At Sorella Early Learning in Griffin, Book Week is more than dress-ups and story time. It is a chance to build genuine early literacy skills through hands-on, playful workshops that make retelling, sequencing and prediction part of everyday fun.
This month, our educators are using favourite picture books to strengthen early literacy skills in ways children barely notice as “learning” at all.
Why Early Literacy Skills Start With Story
Long before children can read independently, they are developing the early literacy skills that make reading possible: understanding story structure, following a sequence of events, and predicting what happens next.
The Queensland Department of Education highlights storytelling and shared book experiences as key building blocks for literacy in the early years (qld.gov.au/education).
A child who can retell a story in the right order is already using skills that will support reading comprehension for years to come.
Skill-Building Workshops We Use During Book Week
Our Book Week programme includes small-group workshops designed to build early literacy skills through play:
– Retelling: children use puppets or props to tell a story back in their own words
– Sequencing: picture cards help children put story events in the correct order
– Prediction: educators pause mid-story and ask “what do you think happens next?”
– Character exploration: children discuss how a character might be feeling and why
These workshops turn familiar Book Week stories into rich opportunities to practise early literacy skills.
Supporting Early Literacy Skills at Home
Families can easily continue this work at home with no special resources needed.
Try this together:
– After reading a story, ask your child to tell it back to you
– Ask “what do you think will happen next?” before turning the page
– Talk about which part of the story was their favourite, and why
These simple conversations build early literacy skills just as effectively as any structured activity.
At Sorella Early Learning, we love seeing children grow their early literacy skills through the joy of story. If you would like to know more about our Book Week programme, we would love to chat with your family.
At Sorella Early Learning in Griffin, August is all about August Technology, a thoughtful look at how carefully chosen digital tools for children can support, rather than replace, hands-on science exploration.
Finding the Right Balance
We know families sometimes worry about digital tools for children in early education, and at Sorella Early Learning we share a clear philosophy: technology is a tool that supports discovery, never a substitute for real, physical exploration. Used well, digital tools for children can:
– Bring distant or invisible things, like the solar system, into view
– Support documentation of children’s own investigations
– Introduce simple cause-and-effect thinking through interactive apps
– Extend curiosity sparked by hands-on play
At Sorella Early Learning, every screen-based experience is paired with genuine, physical follow-up activities.
Our August Technology Program
Magnifying and Digital Microscopes
Children use simple digital microscopes to examine leaves, insects, and everyday objects up close, connecting technology directly to real-world observation.
Documenting Discoveries
Educators use tablets to photograph and record children’s science investigations, which we then review together, helping children reflect on and retell their own learning.
Interactive Science Stories
Carefully selected, age-appropriate science apps introduce simple concepts like weather and space, always followed by a related hands-on activity.
Sound and Light Exploration
Simple torches and sound-recording tools let children experiment with shadows, reflections, and their own voices, blending technology with sensory play.
Guiding Technology Use at Home
Families can extend our approach to digital tools for children at home by exploring nature documentaries together, using a tablet to photograph a family nature walk, or trying a simple science app side by side with your child.
At Sorella Early Learning, our goal is always the same, using technology thoughtfully to deepen curiosity, never to replace the joy of hands-on discovery.
Keywords: digital tools for children, technology and learning early childhood, Sorella Early Learning, Griffin early learning, science exploration preschool, screen time balance children, early childhood technology Queensland, STEM early learning
Sources and Further Reading:
– eSafety Commissioner – www.esafety.gov.au
– Raising Children Network – www.raisingchildren.net.au
– CSIRO Education – www.csiro.au/education
– Early Childhood Australia – www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au
Book Week is on its way, and at Sorella Early Learning in Griffin, we are kicking off our Literacy Launch, a preview of the book week activities for children we have been planning all August.
Setting the Scene for a Love of Books
Rather than saving all the excitement for one week, we spread our book week activities for children across the whole month, building genuine anticipation and giving every child time to find a story that speaks to them. This approach supports:
– Vocabulary growth through repeated, varied reading
– Confidence in choosing and talking about favourite books
– Early print and story structure awareness
– A shared sense of excitement across the whole centre
At Sorella Early Learning, our Literacy Launch is designed to make sure every child, no matter their age or stage, feels genuinely part of the celebration.
Our Book Week Program Preview
Meet the Mascot Story
We introduce a special story character who “visits” our centre throughout August, appearing in different books and activities to build a sense of shared narrative.
Reading Nook Refresh
Our cosy reading corners get a August makeover with cushions, fairy lights, and a rotating display of Book Week shortlisted titles for children to explore.
Storytelling Circles
Educators and children take turns telling favourite stories aloud, sometimes with puppets or props, building oral storytelling skills alongside listening comprehension.
Family Book Swap
We invite families to bring in a much-loved book from home to swap with another family, building a sense of shared community around reading.
Getting Ready at Home
Families can join our Literacy Launch by visiting the library to borrow a Book Week shortlisted title, reading together each evening, or asking children to retell their favourite part of a story in their own words.
At Sorella Early Learning, watching children’s excitement build week by week is one of our favourite parts of August, and we cannot wait for Book Week to finally arrive.
Keywords: book week activities for children, literacy launch preschool, Sorella Early Learning, Griffin early learning, early literacy Queensland, reading readiness children, Book Week program preview, children’s literature early years
Sources and Further Reading:
– State Library of Queensland – www.slq.qld.gov.au
– Raising Children Network – www.raisingchildren.net.au
– Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority – www.acecqa.gov.au
– Early Childhood Australia – www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au
When the winter weather encourages more time indoors, Sorella Early Learning transforms our spaces into a hub of creative engineering. July is a month where we love to set our children the most exciting, open-ended building challenges — and watch as little engineers get to work with remarkable focus, determination, and ingenuity.
What Is Engineering in Early Childhood?
Engineering in early childhood isn’t about textbooks or technical diagrams. It is about giving children real problems to solve using real materials — and then stepping back to let them think, try, fail, adjust, and try again.
The engineering mindset we nurture in young children includes:
– Curiosity: “I wonder what would happen if…?”
– Problem-solving: “This isn’t working — how can I fix it?”
– Persistence: “It fell down, so I’ll try a different way.”
– Collaboration: “You hold this part while I attach that part.”
– Creative thinking: “What if we used this material instead?”
These skills are among the most important a child can develop — and they are best built through joyful, purposeful play.
Our July Building Challenges at Sorella Early Learning
Challenge 1: The Tallest Tower
Using only 20 blocks, can you build the tallest tower that doesn’t fall? Children test different shapes, bases, and balancing strategies, learning about stability, centre of gravity, and trial-and-error through real experience.
Challenge 2: The Bridge
Using cardboard, tape, and recycled materials, build a bridge that can hold the weight of a toy car. This challenge introduces concepts of span, load, and structural support in a completely hands-on way.
Challenge 3: The Warm House
How would you build a shelter that keeps a small toy animal warm? Using fabric, boxes, wool, and natural materials, children design and construct miniature winter shelters — linking engineering to our winter season theme and to caring for living things.
Challenge 4: The Marble Run
Using cardboard tubes, ramps, and boxes, children design a course for a marble to travel from top to bottom. This challenge involves planning, sequencing, physics concepts (gravity, momentum), and a great deal of trial and refinement.
Challenge 5: The Boat That Floats
Can you make a boat from recycled materials that floats and holds weight? Our water table becomes a testing station as children experiment with different shapes and materials, exploring buoyancy through genuine scientific inquiry.
Challenge 6: The Paper Bridge
Using only 5 sheets of paper and tape, build a bridge that spans a 30cm gap. Paper engineering is one of the most beautifully simple and challenging STEM activities for young children — folding, rolling, and shaping paper into surprisingly strong structures.
The Role of Documentation in Engineering Learning
At Sorella Early Learning, we photograph and document children’s engineering journeys — capturing not just the finished product but the process: the planning, the setbacks, the eureka moments, and the proud smiles. This documentation helps families see the depth of thinking that goes into what might look like “just playing with blocks.”
We also invite children to draw their designs before building — introducing the concept of blueprints and design thinking in the most accessible, age-appropriate way.
Building Skills for Life
The children who build towers, bridges, and boats today are developing the problem-solving, persistence, and creative confidence that will carry them through school, through careers, and through life. At Sorella Early Learning, we take this seriously — and we have enormous fun doing it.
Keywords: engineering early childhood, building challenges preschool, STEM for young children, Sorella Early Learning, indoor learning winter, construction play early years, problem solving children, creative building preschool, early childhood STEM Queensland, engineering play preschool
Sources and Further Reading:
– Raising Children Network – www.raisingchildren.net.au
– Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) – www.acecqa.gov.au
– Early Childhood Australia – www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au
– CSIRO Education – www.csiro.au/education
– The Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) – www.acecqa.gov.au/eylf
At Sorella Early Learning, sustainability is not a topic we visit once a year — it is woven into the fabric of every single day. But July provides a particularly rich opportunity to focus on environmental care, connecting the rhythms of the winter season with our ongoing commitment to looking after the world our children will inherit.
Why Winter Is a Great Time to Talk About Sustainability
The cooler months shift our daily rhythms in interesting ways. Energy use changes, gardens behave differently, and children become curious about the world going quiet, resting, and preparing for renewal. This natural seasonality opens up meaningful conversations about cycles, resources, care, and our responsibility to the planet.
At Sorella Early Learning, our July sustainability focus explores several interconnected themes.
Energy Awareness in Winter
Winter is when many households use more energy — heaters, hot water, electric blankets, dryers. We use this as an opportunity to talk with children about where energy comes from, why it matters, and simple habits that make a difference:
– Turning off lights when leaving a room
– Putting on an extra layer before turning up the heater
– Hanging clothes to dry in the sun on fine days rather than using a dryer
– Using natural light for as long as possible during the day
Children are natural champions of sustainability when given real knowledge and genuine agency.
Composting Through the Seasons
Our composting program continues through winter — and the slower decomposition rate in cooler weather becomes a learning opportunity. Children observe that worms and microbes are less active when it’s cold, discussing how temperature affects living organisms. We monitor our compost together, turning it, adding materials, and watching the slow transformation from food scraps to rich soil.
Water Conservation in Winter
Winter in Queensland can bring dry spells. We continue our water-wise practices throughout the cooler months — using collected rainwater for garden watering, noticing how plants need less water in cooler weather, and exploring the concept of evaporation through simple experiments.
Growing a Winter Garden
What grows in a Queensland winter garden? More than most people realise! Broccoli, kale, spinach, carrots, peas, and silverbeet are all winter crops. Our children love tending our garden beds, planting, watering (with collected water), and eventually harvesting food they helped grow. The connection between soil, seed, sun, water, and food is one of the most powerful sustainability lessons a young child can receive.
Reuse and Repurpose Challenges
In our July program, we set children the creative challenge of reimagining “waste” materials. Cardboard boxes become architecture, fabric scraps become soft toys, and egg cartons become garden seedling starters. These challenges build creativity while embedding the sustainability principle of reducing what we send to landfill.
Connecting to the Bigger Picture
At Sorella Early Learning, we are mindful of the balance between empowering children with environmental knowledge and overwhelming them with anxiety about climate challenges. Our approach is always age-appropriate, action-focused, and grounded in hope. We celebrate what we CAN do rather than dwelling on what is beyond our immediate control.
Keywords: sustainability early learning, environmental care children, Sorella Early Learning, winter gardening preschool, composting children, energy awareness early childhood, water conservation children, eco-friendly early learning, sustainability for preschoolers, environmental education Queensland
Sources and Further Reading:
– Raising Children Network – www.raisingchildren.net.au
– Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) – www.acecqa.gov.au
– Early Childhood Australia – www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au
– Sustainability Victoria – www.sustainability.vic.gov.au
– Kidspot Australia – www.kidspot.com.au
– The Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) – www.acecqa.gov.au/eylf
Watch a 3-year-old for about 45 seconds and you will understand something fundamental about who they are: they are in motion. Constant, purposeful, joyful, sometimes chaotic motion.
That little person is not misbehaving. They are not restless. They are not failing to sit still.
They are learning.
Movement at age 3 is not a break from development — it is development. And at Sorella Early Learning in Griffin, we build our programs for 3-year-olds around this truth with genuine conviction.
Our Senior Toddlers (2–3 years) and Pre Kindy (3–4 years) rooms are intentionally designed to honour, celebrate, and purposefully develop the movement capabilities of every child. Here is why it matters so deeply — and the seven movement activities that our educators love most.
Why Movement Is the Foundation of Everything
The relationship between physical movement and child development runs deeper than most parents realise. Far deeper than fitness.
A 2024 meta-analysis published in Frontiers in Public Health confirmed that motor-development-focused activities in preschool-aged children (3–5 years) produce significantly better gross motor outcomes than unstructured activity alone — and that early gross motor competence is linked to physical health, psychosocial wellbeing, cognitive development, and academic achievement.
Closer to home, the Australian Government’s 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for children aged 3–5 years recommend at least three hours of physical activity per day, with at least one hour of energetic play — not because activity is good for children in the abstract, but because movement is how the 3-year-old brain builds its architecture.
When a child jumps, their vestibular system develops. When they climb, their core strengthens and their spatial reasoning grows. When they dance, bilateral coordination develops — the same left-right brain integration that later supports reading. When they balance, concentration deepens. When they run and stop and run again, they are practising impulse regulation — one of the cornerstones of school readiness.
At Sorella, we do not tolerate movement in spite of learning. We celebrate it because of learning.
Our 7 Favourite Movement Activities for 3-Year-Olds
🎵 1. Music and Dance: Moving to the Beat
Our Music Melodies program within the Sorella Seedlings Life Skills initiative is one of the most joyfully anticipated parts of the week in our Senior Toddlers and Pre Kindy rooms — and it is doing far more than children realise.
Dancing and moving to music develops bilateral coordination (using both sides of the body together), rhythm (the timing of movement), spatial awareness (understanding the body in space), and emotional expression (moving how you feel). Research shows that cross-lateral movement — crossing the midline of the body, as children do when they reach across to the opposite side — actively supports brain hemisphere integration and is a genuine developmental precursor to reading readiness.
At Sorella, music and movement is not a set activity that happens once a week and stops. It ripples through the whole day — a song at transition time, a spontaneous dance in response to something exciting, a percussion instrument on the table and an open invitation.
What children are building: bilateral coordination, rhythm, spatial awareness, emotional regulation, vestibular development, language (songs expand vocabulary beautifully)
🧘 2. Yoga and Mindful Movement
Our Mindful Moments program — developed through our partnership with the Resilience Project, with a focus on gratitude, empathy, mindfulness, and emotional literacy — includes weekly yoga sessions for our toddlers through to Pre Kindy children.
Yoga with 3-year-olds looks nothing like adult yoga. It looks like a child imitating a tree, wobbling, falling over laughing, and trying again. It looks like a child learning to take a deep breath when they feel overwhelmed. It looks like a child discovering that their body can be still — and that stillness feels good.
For children who are in constant motion, yoga provides a counterbalance: the experience of intentional, calm, focused physical engagement. This supports body awareness (proprioception), balance and core strength, attention regulation, and the emotional vocabulary that comes from naming body sensations.
What children are building: balance, core strength, proprioception, breath awareness, emotional regulation, attention, flexibility
🏃 3. Obstacle Courses: The Ultimate Whole-Body Challenge
There is perhaps no single activity that delivers more developmental value per minute for a 3-year-old than a well-designed obstacle course — and our purpose-built indoor and outdoor spaces at Sorella are perfect for exactly this.
An obstacle course might involve: crawling through a tunnel, jumping over cushions, balancing along a beam, throwing a ball into a basket, spinning around a cone, and leaping onto a crash mat. Every element targets a different aspect of gross motor development. Together, they create a full-body challenge that engages the brain as deeply as it engages the muscles.
Importantly, obstacle courses also build problem-solving (how do I get through this?), persistence (trying again when it is tricky), sequencing (what comes next?), and body regulation (managing energy and excitement). These are not just physical skills — they are the foundations of learning.
What children are building: gross motor skills across all categories (locomotion, balance, object control), problem-solving, sequencing, persistence, body regulation
🌿 4. Nature Navigation and Outdoor Exploration
Our Nature Navigators program takes 3-year-olds into the natural environment for guided discovery, scavenger hunts, and hands-on outdoor exploration — and the movement embedded in these experiences is rich and varied in ways that no indoor gym session can replicate.
Natural environments are inherently uneven. They have slopes, textures, unexpected surfaces, and living things that require care and attention. Walking on grass, navigating garden beds, crouching to look at an insect, stretching to reach a branch — these micro-movements develop the proprioceptive and vestibular systems in ways that flat, predictable surfaces simply cannot.
The Australian Institute of Family Studies and the Australian Government’s early childhood guidelines both emphasise that time in natural, outdoor environments supports developmental outcomes well beyond physical health — including cognitive curiosity, emotional regulation, and social connection. For our 3-year-olds, the garden is not a break from learning. It is among the most sophisticated learning environments we offer.
What children are building: proprioception, vestibular development, gross and fine motor skills, sensory processing, environmental connection, curiosity
🎯 5. Throwing, Catching and Ball Play
Object control skills — throwing, catching, kicking, rolling — are a distinct and critical category of gross motor development, and they are among the skills most commonly underdeveloped in children who miss out on intentional early movement experiences.
Research from Australian preschool intervention studies shows that focused attention on object control skills in the 3–5 year age range produces lasting improvements in movement competence that track well into middle childhood. These are not trivial playground activities. They are foundational physical literacy experiences.
At Sorella, ball play is woven into our outdoor program in structured and unstructured forms: rolling balls back and forth with a partner (building connection and turn-taking simultaneously), kicking toward simple targets, throwing beanbags into hoops. Even the imprecision is useful — a missed catch requires the body to adjust, track, and try again, each attempt building neural pathways that underpin coordination.
What children are building: hand-eye coordination, object control, bilateral coordination, spatial awareness, turn-taking, persistence
🎭 6. Dramatic Movement and Role Play
When a 3-year-old stomps around the room pretending to be a dinosaur, gallops like a horse, or tiptoes like a fairy, they are doing something developmentally remarkable: using their imagination to generate varied, full-body movement patterns that their bodies would not otherwise encounter in a typical day.
Dramatic movement is one of the richest intersections between physical development, language development, and social-emotional learning in early childhood. Children must listen, interpret, respond, and express — all through the medium of their moving body.
At Sorella, dramatic play and movement are constant features of our Senior Toddlers and Pre Kindy environments — in both guided group experiences and child-initiated, open-ended play. Our educators are skilled at scaffolding this kind of play without directing it, joining in as willing participants rather than instructors.
What children are building: full-body coordination, spatial awareness, narrative and language skills, emotional expression, social connection, creativity
🧗 7. Climbing, Balancing and Risk-Taking Play
At Sorella Early Learning, we believe in what the research community increasingly calls risky play — and our purpose-built facility in Griffin is designed to offer it safely.
Climbing structures, balance beams, low platforms, and unstable surfaces (a wobble board, a log balance course, stepping stones) give 3-year-olds the opportunity to experience manageable physical challenge — to test their limits, make decisions about their bodies, fall (safely), recover, and try again.
ACECQA’s National Quality Standard explicitly recognises the value of environments that challenge children physically and support appropriate risk-taking as part of quality early childhood practice. Climbing and balancing are not just fun — they are how children develop core strength, vestibular stability, spatial confidence, and critically, self-trust: the belief that their body is capable.
A child who has been allowed to climb, wobble, and recover in a safe environment develops a physical confidence that carries directly into other forms of learning. They know what it feels like to be unsure — and to get through it anyway.
What children are building: core strength, vestibular development, balance, spatial confidence, risk assessment, self-efficacy, gross motor development
Supporting Movement at Home
Movement development does not stop at the end of the childcare day — and the beautiful thing is that supporting it at home requires nothing more than time and a little space.
Turn on music and dance together in the kitchen. Set up a simple living room obstacle course with cushions and pillows. Kick a ball in the backyard. Walk to the park and let your child climb everything safely climbable. Encourage them to carry things, push things, balance on kerbs, and jump in puddles.
Every single one of these activities is building the gross motor foundation that supports not just physical health but the cognitive and emotional readiness your child will carry into their school years and beyond.
The Raising Children Network — Australia’s evidence-based parenting resource — notes that active play is among the most important things parents can offer young children, and that it is most powerful when it is unstructured, outdoors, and genuinely child-led.
Discover Our Senior Toddlers and Pre Kindy Programs
At Sorella Early Learning in Griffin, QLD, our Senior Toddlers (2–3 years) and Pre Kindy (3–4 years) rooms are designed by educators who understand that a child who moves well, learns well — and who love what they do every day.
We would love you to come and see our outdoor spaces, meet our team, and experience the warmth of a centre where play really is the work of childhood.
📞 07 2111 6711
📍 32 Tesch Rd, Griffin QLD 4503
🌐 Book a Tour →
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From our family to yours — with love, play, and movement.
Sources: Frontiers in Public Health — Motor development-focused exercise training and gross motor skills in preschool children (Wang & Zhou, 2024); Australian Government 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Children aged 3–5 years (health.gov.au); NAPA Centre Australia — Gross Motor Development: Skills for Infants and Toddlers by Age (napacentre.com.au); Australian preschool movement skill intervention research — NSW three-year follow-up of movement skill intervention (PMC, 2012); Australian Institute of Family Studies — Physical activity and children’s development (aifs.gov.au); ACECQA — National Quality Standard, Quality Area 3: Physical Environment (acecqa.gov.au); Early Years Learning Framework V2.0 (EYLF), Australian Government Department of Education (education.gov.au); Raising Children Network — Active play for children (raisingchildren.net.au); The Resilience Project — Gratitude, Empathy, Mindfulness and Emotional Literacy (theresilienceproject.com.au).
