Wonders Of Play Family Day Care Wodonga

Gifted an abundance of paint chips, I always find a way to reuse such things! Why not make sandwich fillings like tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, spinach, cheese, avocado, ham, and tofu?
The children thought they were great, stacking on “bread,” sharing around, and pretending to eat. Simple reuse that sparks creativity and saves our planet. 🌈♻️🥪

🌸 Early morning surprises from a bestie with these stunning flowers chosen with the children in mind “the kids will love to feel these ones.”

With intention, we created an invitation to explore and create with fresh blooms in vases, matching coloured pencils, mirrors for reflection and colour paint chips to spark wonder.

Children explored textures, colours and feelings. Questions flowed “Why is it so soft?” “What does it smell like?” “What colour matches this one?”

Grateful for friends who fuel our learning adventures. 💜🌼

🌽 Fresh from our backyard garden to our plates! Today we pick our home-grown corn, cucumbers, beets, carrots and beans straight from the veggie patch. We steamed them up and enjoyed a yummy pre-lunch treat together.

A huge shoutout to our friend Michelle for sharing the corn-growing secret: give the plants a good shake to help them self-pollinate…who knew?! We finally grew delicious corn thanks to Shells tip.

Building healthy eating habits 🌱✨

Peach & Mint Tea for our picnic! Little hands chopped peaches 🌱snipped mint from the garden 🌿 and stirred in rooibos tea with honey. Skeptical sips turned to BIG surprises! Who knew our brew would be so delicious?

Exploring colour and texture on our giant outdoor canvas! The children mixed and rolled the paint creating as freely as they like, perfect for building fine motor skills and self-expression. Love these messy, magical moments! ✨🎨

Rescuing our melting playdough ✨

When humid weather hits, our playdough gets sticky, but the children LOVE fixing it themselves! They sprinkled flour to dry it out, then got creative with nature’s treasures: sticks, shells, stones and wooden tools from our sensory tray.

Problem-solving and open-ended play at its finest 💕

🌈 Recycled tins, mirror balls (up-cycled garden ornaments), up-cycled curtain rings and vibrant fabrics invite endless exploration⭐️

Watching and joining in with little hands to discover colours, textures, sounds and shiny reflections. Fostering sensory development, fine motor skills and colour recognition

Deeply engaged in the life of a butterfly. 🦋

The children explored droppers, colour mixing and gentle pinching to create their own coffee-filter butterflies, ready to “take off” in the garden 🪴💚

🦋 Our Dainty Swallowtail story continues in perfect sync! Last year we made caterpillars when ours were munching leaves, chrysalises when they pupated... and after 8 months of real-life waiting, we were able to add these butterflies! 🌸✨

Patience pays off! 💚

🌿 From tiny eggs on lime leaves to hungry caterpillars munching away, our adventure with the Dainty Swallowtail (Papilio anactus) spanned months of awe and questions! The children observed chrysalises hanging patiently, wondered and documented in our floor-book ‘What happens next?’

We waited through winter... until November (yes 8 whole months) One emerged while I was away (sadly didn’t make it), and another spread its wings the next day, freed by one of my amazing FDC families. 🦋✨

Grateful for these nature-based learning moments that heal and inspire. 💚

Simple small world play with recycled bottle tops, corks, sticks and a piece of chunky bark. Stacking towers around the bush hut with peg dolls, imagining stories and sparking creativity from simple, everyday finds. 🌿✨