Family Information
Summer Nature Play Ideas
Summer is the perfect time to head outdoors and explore many intriguing nature play possibilities with your children!
Nature play is fundamental to children’s overall health and wellbeing and significantly improves all aspects of their development.
From building forts, to learning with natural materials, to outdoor musical activities, to nature play checklists – Nature Play QLD have collated some incredible nature play ideas for families!
To find out more please visit: https://natureplayqld.org.au/nature-play-ideas
Supporting Children’s Understanding of Celebrations
Celebrations come in many different forms and can enhance a child’s sense of belonging to family, friends and their community. Celebrations also encourage children to question, reflect upon and learn about other cultures and beliefs. The Play School series below ‘Our Celebrations’ is a wonderful way to help younger children to understand what different celebrations mean within their community:
Sharing books together opens new worlds for children of all ages and can be a powerful tool for starting conversations about different celebrations around the world. Suggested books to share with your children are below:
This is just a small sample of the books available on this topic so why not take a trip to your local library or bookshop with your children and see what else you can find?
The Festive Season and Wellbeing
For some, the upcoming festive season is a joyous time for celebration and connecting with family and friends but for others, it can also be a challenging time.
Lifeline have created a practical support guide with great tips on how to look after yourself during the festival season. To learn more please visit:
Child Safety and Compliance
Early childhood education and care services are required to create and maintain safe environments for children.
Everyone has a role in keeping children safe in education and care services including approved providers, services, state and territory regulatory authorities and the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA).
To ensure greater transparency for families and clearer expectations for providers on compliance and safety standards, there have been changes made to child safety compliance processes and how compliance actions are displayed.
To learn more about these changes and child safety compliance processes please visit:
https://startingblocks.gov.au/resources/regulatory-activities/child-safety-and-compliance
Child Care Subsidy – 3 Day Guarantee
From January 2026, Child Care Subsidy (CCS) eligible families can get at least 72 hours of subsidised education and care per fortnight or 3 days per week. This change is known as the ‘3 Day Guarantee’.
This means more families will have guaranteed access to affordable education and care, regardless of their work or participation hours. The 3 Day Guarantee doesn’t change how the CCS rate is worked out, and most families will still need to pay a gap fee.
The 3 Day Guarantee is about access to subsidised hours, noting enrolment still depends on provider availability. Some families can still access 100 hours of subsidised care each fortnight for each child if they meet specific criteria.
For more information about these changes and how they will affect your family, please visit: