Care-A-Lot Childcare Centre

💜 In Loving Memory of Lulu 💜

For those who may not know, Luella ‘Lulu’ Oudshoorn, sister to Tom from the Kookaburra room, sadly passed away on 27th January 2026, aged just 6.

Lulu lived with rare and severe forms of epilepsy—Infantile Spasms and Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome—which meant she experienced multiple, uncontrolled seizures every single day. She also lived with complex disabilities and required 24-hour care.

Despite these challenges, Lulu was a cherished part of our Wombat room from 2023–2024. She brought so much light to our centre and loved spending time with her friends. We feel incredibly grateful to have been part of her journey and to have shared in moments that brought her joy.

In honour of Lulu, her mum Erin runs events each year to raise awareness and funds for epilepsy. Over the past 4 years, she has raised almost $600,000 for Epilepsy Action Australia, supporting the 266,000 Australians living with epilepsy. This year, she will continue that mission by running the New York Marathon in November. 🏃‍♀️

March is recognised globally as “Make March Purple,” with Purple Day on March 26th—a time to come together, raise awareness, and support those impacted by epilepsy.

At our centre, we honoured Lulu throughout the week by wearing purple, creating “Lulu’s Garden,” and sharing messages of kindness together as a community 💜

This year holds even deeper meaning as we honour Lulu’s life and legacy. Epilepsy Action Australia receives minimal government funding, with around 80% of support coming from the generosity of the community.

If you are able, we kindly ask you to consider making a donation via the link below to support this important cause.
https://epilepsy-action-australia.grassrootz.com/epilepsy-action-australia-nyc-marathon-2026/erin-oudshoorn?tab=donations
Let’s come together for Lulu, for Tom, and for their family Erin & Dave 💜

🌏🧡 Harmony Week at our Centre!

We celebrated diversity and belonging by creating a group artwork—children, educators, parents, and even grandparents all contributed! 🎨✨

We also explored stories, music, dance, and discussions about kindness and respect. It was amazing to see our whole community learning, sharing, and celebrating together. 💛

🍀 St Patrick’s Day Celebrations 🍀

Yesterday we celebrated St Patrick’s Day with so much joy, creativity and connection! 💚

The children explored their creativity through art and craft, creating beautiful shamrocks using hand painting, such a fun and sensory experience! 🎨 We also enjoyed getting a little messy while making Irish soda bread together, building on our cooking skills and working as a team. 🍞

Throughout the day, the room was filled with music, laughter and movement as we sang songs and danced together, embracing the spirit of celebration. 🎶💃

These experiences supported children’s sense of belonging, cultural awareness and self-expression in meaningful and engaging ways.

What a wonderful day of learning through play! 🍀✨

🌱 World Wetlands Day 🌱

The Children absolutely loved celebrating World Wetlands Day at Care-A-Lot!

Our educators created a wetland provocation, and the children enthusiastically extended the experience by adding their own stones and items to the space. They used wooden pebbles and rocks to animate the platypus and crocodile figurines, bringing the wetland to life through imaginative play.

Using loose parts, the children also built little dens for the animals, demonstrating creativity, collaboration and problem-solving as they explored habitats, water and caring for our natural environment. 🌏💧

A beautiful example of child-led, inquiry-based learning inspired by nature. 🌿

🐊🦆

🦷 A Special Visit From Dr. Simon the Dentist! 🦷

We had a very exciting visit from Dr. Simon, who came to teach us all about keeping our teeth healthy and strong! He began by explaining what a dentist does and why looking after our teeth is so important.

Dr. Simon made us all laugh by pretending to brush his hair, ears, and nose with a toothbrush — but our clever Kookaburras and Wombats knew exactly how to brush properly! 😄

We then practiced brushing a giant set of teeth, making sure to clean the front, back, and flat surfaces until they were sparkling. After that, everyone got their own mirror to take a close look at their teeth.

To finish off, we sorted different foods into “healthy” and “sometimes” categories. The children did a fantastic job discussing which foods help keep our teeth strong.

A big thank you to Dr. Simon for visiting us and making learning about dental health so much fun! 🪥✨

🌏🦘 Exploring Australia through Play! 🇦🇺✨

Today our little learners dove into a hands-on experience with this beautifully set up sensory and educational table featuring native Australian animals, natural elements, and a map of the country! 🐨🐍🐾

From echidnas and emus to wombats and kangaroos, this engaging setup sparked curiosity and creativity as we learned about Australia's unique wildlife and geography. 🌺🌲

Learning through play is such a powerful tool—just look at that focus and wonder! 💛

🐛✨ Our Silkworm Life Cycle Journey! ✨🐛�At Care-A-Lot Chifley, our little learners have been immersed in the fascinating world of silkworms!

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been observing the full life cycle — from tiny eggs, to hungry caterpillars, then watching them spin their silky cocoons, and soon we’ll meet the moths! 🌿🧡

The children have loved caring for the silkworms, feeding them fresh mulberry leaves, and documenting each stage through drawings, photos, and hands-on observation using magnifying glasses. 🔍📚

What a wonderful way to learn about nature, lifecycles, and responsibility through real-life experience!

BOOK WEEK CELEBRATION AT CARE-A-LOT CHIFLEY 📚

Book Week is not only about reading stories, but about unlocking the world that exists beyond the pages. The true treasure hidden behind a book cover is the rich environment of imagination, creativity and discovery that it creates for children.

Here at Care-A-Lot Chifley, the children are stepping into the shoes of their favourite characters, pretending, acting, and swimming deeply in the imagination of every single word. Through this play, they are developing language, creativity, empathy, confidence & skills that extend far beyond the story itself.
Books give children the chance to dream, explore new ideas, and understand different perspectives. During Book Week, we celebrate not just the stories themselves, but the experiences, learning and friendships that grow from them.

We also extend this joy to our wider community. Families and our community are encouraged to borrow books from our street library, take them home, and share these magical moments together. This way, the value of books continues beyond the centre, nurturing a love for reading and imagination in every child’s home.

At Care-A-Lot Chifley, we believe books are more than stories, they are windows to worlds of possibility.