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Learning through play

Play is how little ones learn

When your child is digging in the garden or squishing play dough, there’s a lot going on. The program at Susan’s is screen-free and play-based, and Miss Susan plans it around what the children are curious about.

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Susan's big leafy tree, with three children sitting together on a swing and a little birdhouse hanging from a branch

What your child gets up to

Miss Susan adapts every activity to suit the children’s ages and interests, from babies right up to the school-age children who come in the holidays. Here are some of the things that happen in the mornings, mostly between 9:30 and 11.

Cooking together
Picking herbs from the tea garden for pizza, measuring ingredients for apple pies and counting chocolate chips into cake batter. A few chocolate chips usually get taste-tested along the way.
Measuring and pouring is early maths.
Little science experiments
Guessing what will happen when bicarb meets vinegar in a fizzing volcano, and building water channels to see how the water moves when the slope changes.
Good practice at guessing, testing and looking closely.
Garden discoveries
Checking whether the strawberries have turned red, pulling carrots and feeding the tops to the worms. In the fairy forest there are pretend potions to mix and letters to leave in the fairy mailbox.
It builds strong hands and plenty of patience.
Art, sensory play and building
Painting rocks, mixing red and yellow play dough to make carrot orange, pressing pretend fossils into slime and building marble runs to see which designs work.
It works the little finger muscles they’ll use to hold a pencil.
Outdoor movement and teamwork
Obstacle courses, stepping stones to balance on, games of T-ball and turns on the bikes and scooters.
It builds strong bodies, and lots of practice at waiting for a turn.
Stories, puppets and games
Looking for letters on a pretend apple tree, playing snap and using puppets to practise asking to join in or finding the words for a big feeling.
It gives them the words for friendships and feelings.

See the whole day

Getting ready for school

Looking after their own belongings
Asking for help when they need it
Joining in a game
Trying out what to say, with stories, puppets and pretend play
Exploring letters, numbers and writing their name

Starting school goes more smoothly when children feel sure of themselves. At Susan’s, that confidence comes from everyday play and practice, a little bit at a time.

A child in a cosy knitted cardigan matching a small letter tile to a picture card of a tree

Number puzzles laid out on a blue table, each number matched to a card with that many things to count

A boy at a blue table sorting letter cards to make words

A child’s hands matching Aboriginal symbol cards on a blue table

Two children at a small outdoor table, picking up pizza toppings with chopsticks

Little outings

Now and then the children head out together. Miss Susan shares the details with families in advance and arranges the permissions needed before each outing.