In the Bilby Nursery, they have been exploring a variety of sensory experiences. They all enjoyed playdough together as a group. As a sensory experience, the children love the brightly coloured, squishy, playdough Next week they plan to add onto the experience by adding some herbs such as rosemary, thyme, and oregano to engage their senses. The lavender is in flower at the moment and this is a particularly pretty sensory experience. It smells so beautiful. Sensory play is an

At Dragonfly's Early Learning at Coolum Beach, they have been running Bush Kindy every Wednesday morning down beside Stumers Creek, a little saltwater creek at Coolum Beach. This has sparked discussion around how ocean life enters the creek system. From this activity and following discussions they constructed a new Ocean Life play space back at their classroom. Last week, they added more marine animals. This is an amazing learning tool for the children. It's no wonder that

At Dragonfly's Early Learning at Coolum Beach, we recognise that music ignites all areas of child development and skills for school readiness, including intellectual, social-emotional, motor, language, and overall literacy. It helps the body and the mind work together. Exposing children to music during early development helps them learn the sounds and meanings of words. Here are 7 benefits of music for children can positively benefit your kids as they grow up. It helps to imp

The children at Dragonfly's Early Learning at Coolum Beach have been once again exercising their creativity Children really do have very creative little minds and spend a lot of time in their creative imaginary little worlds. On this day, the children noticed that their stilts look like bells when you hold them up and swing them. Together, they decided that if the "bells' were hanging on the frame outside, it would create a great musical instrument for them to create music Wi

CHOCOLATE MUD CAKE Ingredients 250g dark choc 250g butter 1 cup hot water (or orange juice for jaffa taste) 1 cup brown sugar 3 eggs lightly whisked 1tsp vanilla 1 cup SR Flour Method Preheat oven to 180C Prepare springform pan with greased baking paper Melt Choc buttons with butter in microwave. Stir until mixed together and smooth Add brown sugar and mix until smooth Add eggs, vanilla and flour and mix till smooth Add hot water at the end and mix till all combined. Cook at

Can you believe that it is September? Incredible isn't it? If your little one is still not attending Early Learning for 5 days a week yet, now is the time to start thinking about it. 5 days a week without any prior training is a big step for any little person and they really feel it in those first few weeks of school. It is now only about 4 months till the commencement of school. At Dragonfly's Early Learning at Coolum Beach, we are already thinking ahead and looking to work

Spring is here! Once it starts to get warmer, one of our favourite activities here at Dragonfly's Early Learning at Coolum Beach is to introduce water play. Children love to play in water... it is like magnet to them. On hot days, it is such a beautiful way to cool off but there is much more to water play than meets the eye. Water play provides hours of rich and valuable early experience to stimulate children's creativity and imagination Water play helps to develop eye-hand c

These photos are of our Bilby Babies. Our tiniest Dragonflies! Over the year, we constantly focus on language skills and do this mainly through, stories, dancing, singing and role play. Along with this, we offer up mark-making opportunities to extend upon the children’s vocabulary, coordination and fine motor skills. Practicing mark-making involves introducing and practicing pencil grips, while perfecting fine motor skills and pincer grips. Look at these little "cuties" go!!

The Educators at Dragonfly's Early Learning at Coolum Beach get very involved with their children during Book Week. This is an important time to celebrate books, reading and learning. Yas and Vanessa dressed up as Thing 1 and 2 for Book Week to enjoy the fun with their little ones. Each year, childcare centres, schools and public libraries across Australia spend a week celebrating books and Australian authors and illustrators. Early Learning Centre educators, schools teachers

At Dragonfly's Early Learning at Coolum Beach, we recognise the need to provide opportunities for children to draw. From Toddlerhood through to Primary School, children naturally choose to draw. Children become interested in scribbling from a very early age. Initially, it seems to provide sensory enjoyment. To the observer, the child is just scribbling, making marks that may appear random and meaningless. Because small muscle control is not fully developed, movements are typ

Book Week is upon us again! At Dragonfly's Early Learning at Coolum Beach, we know that children love to be read to, no matter what their age. You can start reading to your child as early as you would like to. Even though children may be so tiny and not yet talking and you think that perhaps they can't understand, they love to be snuggled up in Mum or Dad's arms listening to the soothing rhythm of a voice. They find it very comforting and is the beginning of a bonding experie

The Educators at Dragonfly's Early Learning at Coolum Beach take every opportunity to encourage the children to develop new skills. The idea of hand-eye coordination is the ability to use both our muscles and our vision in tandem The ability to do this requires the development of visual skills like visual accuracy, along with the development of muscular skills. Hand-eye coordination may seem like something that you are either born with or you are not. However it can also be a

Last week at Dragonfly's Early Learning at Coolum Beach we took time to concentrate on role play. Role play is an effective way for children to make sense of the world around them In doing this they discussed the process which encouraged the children to focus on language skills. Children learn how to empathize with others. Taking part in a role activity would generally mean that they are taking on the role of the character which will teach the children to understand and walk

I love orange cake and am always on the lookout for a new recipe that improves on my current one. This is it! I made this cake last week after thinking about the recipe for about a month. Orange cake is a great standby if you have an orange tree in the backyard but even if you buy citrus, try this cake, it's a real delight. You will need a food processor to make it. On the first day we had this cake hot from the oven with our morning tea. Mmmmmm. The following day I iced the

The month of August is here! Just 6 months to the commencement of the Class of 2022. At Dragonfly's Early Learning at Coolum Beach, we are already thinking ahead and looking to work on school readiness and just how much more we have to do to make our Kindy children ready for the big school Going to school is a very exciting time for them and a big step into a new world, but in order for them to have a great experience, we need to plan ahead for this great event. Now is the

To learn more about us at Dragonfly's Early Learning at Coolum Beach, go to: https://www.dragonflys.com.au/contact-us/ Or Call us on 07 5471 6500 to talk to us or to make a booking. We would love to hear from you sunshinecoast #sunshinebeach #sunshinecoastkids #sunshine #childcare #education #sunshinecoastmumsandbubs #kindergarten #children #childcare #kidsonthecoast #newdads #sunnycoastmums #kidstuff #kidslife #perigianbeach #perigiansprings #earlylearning #earlyyears

The children at Dragonflys Early Learning at Coolum Beach are indeed fortunate to have beautiful garden beds that have been installed for them to promote outdoor gardening activities that allow Educators to enhance their learning opportunities. Gardening in early learning education fosters key life skills that are very important in their education. Learning about growing things and how to keep their plants alive is one of those key life skills The Dragonflys Kindergarten gro

The children at Dragonflys Early Learning at Coolum Beach enjoyed special craft time last week to make wands using string and natural materials. Craft activities encourage children to play and experiment in a fun and relaxed environment. It enhances children's hand-eye coordination and builds their levels of manual dexterity When doing a craft activity, they get to work with a myriad of different materials that teaches them about colours, shapes, and textures. They learn how

Last week at Dragonflys Early Learning, the focus was on language skills. A great way to focus on language skills is through stories. When educators share engaging stories with children, it provides numerous opportunities for language learning. Educators can use storytelling as an opportunity to focus on listening skills, vocabulary, grammar and understanding. When children are frequently exposed to stories, they quickly build a stronger vocabulary, use more complex sentences

Having fun in the sandpit is great exercise for any child. While playing in the sandpit children dig, scoop, pour, push and lift. These gross motor movements work the large muscles in their arms and legs and strengthen those little bodies. Children develop an awareness of their body in the sandpit and how they can use their body to accomplish tasks. Playing in the sand is terrific for not only building motor skills but also for building hand-eye coordination and strengthening