Flinders University Childcare Centre

Flinders University Childcare Centre Flinders University Child Care Centre is a community-based service, rated Exceeding by ACECQA. We specialise in nature, play and inquiry pedagogy.

We provide full day education and care for children aged six weeks to school-aged.

Preschool House children have recently discovered natural clay in the yard, and what began as an encounter with a materi...
28/08/2026

Preschool House children have recently discovered natural clay in the yard, and what began as an encounter with a material has quickly unfolded into an ongoing investigation.

When children are given the time and space to unpack a resource and build a relationship with it, possibilities begin to emerge. Children have been able to discover its properties for themselves—what happens when it is dry, what happens when water is added, how it feels, moves and changes, and how it connects with the other elements of the yard.

Through these repeated encounters, children begin to develop an understanding of a material and its possibilities. They build theories, test ideas, notice changes and return to their thinking again and again.

Perhaps this is the value of slowing down and allowing children to really get to know a resource before discovering its possibilities.

After a day and night of downpour, the Sturt House children’s walk to Tree Hill revealed a familiar place transformed.Pa...
25/08/2026

After a day and night of downpour, the Sturt House children’s walk to Tree Hill revealed a familiar place transformed.

Paths held larger-than-usual puddles. Rain drops rested on clover leaves. The ground became soft and squishy beneath our feet. The mountain was more challenging to climb as the slippery terrain demanded new ways of moving, balancing and navigating. The creek was rushing with water — something we had not yet experienced there this year.

The children responded with their whole bodies. They tested the ground, adjusted their movements, navigated changing conditions and immersed themselves in the wet landscape.

What might appear to be simply a rainy walk became rich embodied learning — noticing change, responding to the environment, taking considered risks, problem-solving and experiencing how the natural world continually transforms around us.

Today was also our final Nature Play visit for the year. We paused to thank Kaurna Country for the many opportunities for learning it has provided us throughout our time at Tree Hill.

We said goodbye to Tree Hill, which rests in Kaurna Country, and reflected on the many special places the children created, discovered and returned to throughout their learning in this space.

As we leave this place for the year, we carry with us the stories, relationships, discoveries and memories created through our time on Country.

At Preschool House, children have been exploring design through the medium of fabric.With a mannequin as an invitation, ...
08/08/2026

At Preschool House, children have been exploring design through the medium of fabric.

With a mannequin as an invitation, children have been investigating the language of textiles—discovering how fabric moves, drapes, folds, stretches and transforms through thoughtful hands.

Rather than simply dressing the mannequin, children have become designers, experimenting with composition, balance, texture and form. A piece of fabric can become a flowing cape, a gathered skirt, a wrapped sculpture or something entirely unexpected. Each adjustment invites new possibilities and new ways of seeing.

This work is about more than creating an outfit. It is about developing an understanding of materials through careful observation and experimentation. Children are learning that fabric is responsive—that it changes with every fold, twist and tuck—and that design is an ongoing conversation between the maker and the material.

As children return to the mannequin day after day, their ideas evolve. They revisit previous designs, refine their thinking and discover new ways to express their creativity. The process is slow, intentional and deeply connected to the joy of making.

Through open-ended materials such as fabric, children are not simply creating—they are thinking like designers, communicating through materials, and discovering the endless possibilities that emerge when curiosity leads the way.

At Tree Hill, a group of children discovered what they believed to be a fairy ring.As they stepped into a natural circle...
07/08/2026

At Tree Hill, a group of children discovered what they believed to be a fairy ring.

As they stepped into a natural circle of sour sobs, their footprints gently pressed the vegetation down, making the ring even more visible. Their imaginations immediately got to work.

"It must be a fairy ring."

They crouched low together, carefully studying the space as their theories unfolded.

"Maybe the fairies come in this way."

"They crawl through this path."

"This is their home... and this is where they sleep."

Watching from a distance, educators could see rich thinking emerging. Curiosity invited one educator to move a little closer.

The children eagerly shared their discoveries.

"See, this is the fairy forest. Come down closer and look."

The invitation was clear. To truly see what the children were seeing, the educator needed to leave the adult perspective behind.

She lay on her tummy beside the children.

Suddenly, the world looked different.

From ground level, tiny stems became towering trees. Spaces between leaves became winding pathways. The ring transformed into a magical fairy forest.

It was a gentle reminder that children experience the world differently—not only through their remarkable imaginations, but also through their physical perspective.

Sometimes, understanding children's theories doesn't require another question or explanation. Sometimes it simply asks us to get down on our knees, lie beside them, and see the world from where they are.

"The hundred languages of children invite us not just to observe their thinking, but to join them in it."

The puddle at Tree Hill continues to tell a story.Across our visits, we have watched this place transform through the on...
04/08/2026

The puddle at Tree Hill continues to tell a story.

Across our visits, we have watched this place transform through the ongoing entanglement of children, water, sticks, rocks, mud, and earth. What began as children immersing their bodies within the puddle has expanded into explorations with sticks, then rocks, as children discovered new ways materials could interact and create possibilities.

Today, the puddle had changed once again. With less rain, the water had receded, leaving behind a thick, muddy landscape. The children noticed this difference immediately. Their gumboots became tools for investigation as they stepped, pressed, twisted, and moved through the mud, discovering a new texture, resistance, and sensation beneath their feet.

The children were not simply exploring the puddle; they were in relationship with it. As they moved through the mud, the puddle responded, and as the puddle changed, so did their thinking. The children wondered how they could transform the experience further, adding dirt to the mud and hypothesising that this would make the mixture thicker and alter how it felt.

In this moment, children, mud, dirt, water, and place became entangled in a shared process of discovery. The children were researchers alongside the materials, noticing, testing, predicting, and responding to the changing conditions of the environment.

The puddle continues to evolve—not as a fixed place, but as a living, changing landscape shaped through the relationships between children and the natural world.

The entanglement with the puddle at Tree Hill continues...As the children continue to return to the puddle, their relati...
31/07/2026

The entanglement with the puddle at Tree Hill continues...

As the children continue to return to the puddle, their relationship with this place continues to deepen. This week, rocks became part of the ongoing entanglement between children, water, materials, and Country, offering new possibilities for exploration, theory-building, and discovery.

Through this encounter, children began to investigate the relationships between rock, water, movement, and force. They noticed that different rocks created different responses from the water, exploring how size, weight, height, and distance influenced what happened. Their thinking developed through experimentation, observation, dialogue, and the ongoing testing of their theories.

What is significant about this inquiry is not the addition of a new material, but how each element becomes connected to the next. The puddle, children, sticks, rocks, and water are continually shaping and reshaping the learning that emerges. As children become entangled with these materials and with one another, they are developing deeper understandings of place, materiality, movement, and their own relationship within the world of Tree Hill.

This is the power of sustained inquiry—where learning is not found in a single experience, but grows through the ongoing relationships children cultivate with Country.











Today at Nature Play, a small group of children returned to the familiar puddle of water that consistently forms during ...
24/07/2026

Today at Nature Play, a small group of children returned to the familiar puddle of water that consistently forms during our visits to Tree Hill. On previous visits, this space had invited physical exploration as children used their bodies to move through, around, and alongside the water. Today, however, the puddle became something more.

As one child began exploring the water with a stick, a shift occurred. The children were drawn into this interaction, collecting their own sticks and joining the exploration. Through this connection between children, water, sticks, and the natural environment, new possibilities emerged. The puddle was no longer just a puddle — it became a chocolate pool.

From this moment, a collaborative story began to unfold. The chocolate pool became the setting for an ongoing narrative where children contributed ideas, responded to one another, and allowed the story to evolve. The chocolate changed, challenges emerged, and together the children imagined ways to navigate being stuck within the pool. The story continued to grow, shaped by the relationships between the children, the materials they discovered, and the freedom offered by the natural environment.

Through the lens of entanglement, we recognise that learning is created through the connections between children, places, materials, and ideas. The puddle invited children to look beyond what was immediately visible and consider what else it could become. It offered a space for imagination, collaboration, and storytelling, allowing children to transform an ordinary part of the landscape into a shared world filled with possibility. The puddle became a catalyst for children to communicate ideas, negotiate meaning, and create a story together.

There is something quiet yet profound about watching children meet a place with curiosity.Nature play isn't simply about...
12/07/2026

There is something quiet yet profound about watching children meet a place with curiosity.

Nature play isn't simply about being in nature. It's about becoming with it.

Every step, every handful of Country, every moment of wonder is part of an ongoing relationship. Children and place shape one another through countless small encounters. The land offers textures, stories, shelter, challenge, and possibility. In return, children bring care, imagination, respect, and belonging.

Through these moments we witness entanglements—not as something complicated, but as the simple truth that we are never separate from the worlds we inhabit. We learn through connection. We grow through reciprocity.

At Tree Hill, nature play invites children to slow down, notice, respond, and build relationships with the more-than-human world. These experiences remind us that caring for nature begins not with instruction, but with connection.

What if our greatest lessons come not from mastering nature, but from learning to be in relationship with it?

A little bit of magic happens when bread dough rises.Children wait, watch, wonder, and celebrate as something small beco...
10/07/2026

A little bit of magic happens when bread dough rises.

Children wait, watch, wonder, and celebrate as something small becomes something more.

Then comes the gentle punch down—not an ending, but a beginning. A chance to reshape, rework, and discover what comes next.

In the kitchen, children learn that growth can be messy, transformation can take time, and every stage has meaning.












Piece by piece, children work in collaboration with clay.Piece by piece, ideas are shared, challenged, and transformed.P...
09/07/2026

Piece by piece, children work in collaboration with clay.

Piece by piece, ideas are shared, challenged, and transformed.

Piece by piece, thinking is negotiated and understanding grows.

Piece by piece, friendships are strengthened through shared moments of making.

Piece by piece, hands move together with purpose, care, and intention.

Piece by piece, creativity gives shape to connection.

Piece by piece, clay becomes more than a material—it becomes a language for collaboration, belonging, and possibility.

Piece by piece, a community of learners is formed.











Address

Flinders University Child Care Centre
Adelaide, SA
5042

Opening Hours

Monday 7:30am - 6:15pm
Tuesday 7:30am - 6:15pm
Wednesday 7:30am - 6:15pm
Thursday 7:30am - 6:15pm
Friday 7:30am - 6:15pm

Telephone

+61882012881

Website

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