

And wow, our blueberries! 🫐😍 I have never grown blueberries before, and if you know me, you’ll know I have a brown thumb, so I’m pretty excited to see how they’re growing! 😂 We’ll also be checking on our beautiful lemon myrtle tree and learning more about the native plants growing in our environment. 🌳

It’s such a lovely way to introduce the children to the natural world, encourage a sense of responsibility and help them understand how we can care for living things. We can’t wait to see what our little garden brings this spring! 🌸💚

03/09/2026

🌿💦 Sometimes, the best days are the ones where we simply stay home. 💦🌿

Today we made the most of this beautiful spring weather and chose to stay at home rather than head off on an excursion. And honestly… these are some of my favourite days! 🥰

The children have been enjoying lots of water play, exploring, splashing, experimenting and simply having fun together. 💧☀️

There is something so special about slowing down, connecting with the children and enjoying our environment without having to rush off anywhere. These moments give us the opportunity to relax, explore, build relationships and just be. ❤️

Sometimes we don’t need a big excursion or a planned activity. Sometimes all children really need is time, space, sunshine, water and the freedom to PLAY. 🌱

Because play isn’t just something we fit into the day — play IS the most important part of their day. 💕

Today is a beautiful reminder that some of the simplest days create some of the loveliest memories. 🌸

02/09/2026

💗 Sometimes, being an Early Childhood Educator is hard… but then moments like this happen. 💗

Being an Early Childhood Educator is one of the most rewarding jobs, but it certainly comes with its challenges.

There are the early mornings, the long days, the endless cleaning, planning, preparing activities, documenting, communicating with families, managing big emotions, supporting little people through their challenges and constantly trying to provide the very best care and learning environment we can.

Some days are exhausting. Some days can be challenging. And sometimes you wonder “am I doing enough? Am I making a difference?”

But then you receive something that reminds you exactly why you do what you do. 🥰

This afternoon, I was so excited and incredibly touched to receive this beautiful email from Freddie. 💌

It honestly made my heart smile and reminded me that sometimes, even when we don’t realise it, the little things we do each and every day are making a difference.

The cuddles, conversations, laughter, encouragement, teaching, comforting, supporting and simply being there for these little people all add up. ❤️

Thank you so much, Freddie, for reminding me why I do my job and why I absolutely love what I do. 🥰

To all my fellow Early Childhood Educators — on those days when you’re tired, overwhelmed or questioning whether you’re making a difference, remember…

YOU ARE. 🌈

What we do matters.
The love we give matters.
The memories we create matter.
And the little people in our care matter. ❤️

Sometimes, all it takes is one special message to remind us just how important and rewarding our job really is. 💗

01/09/2026

🚧👷‍♂️ Hard hats on… it’s time to get to work! 👷‍♀️🚧

We are definitely making the most of our brand-new construction area this week! The children have been busy little tradies, getting stuck into lots of hands-on play with plenty of digging, scooping and transporting using our dump trucks and shovels. 🚜🛻🪏

To make the experience even more exciting, we’ve been proudly wearing our hats and high-vis vests that were generously gifted to us by Bunnings! 💚🧡

There has been so much imagination, teamwork and creativity happening as the children work together to create their very own little construction site. From moving loads of dirt to creating roads and building spaces, there has been no shortage of busy little workers!

It’s wonderful to see how much the children are enjoying this new space and all the opportunities it provides for imaginative play, physical development, cooperation and, of course, getting a little bit dirty! 😄

Who knew construction work could be so much fun? 🚧👷‍♀️👷‍♂️

31/08/2026

👷‍♂️🚧 Our little tradies have been very busy today! 🚧👷‍♀️

This morning, we headed off to BIG W to purchase some new dump trucks and construction vehicles for our brand-new construction play area. The children were very excited to help choose some new trucks and couldn’t wait to bring them back!

We then made a quick stop at Bunnings to collect some construction signs to add to the area and help bring our little building site to life. 🦺🚜
This afternoon, the children were so excited to discover a whole new construction area waiting for them in the yard! With their trucks, crusher dust, signs and plenty of space to explore, dig and create, our little tradies were straight into imaginative play.

It has been wonderful seeing their excitement as they explore this new space, work together and create their very own little construction site. 🚧🛻👷‍♀️👷‍♂️

30/08/2026

🚧👷‍♀️ Our New Construction Play Area! 👷‍♂️🚧

Over a month ago, we made the decision to rehome our chickens from Buttons and Bows Family Day Care. While we absolutely loved having them as part of our little family, unfortunately their presence was attracting rodents to the area.

Rather than leaving the old chicken pen unused, Terry and I spent some time over the weekend transforming the space into something new and exciting for the children! 🚜🏗️

The area has now been turned into a children’s construction play space, complete with crusher dust as a base where the children can use their little trucks, diggers and construction equipment to explore, create and enjoy imaginative play.

Safety was our number one priority throughout this transformation. The former chicken enclosure was thoroughly cleaned and prepared before being repurposed to ensure the area was safe and suitable for the children to enjoy. 🧹✨

A huge thank you to Bunnings for supplying us with some adorable little tradie hats and safety vests, which will make our construction area even more fun and realistic for the children! 👷‍♀️👷‍♂️💛💚

Over the coming weeks, we will continue adding to the area with construction signage, additional diggers and other resources to encourage imaginative play, collaboration and creativity.

We can’t wait to see where the children’s imaginations take them in our new little construction zone! 🚧🚜🛻

🚜👷‍♀️🏗️