Our resident list-lover, Laura, has put together a one-stop reference for some brilliant educational toys that won't break the bank. Some of Australia's favourite big chains have fantastic pieces you can add to your child's collection that will support their development in all sorts of ways, and Laura shows you where to start your search.

*Please note Foundations Family Day Care is not affiliated with any of the links provided in this blog post.*

Foundations Family Day Care’s story is one of helping others and responsive, innovative support.

The original idea came from talking to a group of Educators whose council service was in its last throes. During discussions with them, it occurred to me that my experience might be able to help them. Then, a chance discussion with another person, who highlighted my knowledge, plus my ability to understand and interpret government requirements provided the additional push needed to submit the original applications for Provider, Service and Child Care Benefit Approvals.

Welcome to the first instalment of our Educator Update series! Every couple of months, you’ll hear from some of our Educators about what has been happening in their Family Day Care programmes. This month, Lea, Alyce, and Dina have written in to share their news.

Last March, Kathi reflected on what it means to practice inclusion, justice, equity, and equality in Family Day Care. As this is so important to us, we wanted to revisit this concept as we plan for the coming year, and encourage you to reflect on how you can implement these values in your own life and practice.

Welcome back, everyone! I hope you’ve all had or are having a relaxing break. As we begin 2023, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on last year and all the amazing things that happened for our service. 2022 was a WONDERFUL change from the previous couple of years for Foundations Family Day Care, with growth, friendship, teamwork, training, and success being such strong features of our year.

Today is a special day for the Foundations Family Day Care community: it’s Indigenous Literacy Day! As a First Nations-owned service with a strong focus on building pre-literacy skills, this is an occasion that resonates strongly with us all. To celebrate Indigenous Literacy day, we’ve compiled a list of 18 of our favourite Indigenous titles for all ages. Find these at your local library or use the links below to add them to your own collection.

Many of you make have heard about the child care shut down tomorrow and be wondering what it is about. Across Australia, and to some extent most of the world, Early Childhood Education and Care is seen as trivial, low skilled work, by both the general public and the powers that be. An example of this attitude was David Leyonhjelm’s 2017 comment about our work consisting of “wiping noses and stopping children from killing each other.” This pathetically poor attitude is, unfortunately, quite pervasive, along with the misconception that Early Childhood Educators get to “play all day” and should be happy to work for menial pay.

The FFDC team is SO proud of Kathi for achieving the Coordinator of the Year Award for Victoria & Tasmania and becoming a national finalist. In talking to her after her win, I asked Kathi what she identifies as some of her biggest achievements as coordinator this year. Here are some of her highlights.

During Harmony Week, we celebrate the wonderful diversity of the cultural backgrounds of those who live, work, study, learn, and play in Australia. I often use this week to reflect on diversity, equity, and inclusion, which are core values of Foundations Family Day Care, and how we apply them in our day to day lives. I was critically reflecting on this with a colleague when she asked a common question: What really is the difference between equity and equality?

It is with a great deal of excitement that we announce our amazing, twice-Exceeding rated service has applied to start working in South Australia. Foundations Family Day Care has always been an inclusive, respectful, adaptable and, most importantly, highly supportive group of well trained Educators and staff, working together to bring true quality care and education to the children and families with whom we work. It will be thrilling to be able to share that with colleagues, children and families in South Australia as well.

Tuesday 22nd of February, being 22/02/2022, we held a special celebration we called Tutu Day, due to the date sounding just like that. The idea behind Tutu Day was purely about fun. Over the last couple of years, our community has had so much pain, suffering, and isolation. We all deserve a little fun! Tutu Day was about bonding, having fun, and enjoying something for no other reason than fun.

My families are encouraged to let me know about interesting events happening in their children’s lives so I can support or extend their learning with a related fun activity.  So, when recently a family told me they planned to visit the multi-sensory van Gogh exhibition at LUME, I thought the children here could all have a bit of fun, being inspired by some of van Gogh’s famous artwork.