Whatever the weather in Perth, Western Australia | Childcare service

Whatever the weather

Locality: Perth, Western Australia

Phone: +61 428 149 081

Address: Dawson Avenue Forrestfield 6058 Perth, WA, Australia

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24.01.2022 Today we learned about Sumatran Tigers and got to visit "Jaya", Perth Zoo's very handsome male tiger. Don't our masks look awesome! And inspired by some art adorning our walls, Max C, Max W and Esther asked to paint some Jacaranda tree's too, using the spray bottle and chatting to me about where they see Jacaranda's on our travels. Esther painted the one at the zoo and Max W showed me how all the flowers had fallen on the floor, just like we've noticed in nature. We also spent some time sharing our ideas in our idea's book, drawing pictures and telling stories.

24.01.2022 We used a lovely walk and play at Juniper Way Reserve to find bush treasures to sort and categorise into big or small. Fred helped me draw a big circle and a little circle and as we played we found things to place in the circles. We discovered that most of the big things at the park were sticks and that there were many different things that were small. The children wanted to bring our old play camera's to take pictures at the park and document our morning. They had fun photo...graphing the lake, some signs, the grass and little flowers and each other! Max asked to find our bush cubby and as soon as we arrived Fred and Esther busied themselves by fixing the tree bark path they made many months ago (it was still there!) and I was crowned with a metal "treasure" Esther found in the bushes. We each took turns to be a King or Queen before it was decided that the crown would make a great basket to collect eggs (woody pears) in. "You need food in your house" Fred explained. Esther asked if we could be "Speckled frogs" on the bark path they'd made and we had fun acting that out The children named familiar plants (kangaroo paws, wooly bushes, wattle) and birds (djidi djidi's, Koolbardi's, Wattle birds) and explored the texture of the plants as we walked through the bush and Fred thought that Koolbardi's were a fast animal as we watched them fly and Esther agreed, commenting that all birds are fast because they can fly. We decided to head home and Fred was really interested in the puzzles I'd placed out on the shelf, especially the letter/word matching puzzle. Esther and Max joined us too and I noticed how well they could match the letters to the words! There was lots of correct labelling of the letters too and lots of interest around the letters of our names. And to round out our morning we filled our buckets with hearts that were hidden around the house, choosing to keep some ourselves and give some to our friends too I was even treated to my own love heart hunt when Esther, Max and Fred rehid the hearts for me to find xx See more

24.01.2022 I often retell the story of "The dark, dark woods" written by Christine Ross and June Melser in my own abbreviated way and at the end there's always something exciting in the box that we all act out before quickly shutting the lid. As we waited for lunch at Dawson's nursery today, Max wanted to share his version too

23.01.2022 When the bloom of the Jacaranda tree is here, Christmas time is near

22.01.2022 We returned after a weeks holiday and today we honoured the children's planning by visiting the "beach" at Heathcote along the Swan River. There was a moment today when I mentioned to Nanna just how engaged everyone was with exploring alone or in a small group. We sat and watched, taking in their play and learning. Wolf spent ages making a channel down the beach, Fred ferried water from the river to the sand, noticing how it disappeared as he poured it, Max found wonder in th...e suction caused by the very wet sand and how it effected his cup and shovel, Alara and Grace decided to collect shells, sorting them into colours and shapes as they went, Bailey found his inner mermaid, singing a beautiful song as he sat and enjoyed the warm water, Harvey decided to look for jellyfish (which are really snail egg sacs and completely harmless) and collect them in buckets and Sienna spent a lot of time on the sand playing with a net and hiding her hands and feet. They came together too, making a sea life hospital and caring for "emergency" and "non emergency" cases, Wolf's channel inspired everyone to make one too and they marvelled at how quickly the water filled them up and of course there was just the pure joy and fun that comes with playing in water We eventually made our way up to the Pirate Park for a picnic and a play and we celebrated with Bailey after his perseverance paid off on the wobbly metal net climber and he made it to the top on his own What a wonderfully wonderful day! See more

21.01.2022 As the end of the year approaches, adults and children alike start feeling that end of year manic so today we listened to our bodies and decided to skip A to Zoo and enjoy some time together at home And what better way to start the day than a pink milk morning tea! We even got the chance to use our new tea cups. Rhylan noticed the Moodjar tree's we'd made at the beginning of the week and he asked to make one so I passed him the basket of materials. As he created we talked a...bout where we might have seen one and the significance and importance of these tree's to the Aboriginal people. Halle suggested that we play shops and I grabbed the water gun from the hose to use as a scanner. Lots of math skills and turn taking happened as we role played familiar scenarios. This shop also stocked very expensive apples! Halle and Rhylan had also noticed that I'd put up the Jacaranda paintings we'd all been creating throughout the week and I told them I'd set something fun up outside...Jacaranda spray bottle painting! It was a huge hit so I've popped our equipment to one side as I'm sure everyone would like a turn next week! The rest of the morning was spent at our tuff tray, pouring and creating with water and we loved the opportunity to use our vintage hand mixer.

21.01.2022 Children at play and children who are able to make and resource their own play choices are children who are supporting their own interests and perhaps building on new skills or perfecting one's they already have. How AMAZING that they know exactly what they need! We definitely underestimate children's innate abilities to just naturally learn Charlotte and Allegra noticed Rhylan and Halle's beautiful spray bottle painting jacaranda tree's from last week and asked for that to... be set up so that they could have a turn too. Charlotte experimented with different ways (high, low, closer, further) of using the spray bottle and Allegra, although initially finding the spray bottle tricky to use, persevered and was incredibly proud of her success! Once finished, we added water spray bottles to further perfect those skills and it was fun spraying water on the fence and making patterns or pictures. Aria, who has an absolute love of water, enjoyed splashing and exploring the containers and Rhylan joined her, twisting the lids on and off of the little bottles before heading off to find the pipes he enjoys using in the water. He also spent a great deal of time being the great engineer that he is, building drag cars out of lego! Charlotte, once finished spraying the fence with Allegra, spent a lot of time creating sculptures out of playdough, adding lots of loose parts to her wonderful creations. See more

21.01.2022 Happy belated 6th Birthday Grace! We were so sad to hear that you were unwell on your birthday AND you had to cancel your party We hope we made you feel a little better today

19.01.2022 I love working collaboratively with the children and we have been busy sharing and documenting our ideas for the school holidays. This morning I invited Max, Rhylan, Halle and Esther to share their ideas too! Doesn't our plan look wonderful I'm really looking forward to our adventures! We spent some time matching by way of puzzles and Halle loved the letter and word puzzles the most, naming lots of the letters as she played. Rhylan and Esther enjoyed each other's company an...d did their puzzles together x It's not a Thursday without a hairdressing request from Halle and as always I was a very obliging customer. I had my hair "blow dryed" many times this morning and that made me wonder....would we like to use a REAL hairdryer and make some art? Exciting!!! After a little experimenting with the consistency of the paint we were ready to create and I'll think you'll agree, the art looks amazing! The children had a lot of fun using the hairdryer this way as they investigated it's effectiveness at moving the paint both up closely and far away. See more

18.01.2022 Some sensory fun inspired by the beautiful colours of Country Sensory play is a great way to use sensory attributed language such as cold, sticky and gooey and these words were definitely used during this morning's fun!

17.01.2022 Our digital phito frame has been out of action for a while but after a little tinkering on the weekend I managed to get it running. The use of the digital photo frame promotes our sense of belonging, helps us feel connected to people and places and it inspires us to want to revisit places or further investigate experiences. The children all enjoyed seeing themselves and both Esther and Allegra were inspired to write some ideas down on a clipboard I'd placed nearby. As we were... close to the computer, Fred asked to look at the bee under the microscope. We talked about what we could see and Fred found wonder in actually seeing the bee's black stripes! Esther joined us and she especially loved the patterns on his wings! "It looks like glass" she said and we all agreed. We used our small muscles and our fine motor skills ripping and scrunching some orange streamers to make the flowers for our Moodjar tree's. We've spotted a couple more on our travels and get very excited! See more

16.01.2022 Charlotte's dance school for dogs! Meet Chief, zero technique but bringer of many giggles

13.01.2022 It's such a wonderful feeling to be appreciated and respected for your abilities and it's something I'm incredibly passionate about when it comes to caring for children. I want them to know I see them, I know they are capable and that I respect them. From chopping fruit, to setting tables for meals, to helping to keep our space tidy, to having a say about their day, these children are incredibly competent and I adore them and I will celebrate their achievements always Chopp...ing our strawberries was fun but eating them was better and Allegra asked for some yoghurt to add hers too. That sounded delicious so Fred and Sienna grabbed a bowl too! Max was utterly content in just devouring as many strawberries as possible and politely declined the yoghurt. Light rain was falling outside so we suited up and headed out. The scissors were the tool of choice and I directed the children to spaces and plants that they could happily snip. Our scissor skills are amazing but not as wonderful as the perseverance these children show, even when a task seems tricky to start with. A little mantra I use is "You can do anything when you try" and it's even better when you see that coming to fruition Fred was excited to revisit the letter/word puzzle and Allegra joined him. Fred matched the letters with ease and Allegra noticed quickly when the letter she'd chosen didn't fit. Max, after mastering the scissors, was compelled to snip, snip, snip and even created an amazing piece of art. Allegra joined him and after a little while they all decided to tidy up their space, using the dust pan and brush and the big broom to get all their bits of paper into the green recycling bin. What a great team! See more

13.01.2022 It's that time of the year that our beautiful environment explodes with the natural Christmas colours of purple and orange from the Jacaranda tree's and the West Australian Christmas tree. This tree, "Moodja" in Noongar, is important to the Noongar people as it's considered their spirit tree, a resting place for people that have passed so removing any part of the tree is considered disrespectful. We always notice what's happening in our environment and I've always loved seei...ng the Moodjar tree in bloom as it's another indication that Christmas time is near! We went for a little walk to Juniper Way reserve this morning where I know a beautiful WA Christmas tree is in full bloom. Allegra, Max and Esther were excited to spot it and after talking about the tree at morning mat, Max even remembered that the tree was special and that we wouldn't be taking any part of it home. I'd placed some sticks and wool in a basket at home, a long with some pictures of the Moodjar tree and we came together to wind the wool around the branches, creating our very own WA Christmas tree's. https://www.derbalnara.org.au/plant-and-animal-names/moodjar

12.01.2022 An exciting discovery was made at Mundy Park this afternoon! I'll post the video in the comments.

11.01.2022 Congratulations to our Term 3 A to Zoo graduates! We had so much fun learning about African animals and today we celebrated with an ice-cream

11.01.2022 We shared our knowledge of the Moodjar tree with Sienna and Fred this morning, telling them the history and importance to the Noongar people and then revisiting the park. Yesterday Allegra and Max had noticed rubbish in the reserve so today's visit was also about caring for Country, caring for Boodja so we packed some gloves and a bag and made our way through the park. We have in the past collected 2 full bags worth of rubbish so I was glad that today we only collected 1/4... of a bag. We then sort our finds into recyclables, reusables or rubbish, not only cleaning our environment but embedding our sustainable practices and ways even further I love that our children care as much as they do and instigate these moments, displaying such care and respect for the beautiful world we've been gifted with Whilst at the park we also collected some leaves to paint for a giant collaborative Jacaranda tree art work we are working on. I can't wait to share it with you all! See more

10.01.2022 Look how confidently and competently the children help to chop our fruit for morning tea Being valued for your abilities makes you feel empowered and respected and aids in our sense of belonging. We spent a sunny morning outside acting out rhymes and using our felt board and props, taking turns and having lots of fun. The board was moved from the shade to the sun, depending on how cool or warm we were feeling! We also had the opportunity to look for BIG and small things in the garden, practicing our classifying and observation skills.

10.01.2022 We sadly found a dead bee on Monday and as he was missing his stinger we decided to use this as a learning opportunity and take a few days to look at him up close under our microscope. There has been a lot of talk of bee's lately and how they collect pollen and nectar and it was fascinating to see how that is done, by the 100's of little hairs on his legs! The patterns on his wings were amazing too and we could easily make out his head, abdomen and thorax. Thank you little bee, we have a special place in the garden to place you, right near the flowers

09.01.2022 We became Jacaranda tree detectives this morning, walking around the block in search of that vibrant purple that's become so very familiar to us. We decided to keep a tally so with clipboards in hand, we were off! We also decided to collect some of the petals for an art idea once we returned home. We saw 12 jacaranda tree's around the block but Charlotte suggested to just count the 8 that we were able to get close too. Once we had walked around the block we returned home to create a wonderful clay and jacaranda flower sculpture where we had lots of opportunity to talk about what we'd seen and experienced on our lovely morning walk

08.01.2022 We had a full waiting room at our vet office this morning with the majority of our patient's coming from the zoo. Esther and Halle soon discovered that 2 of the animals complaining of tummy aches actually had babies in their tummies and the rest all had ailments such as colds or runny noses. Max was very caring, telling his animals patient's "It's ok, your Mummy will come back later, ok?" as he took their temperatures and checked their blood pressure. Rhylan loved that I move...d the light table and added the animal X-Rays to it and he soon discovered that the snake had swallowed something poisonous and he needed it taken out. Halle and Esther noticed we had some animals that matched the X-Rays and they set about placing them together. As we played and cared for all of the animals, it was suggested that we head back to Dawson's and play in the fairy garden. We decided to walk and Rhylan was excited to see the "fossil tree" we'd noticed on our walk last week and we spent some time down at the creek. Here, and quite impromptuly, the children gathered on a log and called out "Miss Tracey, sing the frog song!" So Dawson's just had to wait! After the 5th time singing we decided to head to the bridge we cross and observe what the water was doing today. Rhylan was the first to notice that on one side of the bridge the water was slow and on the other, where there's a waterfall, the water was moving fast! We were even joined by 2 Koolbardi's and a heron as we stood watching. Whenever we leave a space we always thank Boodja for letting us spend time there and the children called out "Thanks Boodja" as we walked away. At Dawson's the children ran excitedly to the fairy garden, noticing all of the little statues before exploring the rest of the nursery and ultimately sweet talking me into having lunch and baby chinos out on the verandah We chatted to lots of people from our community, 2 sets of people had even seen us walking along Dawson Avenue and as we waited for lunch Max even recited a little story we retell when we ever find ourselves waiting (I'll post separately) Such a beautiful way to spend a day See more

07.01.2022 Happy 6th Birthday Archer! How lucky were we to get to share it with you

05.01.2022 Happy belated 3rd Birthday Max! Thanks for letting us celebrate with you

04.01.2022 What a beautiful day to look at wildflowers at Kings Park! We were able to identify many familiar plants and drew similarities between others but mainly made comment on how beautiful they were. We also noticed colours and textures and loved watching the busy bee's collect pollen. Max was our sign reader and shared his thoughts about what each sign said and he also made comment on the emu track symbol on the ground. Allegra asked "Where is the emu gone?" and they concluded he'...d hone in the bush. Aria was excited to be out and about and vocalised her happiness but making sing song sounds, blowing bubbles and laughing as we made our way around the park. She absolutely loved watching the birds! Charlotte thought the large egg shaped sculptures belonged to dinosaurs and they made fun stepping stones too. We noticed that some were bigger than others do maybe they belonged to different dinosaurs? We made our way across the skywalk bridge and watched the boats on the Swan River and listened to a very happy Kookaburra in a tree. What a wonderful day! After stopping and looking for tadpoles (we found lots!) and then looking for the source of some waterfalls, Charlotte chose the Pioneer women's fountain as a great spot for a picnic. We were soon joined by some very friendly Koolbardi's who decided that being hand fed popcorn was an easy food source and that they trusted Max and Allegra enough We don't usually feed wildlife when we are out however so much popcorn had made it's way to the grass they were eating it already anyway. Sienna wanted desperately to join in but was not completely sure and Aria, given half the chance, would have got up and run after the magpies in a heartbeat We made our way down towards the fountain and counted the time it took for the big fountain to "explode" and giggled each time! What a fun day! We were getting tired and after getting home and transferring our sleepy friends to bed, Allegra and Aria had some fun splashing in water and playing together See more

04.01.2022 Our playdough space incorporated a familiar aboriginal artwork today the rainbow serpent or the wagyl in our local Noongar language. Brightly coloured gems and buttons were used to create colour and explore patterns. We also re-read "Patterns of Australia" by Bronwyn Bancroft and had some great conversations about what we could see. Aria's love of music saw us all come together to play music outside, trying different instruments and starting our own band!

03.01.2022 We love celebrating the children's achievements and today we are celebrating alongside Max, who after weeks of perseverance in trying to master using scissors, was today successful! From practicing snipping on the plants outside to bringing the scissors inside to use on paper, all he needed was time

03.01.2022 We have been reading the story "Have you filled a bucket today?" and talking a lot about happiness and kindness. When we play we'll quite often reference the book and say things like "wow, you made your friends bucket happy" or "you were so kind and you just filled a bucket!". As we practice this type of mindfulness our relationships become stronger, everyone's well-being is nurtured as is our sense of identity This morning we played a game where we had to find and collect... hearts to put in our buckets, to fill them up and feel good but to maybe also find hearts to put in our friends buckets. I'm sure Piaget would have fun with this notion as his work on the preoperational stage of cognitive development encompassed centration and egocentrism as driving forces of children of this age but both Max and Fred willingly and independently shared their hearts with their friends without giving it another thought. We took turns hiding them for each other too which was lots of fun and we noticed the colours, grouping them together and practicing our counting x See more

01.01.2022 Our Wednesday group is really building on their sense of belonging, their friendships and their sense of agency, making decisions about their play, offering up suggestions and really guiding their day. Aria was excited when Charlotte began blowing bubbles for her this morning, tracking them with her eyes and then getting excited for the next lot. Charlotte was calm and kind and loved being empowered with such a task Rhylan and Charlotte remembered that they share a love of ...Octonauts and asked for some colouring pages to sit and colour together and Max asked to do some glueing, helping Nanna to choose the little pieces he'd like to use. "Look, I have a "M" for me" he said as he chose and glued on a little wooden "M". Rhylan and Max asked for me to put their pictures up on the wall in the art gallery and Charlotte chose to take hers home. Our art belongs to us so we always get to choose what happens with it x I remembered that I had made some Octonauts popstick puppets and both Charlotte and Rhylan took turns in creating some fun stories whilst the other became the audience. Harvey's Aunty and cousins popped in to collect some plants and stayed for a little play. Our neighbours Mulberry tree is fruiting like crazy so we collected some to eat before I remembered what great paint squished mulberries make. So we collected the ones off the grass, grabbed a pestle and began "smooshing" them all up. Once enough of the mulberries were sufficiently "smooshed" we grabbed some paper and brushes and created some beautiful art. Max even tried using his shrink ray to make patterns! We can make paint from lots of things in nature it just takes some experimenting and creative thinking Charlotte joined Aria for a spot of swinging before she created a dance school for dogs. Chief was the only enrolee and had terrible technique but gave us lots of laughs (I'll post our video of our doggy dance school fail!) See more