A Step Ahead Childcare Centre

For World Ocean Day, our children had a wonderful time learning about the ocean and engaging in ocean-themed activities. They enjoyed exploring different aspects of ocean life through hands on experiences and discussions.

Our Ash room toddlers have been showing interest in how things grow, so we decided to explore the life cycle of a bean seed. Each child chose a bean seed and carefully wrapped it in a damp paper towel before placing it inside a clear bag. The children helped spray the paper towels with water and then attached their bags to our bulletin board. We also planted sunflower seeds to extend this learning experience and support children’s understanding of how plants grow and change over time.

Willow enjoyed vertical strokes painting today. This activity helped build upper body strength and encouraged creativity and self-expression.

Our Willow children took part in a variety of activities, including a nature walk, outdoor play, open-ended activities, creative learning, and the spring insect sensory bin. They enjoyed the nature walk and explored outside. The children showed creativity during play and used different materials in their learning. They also practiced social skills by playing and interacting with their peers. The insect sensory bin encouraged curiosity as they explored insects and nature through hands-on play.

Our Oak children showed great interest in making straw rockets activity. They used straws to create their own rockets and explored with different design paper materials using their creativity and imagination while engaging with their peers and educators throughout the activity. The children enjoyed experimenting with how their rockets moved and worked together to share ideas and excitement during this fun hands-on experience.

Our Pine room young toddlers explored a bee-themed sensory setup with flowers, bees, honeycomb materials, and a bee painting activity. They enjoyed touching, moving, and playing with the materials while learning about bees and flowers. This activity supported their sensory skills, creativity, and early understanding of nature.

The Ash Room toddlers enjoyed exploring a frog pond sensory activity using frogs and chia seeds. They used their hands to touch, scoop, and spread the chia seeds, noticing their unique texture and gel-like feel. The children showed curiosity as they explored the sensory materials, supporting imagination, sensory, and fine motor skills through a fun, hands-on experience.

Our Maple children enjoyed participating in a seed mosaic salt dough activity, using soft dough as a base and carefully placing a variety of seeds to create unique patterns, shapes, and designs. They explored different textures, sizes, and arrangements while using their imagination and creativity to make their work. As they pressed, picked, and arranged the seeds, they strengthened their fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, focus, and problem-solving abilities in a fun and engaging way.

Our preschool children had fun participating in a Raindrop Races activity. They watched colorful raindrops move down the oil paper and noticed how the colors mixed together at the end to create new shades. The children were excited to observe and explore the changes as the colors blended. This hands-on activity encouraged curiosity, creativity, and early learning in a fun and engaging way.

Our Birch room children enjoyed a painting activity using fly swatters as tools. We offered various paint colours and encouraged the children to dip the swatters and stamp them onto paper to make creative prints. The children were engaged, active, and happy while exploring this way of painting. This experience helped support their creativity and motor skills.