Kids College 2 Year old Toddlers Explorers Programme of Learning
Kids College is particularly proud of our unique educational curriculum. With specialized age-appropriate educational opportunities specially developed for each age group to align with smooth seamless transition to school. Each child moves up an age group when they are ready for the next step.
This article discusses everything you need to know as your child begins our Explorers room program. Explorers Programme for toddlers who will have turned 2 by the 30 June 2025 (1 and a half years old till 2 and a half years old).
We believe in preserving the magic and wonder of childhood spending our days filled with colour, fun, noise, mudpies and glitter.
It is our aim to send children off to big school ready for the next phase of their lives being confident learners in their adventures.
Support for not just your child, but for you as a family. It is such a privilege to be part of families lives for so long and during such precious time, we really do feel part of the ‘village it takes to raise a child’ as we all grow up together. As always, thank you for welcoming us into your lives.
Kids College Early Childhood Education
Quality Early Childhood Education with a team of highly skilled and qualified Early Childhood Education professionals in an established exceeding rated service.
At Kids College our educational program is embedded into our play-based learning ensuring each child has experienced love, laughter and learning every day.
We teach through the Early Years Learning Framework and our unique Kids College curriculum of early learning.
With our long-term relationships, we know each child for the unique person they are, and we are able to tailor each child’s learning specifically to them.
We collate an individual portfolio for each child twice a year celebrating their own learning journey as they grow up with us and collect these mementos over the years tracking your child’s development.
We create Individual Statements of Achievements reports to highlight and celebrate your child’s strengths, interests and achievements during their time with us.
We focus on all the important areas of early childhood education and care and we specialise in social emotional development in early childhood.
Follow our Kids College Childcare facebook page and check out our website www.kidscollege.com.au Our facebook community is open to everyone so please feel free to look us up and share ideas. On our page you will find information from a trusted source, a sense of fun and laughter that you need with children and some good old-fashioned love and support for everyone in our Kids College family.
What does your child’s day look like at Kids College Childcare?
Please see our programmes displayed for more info on what we have enjoyed together. You will also get your child’s portfolio of learning in June and another in December.
7:15 am We all arrive excited to start our day. It is heart-warming to see our children so excited to see us and we come in excited about all the wonderful opportunities we are planning for the day. Nappy change and toileting time
9am Our chef brings us some yummy morning tea to fuel us for a big day ahead.
9:30am We then get into the amazing activities that children love and learn from. Our days revolve around play-based learning that is child led. That simply means we ensure they take enjoyment and learn from each part of their day. Nappy change and toileting time.
9:30 Happy feet fitness Mondays and Fridays at 9:30am
In lovely weather we enjoy outside time in our amazing playground running around, playing games, making mud pies, pretending in cubby houses, dashing around on trikes, even enjoying art in our art atelier.
10:45am When our little people start getting tired, we enjoy a calming mat session of stories, songs, yoga, sign language, puppet shows, rhymes.
11:00am Our chefs provide a wholesome and delicious freshly cooked lunch.
11:30amThen we go into peaceful mode settling our little ones to sleep or helping them, just rest and take a moment of quiet. Nappy change and toileting time.
1:30pm We enjoy a mat session full of fun, games, puppet shows, rhymes, songs and dance.
2pm Then it’s back into activities times as they surface from their rest ready for more in our action-packed day either inside or outside. Enjoying playdough, art, craft, games, obstacle courses, goop, cutting, gluing, pretty much anything you can think of. Nappy change and toileting time.
3pm Before long it is time for a quick afternoon tea top up to revive us for the afternoon of even more amazing activities. Nappy change and toileting time.
5pm It is superb watching them in the afternoons playing with such energy, enjoying magical worlds of their imaginations. A lively shared story time brings our day to an end at 6pm. we all head home having had a fun filled and busy day looking forward to tomorrow’s adventures.
Welcome to the Toddlers Explorers Room
Congratulations on being part of the very best early childhood education centre. We are honoured to be welcomed into your family and join you in the village it takes to raise a child.
All your questions answered
What to bring every day
LABELLED in your child’s bag each day please have:
- Drink bottle containing water only
- Any milk bottles they may need. Please pack powder separate, as we make formula up fresh as we go.
- Spare clothing (sunsafe please) at least two full sets, don’t forget underwear and socks
- At least 4 or 5 nappies LABELLED, wipes and any nappy cream required, and extra underwear if they are toilet training
- Comfort item (teddy), dummy, blanket, if needed
- Sun safe hat, broad brimmed or legionnaire style please
- Jumpers in colder weather
- Any medications your child needs, please hand directly to a staff member and fill out the necessary medication administration form,
Parking
Please avoid parking on the verge outside as per council rules and this also ensures our children are kept safe as line of vision is kept clear down the road.
Top Tip: Parking for longer vehicles or cars with trailers is at the parallel park bays at Springfield school
Entrance foyer
You will need your blue fob to exit/enter, just swipe it over red light and it will turn green and unlock. Please close door gently behind you.
Ring the outside bell if you need us. Please use the hand sanitiser provided.
Please sign your children in at the iPad in the entrance foyer. You will only need your phone number and to remember your chosen four-digit pin code. Click on sign in and save button on right of screen. If you have forgotten to sign in/out on a previous day, the screen will prompt you to authorise what we have signed in for you.
Please look in the entrance foyer for our menu for the day – Morning Tea at 9am, Lunch at 11am & Afternoon Tea at 3pm.
Top tip. Your child may only need a light dinner at night, as they get such good food during the day. It is ok to do a simple meal for dinner.
Please look in the entrance foyer for what staffing team is in your room. We have people on permanent days and a large job share team who fulfill our relief needs, so you will know everyone here every day.
Top tip. Check our website for articles and a full introduction of our staffing team.
Some of our door handles pull up.
Go straight through to the Toddlers room
Top Tip: If you have a baby in arms or in carry cot, Cathy and Jen in the office are happy to babysit them to free you up to greet/drop off your older child and make a fuss of them. We love the cuddles and when little siblings start care when they are old enough, they know us already.
Cubby set up
Set up for the day of your child’s belongings, ensures both your child and us can find what we need.
Each child has a designated cubby for the day, cubby may change every now and again. They have a name tag with a photo in their cubby. If you can’t find it, please take an open cubby and let us know where their things are.
Pop bag to rear of cubby. Take out of their bag the water bottle, comfort items and sleep items and put loose at the front of your child’s cubby as well as any LABELLED nappies/sleep nappies, creams and wipes.
Top tip If you bring a dummy bring a small Tupperware container as well so we can store it and protect it from germs while your child doesn’t need it.
Top tip If you child has a comfort item, go get another few. Then cycle through using them with your child. This wears them more evenly and all of them feel and smell the same. It also gives you a chance to wash it and the safety net of having another if the original item gets lost.
We use water bottles during meal times. Please pop your child’s water bottle in the basket provided. While we are playing outside, we help children use the water fountains, which are much more fun and are a source of endless cool water in a hygienic manner.
We do at least 4/5 scheduled nappy changes or checks to ensure no child goes without a change for any portion of the day. We also, of course, keep an ear and nose out for any nappy situations throughout the entire day. If the nappy is still fine, we will leave it on but generally speaking we would need 4 or 5 nappies per day.
Top tip. If you child wants to bring in toys let them come and show their teacher and then you take it home with you safe and sound. Or you can always take a photo of what they want to show us. This avoids distress if their toys and taken and played with, keeps them safe and sound at home.
Classrooms and playground drop off
Every grouping starts in big Kindy room or outside together
In the morning, please say “Hi!” and let us know any messages. There will always be a Toddlers staff member in the building.
Top tip. For an easy happy transition in morning, say a decisive goodbye and let us ease your child into the day with some snuggles. Once you have gone they easily settle and get distracted into the fun of the day. We will call you if we need you. Keeping the routine of drop off is important to your child and helps them feel safe and loved with us.
You don’t need to wrestle with any communication apps, just come chat with us – this personal touch is important to us.
If you child needs medicine please let staff know, hand medicine to staff member and fill in the medication authorisation form. We need the medicine in its original packaging and labelled with child’s name and dosage.
Top tip. Decant your medicine at home into another container, and label it yourself. When you come to childcare we need the original packaging but if it gets forgotten at childcare you will have the backup decanted medicine at home so your child’s doesn’t miss a dose.
Please ensure your child has sunscreen on in the morning and has their hat on if we are playing outside. We reapply sunscreen as needed during days. We use cancer council approved sunscreen which we provide.
If you need to reach us during the day, please call on 08 9401 0100 and we can answer your questions and let you know how your child’s day is going.
If someone is fetching your child who is on the emergency list, please let us know via phone call or email.
End of Day
You will need your blue fob to exit/enter, just swipe it over red light and it will turn green and unlock. Please close door gently behind you.
Top Tip: If you have a baby in arms or in carry cot, Cathy and Jen in the office are happy to babysit them to free you up to greet/drop off your older child and make a fuss of them. We love the cuddles and when little siblings start care when they are old enough, they know us already.
Top Tip: Sign your child out, take belongings to your car first and then have a look at the info regarding your child and then come get your child and chat with their teacher. This just makes the juggle a bit easier for you
Please sign out your children out at the iPad in the entrance foyer. You will only need your phone number and to remember your chosen four-digit pin code. Click on sign out and save button on right of screen. If you have forgotten to sign in/out on a previous day, the screen will prompt you to authorise what we have signed in for you.
Please take all your child’s belongings home each night please. Your child’s belongings will be in their cubby or on them themselves. If we take off shoes/jumpers they will be in the buckets. This gives us easy access to them as we need them and makes it easy for all of us to find them at the end of the day.
If your child is a learner potty trainer and has an accident, we will help them out and tie a bag with their soiled clothes on the outside of their bags so it is easy for you to find and keeps everything in bags nice and clean.
In afternoon when you pick up, we will let you know how your child’s day has been and you will also have a day sheet summary of how your child’s day has been in your child’s cubby. You can also see our program of activities in the rooms.
If your child has had a bump or scrape you will be notified and as ask you to sign the incident report.
Remember to take home any medicine they have needed that day.
If your child needed to borrow a hat or water bottle from us please hand it to a member of staff so we can clean it and pop it back in the borrowing box.
Every grouping ends the day together in the big kindy room or the playground.
Whether we are indoors or outdoors is weather dependant and we love to have picnics so if we are not in the room, check our outside playground.
Blue fob keys are programmed for each person. Should you loose your fob please let the office know.
Have a really lovely night and we look forward to seeing you next time.
Check our website and our Kids College Childcare Facebook page for more info or come chat with Cathy and Jen in the office
Thank you for welcoming us into your family to spend these wonderful precious years with you.
What are the Explorers learning?
(Children will have turned 2 by the 30 June 2025)
In our Toddlers Explorers room we are privileged to be the link between them growing out of the baby phase and entering the exciting time of being a big Kindy kid. Our children are in a wonderful stage. We are helping them literally find their feet and learn how to be themselves.
We introduce a flow to the day with different activities within the development areas during activity times and run mat sessions incorporating the learning goals and objectives for our room. The use of our Visual Timetable and the Mat Session guidelines provide a base from which the children are able to explore throughout the day.
The introduction of concept work is an important addition to their progress. We explore the world of introductory scientific concepts, such as sink and float, Mathematical thinking such as counting and number recognition, Literacy and Phonemic awareness such as distinguishing sounds and incidental symbol recognition (the joy of children who recognise the Mc Donald’s symbol).
We are focusing on self-help skills and independence skills such as, packing away, looking after our belongings and, of course, toilet training. All these kinds of things really help at home. Our Healthy living component is designed not only to teach children about the different aspects of healthy living, but to empower them to make good choices for themselves.
Some of our favourite teaching tools are the SDERA Road Safety Education package designed to teach Road and passenger safety, Get up & grow teaching healthy eating and the Toddler be Good series teaching self help skills. We have a focus on Kiddo Play Active Physical literacy keeping their little bodies fit, healthy and build their fundamental movement skills.
A big focus with our toddlers is our social emotional program. This involves the intricate skills of taking turns, sharing, playing together, managing frustration and even saying hello. It is especially important for our toddlers to practice their skills with making friends and even learning how to say hello, enter and leave a game and how to share need constant refining.
We use the resources of the Kimochi program to teach our children and grow their emotional intelligence.
This is in addition to our whole school approach to teach emotional intelligence that teaches children to: recognise emotions in self and others; understand the causes and consequences of emotions; label emotions accurately; express emotions appropriately; and regulate emotions effectively. In this age group and introducing children to the basic emotions such as: mad, sad, happy and brave.
One of our favourite tools is Sign Language. This is a recognised official language that was developed to enhance communication skills in young children. It is a powerful tool that teaches children to develop on natural gestures and known song gestures to empower the children to actually tell us what they wish to say. The Sign Language programme is so powerful we use it throughout the centre in each age group.
Music and movement is particularly important for this age group. We love the use of the Kids n’ Music programme that incorporates music and movement from the disciplines of occupational therapy, physiotherapy, clinical psychology, speech pathology and have an additional focus on relaxation strategies and kinesiology. Toddlers need to experience different tempos, tunes, melodies and sound making.
We explore multicultural music, popular music, children’s music and we especially enjoy the use of our Yogasessions. This refinement of auditory skills through music precedes reading and writing activities. This journey through the fun of music is actually preparing our children to read and write! We also link literacy with movement through our Lets get moving program a lead in to the Active Alphabet program.
We value and enjoy our time together with our little toddlers and we are enjoying their journey in getting ready to enter the world as a big Kindy kid with all the skills and enthusiasm they need to create successful happy learners.
Kids College Philosophy
“Our unique Kids College curriculum and the Early Years Learning Framework builds on each child’s current knowledge, strengths, ideas, culture, abilities and interests to ensure all aspects of our program maximize learning opportunities for each child.”
“We celebrate not just the end goals to learning but we celebrate the enjoyment and ‘distance’ travelled in getting there, making the most of those precious teachable moments.”
“We enjoy moments together, making memories and setting down the groundwork for a lifelong love and passion for learning.”
National Quality Standard
1.1.1 Approved learning framework Curriculum decision making contributes to each child’s learning and development outcomes in relation to their identity, connection with community, wellbeing, confidence as learners and effectiveness as communicators.
1.3.1 Assessment and planning cycle. Each child’s learning and development is assessed or evaluated as part of an ongoing cycle of observation, analysing learning, documentation, planning, implementation and reflection.
6.1.1 Engagement with the service. Families are supported from enrolment to be involved in the service and contribute to service decisions.
6.1.3 Families are supported. Current information is available to families about the service and relevant community services and resources to support parenting and family wellbeing.
6.2.1 Transitions. Continuity of learning and transitions for each child are supported by sharing information and clarifying responsibilities.
6.2.2 Access and participation. Effective partnerships support children’s access, inclusion and participation in the program
Kids College family
At Kids College we work each day embedding our values and philosophy into each facet of what we do. We continually improve our practices by critically reflecting and engaging in meaningful relationships with our community and for this we need your support and input. Make sure to follow Kids College Childcare on facebook, watch for our regular emails and keep an eye on our Kids College website. Share in our vision of creating the very best childcare where children experience love, laughter and learning every day. You can reach us on Jennifer@kidscollege.com.au
With love, laughter and learning from your friends in the
‘village it takes to raise a child’
Kids College Childcare family
written by Jennifer Scafidas
