Covid Temperature Checker
We have a new non-evasive temperature checker that is fun and safe for all of the visitors of All Day Long Childcare.
We have a new non-evasive temperature checker that is fun and safe for all of the visitors of All Day Long Childcare.
First think about what is important to you in the care and education your child receives – make a list of what you are looking for;
Now you know what’s important, take the time to look at Centre’s social media and websites. Through their photos, information you should start to see key elements of what is important to you.
On your tours, ensure you ask the questions which are on your mind. Talk to the educators about what is important to you and your little one. Tours should be detailed and informative, not just about your littles ones age but also of what is to come
How did you feel when on the tour? Did you feel comfortable, did you feel acknowledged and supported? If these are the feeling you recognised on your tour, it is a Centre which you should consider.
Now is the time to reflect and enroll. After your tours you will know which is the right fit for you, the Centre who you have connected with, whose practice embed what is important to you, and more importantly the one where you feel comfortable to leave you child.
Leaves of fun; raking up the fallen leaves in the garden, take time to add and hide sensory bottles, flash cards (nature pictures or aboriginal symbols) beneath the magical pile of sensory fun. The children will love exploring what they can move, crunch, throw, explore and investigate.
Unicorn craft; on a large sheet of cardboard (inside of a cereal box) draw a basic outline of a unicorn. Collecting the different coloured leaves, flowers and grass from the garden which has fallen (or your allowed to pick) stick around to make your unicorn uniquely magical.
Autumn craft collections; using an empty egg carton, head out on a walk to collect a range of fallen natural flora (include gum nuts and rocks as well). Using what you have collected create, a magical Pixie town- twist and tie leaves to a flower or sticks to make your own pixies and fairies.
Dream catchers; using a range ofsticks, tie them together using string to create a circle or triangle. Using wool, wrap around the sticks creating and like catcher. Thread flowers, herbs and leaves through the wool on the sticks and hang your dream catch to admire.
Hiking stick fun; grab yourself a good hiking stick, add elastic bands around the stick before heading off on a hike in your local area (check out your shires pages for good walking tracks). As you walk, collect various items on your way and stash them on your stick. When you finish your hike, you can share your collection with each other- what a great way to spark conversations.
Ingredients
Method
Optional extra; add chopped dried apricots or sultanas to the mixture – perfect with a hot milo on your hike
Natural paint brush painting; using sticks and leaves (or flowers) create natural paintbrushes. Adding water, sand and mud together allow the children to paint with the different natural paints, or explore the different textures which can be mixed together, to connect to the land
Playdough expression; using sand or red coloured playdough to make the ground, flatten into trays for the children to decorate with rocks, gum nuts, leaves and wooden playdough tools. Add to the activity pictures of Aboriginal art, pictures of Australian landscape to inspire the children int heir expressive art
Gum nut and leaf painting; collecting gum nuts and fallen leaves along with some small sticks prepare to create your own natural artwork. Look up Indigenous artwork and symbols and using the sticks and some paint decorate the different leave and gum nuts to spin your own yarn
Rainbow serpent game; draw and cut out a large serpent out of cardboard, section off the serpent into squares and decorate each square with different indigenous colours or symbols. Decorating some gumnuts add these as the movers to the serpent game. Using a dice move your pieces up the snake, the one who reaches the mouth first wins
Humpy creations; Whether outside of inside, create your own humpy. Move poles, tarps, branches and large sticks to create a shelter, it’s a great way to give your whole body a workout whist creating a fun and exciting place to play, camp and spend time
Ingredients
Method
Optional extra; Add a tomato and herb dipping sauce to the side for extra flavour.
Musical shakers; Using empty bottles or jars, add a variety of natural loose part materials, secure the lids and enjoy the shaking and making – for a fun natural shaker find large bean pods to shake and decorate...
Drum beating; Using large tins cover with a balloon or plastic material (elastic bands or strong to secure) and grabbing a natural beater (stick) start to hold the beat of the song.
Didgeridoo and clapping stick creations;
For the boy; Using a large tube decorate with aboriginal symbols to spin a yarn, practice your breathing to blow to make a variety of different tunes.
For the girls; collect a pair of large sticks found from the garden or local bush walk. Decorate them with aboriginal symbols to spin a yarn of the sticks journey, and enjoy clapping them to the beat of the song.
Pan flute playing; Using paper straws, bamboo or hollowed small tubes, challenge you children to create a pan flute by changing the size of each tube, tying them together and making some tunes
Jump into July; using a skipping rope challenge each other to jump straight into July, working towards the most continuous jumps each person can do in a row- challenge yourself to break your personal best each day.
Ingredients
Method
Optional extra; Add pineapple if you like a sweet touch. Adults add a sprinkle of chilli over your creation for a spicy treat.
Sensory bags; using zip lock bags, fill them with rice, lentils, cook spaghetti, shaving foam or gel. Add leaves, sticks, gum nuts or flowers to these for the children to find whilst playing. Tape to the floor or windows for bubba to enjoy.
Sand foam play: mixing shaving foam and sand together, create a fun, textured sensory exploration activity for the children to touch, manipulate and sculpt. Add diggers, spoons, cups and cars, to allow the children to support their fine motor skills, balance and manipulate tools for further exploration and investigations.
Fluffy and rainmaking; using corn flour, water get the children to mix the items together, experimenting with adding water. See how the children can change it from a liquid to solid and back again. For added fun, add animals to the experience to see if they can walk on top, sink through or have the mixture rain upon them.
Create you own lava lamp; using an old bottle, water oil, food colouring and Alka-Seltzer challenge your children to create their own lava lamp, experimenting with quantities and colours.
Hide and seek tiggy; have a person count to 20 whilst the rest of the family hide. When ready go and seek them out, but when you are spotted, don’t get caught; run, run and run.........
Ingredients
Method
Optional extra; Add pineapple if you like a sweet touch. Adults add a sprinkle of chilli over your creation for a spicy treat.
Nature exploration; create a sensory tray with large natural Australian items such as paper bark, eucalyptus leaves, sticks and flowers for the children to touch, explore and investigate with.
Paper bark artistic exploration; collecting paper bark, sticks and leave, create your own pictures. Use sticks and flowers as your paint brushes and to get a little extra creative, make your own paints from the land on which you live.
Sand tray investigations; using a large tray, add sand for the children to explore within. Add pictures of the Aboriginal symbols, sticks and other natural indigenous resources for the children to spin their own yarns and explore with
Making an echidna; using a rock or small log, collect deciduous leaves and start to glue these in layers to the back to create your echidna. Think about how to create your feet and their face with gum nuts, sticks or bark.
Going on a nature hunt; creating a native nature hunt board, with photos or items which can be found in the local park/nature reserve, take the children for a walk to collect or mark of what they find. Don’t forget to enjoy so ‘bush bashing’ as you go, and see if you are able to create a humpy whilst there to play within.
Ingredients
Method
Optional extra; add sautéed Chorizo if desired and serve with damper
Car track painting; using different cars and vehicles allow your little ones to drive them through he paint and across large sheets of paper of wallpaper to create tracks as they move around – handy hint, strip little ones to vests or nappies to enjoy body painting experiences at the same time.
Car creations; using boxes, wood, bottle tops and paint encourage you little ones to build and create their own car and vehicle to drive around the house. Upscale and make this big enough to climb in and drive around in.
Road and traffic light creations; using large paper, wallpaper or an opened up large box, encourage the children to draw roads, and maps for their cars to drive on. Using egg cartons cut into strips of three and glue onto a stick painting the traffic light games.
Elastic and powered car creations; using paddle pop sticks, CDs string and elastic bands (plus sticky tape and glue) challenge your little one to create a car which is powdered by the elastic band.
Traffic light games; Either running, skipping cycling or scooting have the children enjoy moving around the garden. When you shout red, they must all stop, orange is to get ready and green to go, go, go. This supports the children learning their traffic lights meaning whilst getting some much-enjoyed exercise.
Ingredients
Method
Optional extra; swap the jam for Nutella for a chocolatey treat.
Oats and jelly; socking some oats for 2 hours or until they are soft and setting jelly in the fridge, scoop the two into a box (or a bath to contain the fun) add spoons bowls and cups for the children to practice scooping, pouring and exploring. Great way to support hand eye coordination.
Bubble wrap stomping; Using left over bubble wrap (from packaging) wrap this around and tap as boots over your feet (you can also use old socks with rubber grips). Then gentle step into paint, before stomping around on left over wallpaper rolls or large sheets of paper to make colourful bubbly footprints
Moon sand fun; make your own moon sand by mixing together 4 cups of sand, 2 cups of corn flour, 1 cup of water add food colouring to the water to colour the sand – once created you can have hours of fun making shapes, castles or simply enjoying some sensory exploration
Corn starch exploration; using corn flour and water, make a dough mixing the two together. See what happens when you leave it for the water to separate a little – can you stand on it? Is this liquid or solid, explore if you can make it hard or keep it runny? The possibilities of questions are endless...
Hola Hoop Challenges; Using a large holla hoop challenge each other to;
See if you can beat you own personal best score.
Ingredients
Method
Optional extra; shred lettuce, slice tomatoes, beetroot and pickles to add to your urger and serve with sauces.
Sensory exploration; using the Autumn forestry collected, create a sensory tray for the children to explore; hide native animals beneath the leaves and sticks for them to discover, or add them to zip lock bags and tape onto the window with some water, oil and autumn food colour for further exploration
Autumn tree making; using the sticks collected, glue these to cardboard/paper to create a tree. Using finger painted create leaves around the tree, alternatively if little one doesn’t like finger painting, cluster some leaves together tying at the base with wool, dab the leaves in paint to create an autumn tree effect.
Create your own autumn garden; using a shall large tub or box, create your own garden where the magic and wonder will come alive. Add in cones, leaves stick and gum nuts along with home-made fairies and pixies (use the sticks and leaves to create them with pens and wool). Allow the children to explore the garden which they have made and connect to the wonders of the changing world around them
Collage making; using the leaves which you collected on your walk, think about how you can use these to make a collage scene of something else; be inspired to make a lion with a big mane or an underwater scene with various different tropical fish.
Autumn wonder walks; Head out for some time on some of the walking tracks available in the local area, whilst you walk, scoot or cycle stop to see the wonders of how Autumn changes the trees, the leaves and the flower. Collect a range of different coloured leaves, sticks, bark and tree nuts to bring home to be inspired from.
Ingredients
Method
Optional extra; to extend upon the meal make egg cups replacing beans with an egg and add a sausage
Flag creations; explore the Aboriginal flag and the symbolisation of this, provide red, yellow and black paint to the children to paint with their hands to recreate their own version of this special flag. Red for the earth, Yellow for the sun and Black for the people
Indigenous animal making; head out to the garden, to forage for sticks and leaves. Adding these to clay or playdough, create your own indigenous animals such as the echidna or koala
Natural art making; Head out into the garden and forage for flowers, soil, clay, sand, sticks and leaves. Using the soil, clay and sand create your own paints by adding a little oil and water to them. Using the flowers, sticks, leaves and fingers create your own naturally Australian pieces of art
Spinning a yarn; spend time creating aboriginal symbolled flash cards. With these cards spin a yarn; create an inspired story about what it may have been like to live and travel through Australia as the Aboriginal people once did. Once the cards are in order you are able to then transcribe these on to a sheet to make your own artwork, or a clapping stick or boomerang.
Lets move in time; take time in the garden or on a walk to forage for some good sticks which you can turn in to clapping sticks of your own. Playing indigenous music, clap in time with your sticks whilstyou dance around in remembrance of those who were stolen
Ingredients
Method
Optional extra; Serve with BBQ kangaroo
Driving exploration; Inside your large box car create a sensory panel to keep little explorers investigating. Using the plastic wipe lids-stick these over the top of different materials to create and investigation panel to add extra excitement to the vehicle.
Emergency services; Take time to add the little extras to your vehicle to transport it from a standard car to a fire engine with a hose (kitchen towel rolls), or police car with flashing lights (egg boxes painted) or a paramedic with a first aid box.
Control panel coding; Thinking about adding that little extra magic to your vehicle, inspire the children to add a control panel with lots of special features. This could be multiple buttons with the use of different lids, or levers which place you into sonic drive.
Mini engineers; Challenging your mini engineers ask them to add and create moving parts to their vehicles such as windscreen wipers, an opening/closing door, steering wheels – or secret compartments to hold their snacks.
Zumba time; Start easy and get the flow going with some Zumba moving time with your little ones. Start with following along to the movements of gummy bears where you get to get your arms, legs and core moving.
Ingredients
Method
Optional extra; drizzle with melted chocolate and service with a hot chocolate