Childcare Advice Archives - Sorella Early Learning

How We Teach 4-Year-Olds to Love Reading at Sorella Early Learning, Griffin

by Josie | Jun 4, 2026 | Childcare Advice

Here is a question worth sitting with: what does it actually mean to teach a 4-year-old to read?

Because if your answer involves flashcards, letter drills, and worksheets, the research — and the children — would gently disagree.

What a 4-year-old needs from literacy is not instruction. It is immersion. Not pressure. Wonder. Not performance. Play.

At Sorella Early Learning in Griffin, our Queensland Government-approved Kindergarten program is built around this understanding. We know that the most powerful foundation a child can have for a lifetime of reading and learning is not the ability to decode words at age four — it is a deep, embodied, joyful relationship with language, story, and the world of books.

Here is how we build that foundation, every single day.

Why 4 Is Such an Important Year for Literacy

The research is unequivocal: what happens in the year before formal schooling has a profound and lasting impact on a child’s reading journey. A landmark study published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology found that children’s scores on phonological awareness tasks at age four significantly predicted their reading and spelling outcomes six years later.

But here is what that research also tells us: the skills that predict reading success at 4 are not about reading itself. They are about sound. Rhythm. Language. Story. Vocabulary. The richness of a child’s oral world.

Phonological awareness — the ability to hear and play with the sounds in spoken language — is the single most robust predictor of early reading success. It is built through rhyming games, clapping syllables, singing, tongue twisters, nonsense words, and joyful repetition of favourite texts. It is built, in other words, through exactly the kinds of experiences that a brilliant early childhood program creates every day.

At Sorella Early Learning, our Kindy educators are guided by both the Early Years Learning Framework V2.0 (EYLF) and the Queensland Kindergarten Learning Guidelines (QKLG) 2024, which emphasise play-based learning, rich oral language experiences, and intentional literacy teaching as the cornerstones of early childhood education.

The 6 Pillars of Reading Readiness We Build at Sorella

🔊 1. Phonological Awareness: Playing With Sound

Before a child can read, they need to understand that spoken language is made up of individual sounds — and that those sounds can be separated, blended, and manipulated.

In our Kindy room, this looks like:

Rhyming games — “What rhymes with cat? bat, hat, mat, splat!” — where the sillier, the better

Syllable clapping to names, food words, and favourite animals: el-e-phant (clap, clap, clap)

Alliteration play: tongue twisters, initial sound sorting, and “I spy something starting with…”

Onset and rime: breaking words into their beginning sound and their ending family (c-at, h-at, s-at)

These activities feel like games. They are also among the most powerful literacy interventions available to early childhood educators — and our Kindy team weaves them through every part of the day, from morning circle time to outdoor play.

📖 2. Shared Book Reading: The Heart of It All

Our Sorella Seedlings community library is one of the features of our centre we are proudest of — and it is no coincidence that books sit at the very centre of our literacy program.

Australian research published in the Early Childhood Education Journal found that shared book reading between educators and four-year-old preschoolers is one of the most powerful contexts for building both oral language and emergent literacy skills. It is not just the reading that matters — it is the conversation around the reading: the questions asked, the predictions made, the words explored, the connections drawn between the story and the child’s own life.

In our Kindy room, shared book reading is never passive. Our educators:

Ask open questions that invite prediction and imagination: “What do you think will happen next?”

Draw attention to print: pointing to words, showing how we read left to right, noticing punctuation

Explore vocabulary deliberately: pausing on rich words, offering child-friendly definitions, encouraging children to use new words in context

Re-read favourite books repeatedly — because repetition is how language is absorbed at this age

Every child in our Kindy room has access to our community library. Borrowing a book to take home, sharing it with a family, and returning it to be read again by another child: this is literacy as community practice.

🔤 3. Alphabet Knowledge and Letter-Sound Connections

Knowing the names and sounds of letters — alphabet knowledge — is one of the strongest individual predictors of early reading achievement. At age 4, this is not about memorising the alphabet in order. It is about genuine, curious engagement with letters as meaningful symbols.

At Sorella, alphabet learning is embedded in everything:

Our Art Studio is where children write their names in finger paints and experiment with mark-making — early writing and letter recognition happening simultaneously through joyful sensory play

Environmental print throughout the room: children’s names on their belongings, labelled materials, words on signs that children begin to recognise as their own

Alphabet songs and movement games connecting letter sounds to physical actions — because the body remembers what the mind learns through movement

Name work — a child’s own name is their first and most motivating text. Writing it, recognising it, sounding it out

🗣️ 4. Oral Language and Vocabulary

A rich vocabulary is not just a literacy asset — it is the foundation of reading comprehension. A child who cannot understand the words they decode cannot truly read. Vocabulary is built through conversation, story, and exposure to varied, interesting language — and our Kindy program is deliberately rich in all three.

Our Music Melodies program through the Sorella Seedlings Life Skills initiative contributes meaningfully here. Singing develops phonological awareness, expands vocabulary, builds memory, and creates the emotional connection to language that makes a child want to read. A child who loves to sing is already well on the way to loving books.

Our educators are trained in sustained shared thinking — the practice of engaging in extended, back-and-forth conversations with children that deepen thinking and vocabulary simultaneously. These are not quick exchanges. They are the unhurried conversations about a caterpillar on the garden leaf, the story a child told at circle time, the question that nobody can answer and that we decide to find out together.

✏️ 5. Early Writing and Mark-Making

Writing and reading are two sides of the same coin — and children who are given regular, pleasurable opportunities to make marks, write their names, and tell their stories through drawing and writing develop stronger literacy skills overall.

At Sorella, our dedicated Art Studio is a space where mark-making, drawing, and early writing happen naturally and joyfully. Children move through a progression from scribbling to drawing to symbol-making to letter-like forms to actual letters — and every stage is celebrated as meaningful communication.

Providing children with real writing tools — clipboards, notebooks, pens, chalk on the footpath — communicates something important: your marks matter. Your words matter. Your stories are worth writing down.

🌿 6. A Love of Story, Wonder and Language

Perhaps the most important thing we do at Sorella is this: we make language something children feel deeply connected to.

Through our Nature Navigators and Bush Kindy experiences, children develop rich descriptive language about the natural world. Through our Mindful Moments program, children learn to put words to their emotions — one of the most sophisticated and underrated literacy tasks a young child can master. Through dramatic play, they retell stories, invent characters, and inhabit narratives. Through cooking in our Little Chefs program, they read recipes, follow instructions, and learn that text has purpose in the real world.

All of this, together, is what it means to teach a 4-year-old to read.

Not a worksheet in sight.

What You Can Do at Home

The most powerful literacy tool a family has is simple: talk, sing, and read together. Every day.

Ask your child about their day using open questions. Listen fully. Sing songs on the way to the centre. Borrow books from our community library and read them together at bedtime — not once, but again and again until your child knows every word by heart (which is its own remarkable early literacy milestone).

And notice the words on the cereal box at breakfast. The letters on the street sign. The writing on the shopping bag. When you point to print in the world and say “that says Stop”, you are doing exactly what our Kindy educators do — teaching your child that words are everywhere, that they mean something, and that one day, very soon, your child will be able to read them all.

Discover Our Kindergarten Program

Our Kindergarten program at Sorella Early Learning in Griffin is open to children aged 4–5 years, delivered by university-qualified Early Childhood Teachers, and includes 15 hours of Queensland Government Free Kindy.

We would love to show you our community library, our art studio, and the Kindy room where your child’s reading story begins.

📞 07 2111 6711

📍 32 Tesch Rd, Griffin QLD 4503

🌐 Book a Tour →

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High quality early learning, care and love — from our family to yours.

Sources: Journal of Experimental Child Psychology — Phonological awareness at age 4 as a predictor of reading outcomes (longitudinal research); Early Childhood Education Journal — Oral language and emergent literacy strategies in shared book reading with Australian preschoolers (Springer Nature, 2022); Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) — QKLG 2024, Active Learning (qcaa.qld.gov.au); Early Years Learning Framework V2.0 (EYLF), Australian Government Department of Education (education.gov.au); ACECQA — Play-based learning and intentionality, National Quality Standard (acecqa.gov.au); Queensland Department of Education — Effective Teaching of Reading Literature Review (education.qld.gov.au); International Literacy Association — Phonological Awareness in Early Childhood Literacy Development.

Indigenous Games: Traditional Activities for Modern Learning

by Josie | May 21, 2026 | Childcare Advice

Sorella Early Learning respectfully acknowledges the Kabi Kabi, Turrbal, and Jinibara peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the lands and waters of the City of Moreton Bay, on which our centre stands. We pay our deep respect to Elders past, present, and emerging, and acknowledge their enduring connection to Country, culture, and community.

At Sorella Early Learning in Griffin, we believe that every child deserves to grow up knowing the full story of the land they call home — a story that begins not in 1788, not in the naming of Griffin as a suburb, but tens of thousands of years before any of us arrived on this beautiful south-east Queensland earth.

The land on which Sorella stands, on which our children play and learn and grow every day, is the Country of the Kabi Kabi people — the Traditional Custodians whose connection to this region of south-east Queensland stretches back further than memory reaches. It is also the Country of the Turrbal and Jinibara peoples, recognised alongside the Kabi Kabi by the City of Moreton Bay as Traditional Custodians of the lands and waters across our region.

Long before Tesch Road was named, before Griffin was mapped, before any of our families moved to this suburb of low-set homes and wide streets and late-afternoon breezes — there were children here. Children who played. Children who ran, and threw, and caught, and laughed. Children whose games carried knowledge, whose play taught culture, and whose movement on Country was itself a form of learning.

At Sorella, we are committed to honouring that inheritance. Our Indigenous Games program is how we begin.

What Are Indigenous Games — And Why Do They Matter?

Indigenous games are not simply historical curiosities or novelty activities to bring out during NAIDOC Week. They are a living, sophisticated tradition — a body of knowledge about movement, community, skill, strategy, and the deep relationship between people and Country that has been passed down through countless generations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across Australia.

The Queensland Government recognises this explicitly through its dedicated Burragun Games Trail resource, which documents traditional games played by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across Queensland. The word Burragun, from the Yugambeh language, means boomerang — itself a symbol of a game in perfect balance, going out and coming back, returning what it was given.

The Games Trail was developed in consultation with Indigenous communities and is grounded in almost every available historical account of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander games. It is offered not as a replacement for genuine community engagement, but as a starting point for respectful learning — and as an invitation to discover that Australia’s play and sports culture is far older, far richer, and far more sophisticated than two centuries of European settlement have acknowledged.

For young children in early childhood settings, Indigenous games offer something uniquely valuable: they are play-based, inclusive, physical, cooperative, and deeply connected to Country. They are, in the truest sense of the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF), learning through doing — exactly as children have always learned.

Buroinjin: The Game of the Kabi Kabi People

Of all the traditional games documented across Queensland, one holds particular significance for children at Sorella Early Learning: Buroinjin.

Buroinjin was a ball game played by the Kabi Kabi people — the Traditional Custodians of this very Country in south-east Queensland. The ball, called a buroinjin, was made from kangaroo skin, shaped and worked by hand into a round, solid sphere.

The game itself was played across an open field. Players from one team would attempt to run with the ball and cross to the other end without being touched by an opponent — a physical, fast-moving, whole-body game of agility, strategy, and teamwork. The Queensland Government’s Burragun Games Trail notes that the game was vigorous, joyful, and deeply communal — a game that brought players of all ages together in a shared physical and cultural experience.

For children at Sorella, a developmentally adapted version of Buroinjin is one of the most exciting outdoor movement experiences we offer — and one of the most meaningful. Because when our children run across our outdoor spaces on the Country of the Kabi Kabi people, they are not just playing a game. They are participating, however humbly, in a tradition that belongs to this place.

We introduce Buroinjin with care, with context, and — wherever possible — with the involvement of Kabi Kabi community members and Elders who can share the story of the game in their own voice and from their own authority.

More Games, More Stories: Traditional Play Across Queensland

Beyond Buroinjin, the Queensland Government’s Burragun Games Trail documents a rich variety of traditional Indigenous games from across Queensland and Australia. Here are some of the activities we draw upon in our program — each offered with respect, with context, and with the understanding that these games belong to their communities:

🌀 Waayin — Tracking and Observation

Waayin was derived from the study of animal and bird tracks — an essential part of educating Aboriginal children in the skills of observation, pattern recognition, and connection to Country. In our version, children follow tracks (drawn, pressed, or made with stamps) across our outdoor space, practising the deep attention and curiosity of the tracker. This is science, literacy, and cultural awareness all at once.

⚙️ Mer Kai — Keeping Up

In Mer Kai, a ball is kept in the air for as long as possible without touching the ground — similar to the game many children now know as hacky sack. It is a game of focus, coordination, persistence, and teamwork. In Torres Strait Islander tradition, players stood in a circle and sang the kai wed (ball song) as they played — connecting movement, music, and community in a single experience.

🎯 Weme — Rolling and Aiming

Weme is a rolling game in which balls are aimed underarm along the ground towards a target. It is a game of precision, patience, and spatial reasoning — and it is wonderfully accessible for children across a wide age range. The name comes from the Eastern Arrernte language and refers to throwing something at a target and hitting it.

🏃 Barambah Gimbe — Ball and Catch

Gimbe means “play” in the Wakka Wakka language — the language of another south Queensland First Nations people. Barambah gimbe involves throwing a ball high into the air and attempting to catch it — a game of anticipation, timing, and physical coordination. Hearing and using language words from south Queensland’s First Nations peoples in our play is a small but genuine act of cultural recognition.

How We Approach This Work at Sorella

Let us be clear about something important: embedding Indigenous games into our program is not something we do once a year and then consider complete. It is not a theme week. It is not a display on a wall. And it is never done without genuine cultural guidance and community partnership.

The Queensland Department of Education’s Cultural Capability Framework sets out clear expectations for early childhood services: that we develop genuine, ongoing relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, communities, and Elders; that we approach cultural work with flexibility and a willingness to be guided; and that we foster local decision-making and co-design rather than imposing our own interpretations of culture from the outside.

At Sorella, this means:

Genuinely inviting Kabi Kabi, Turrbal, and Jinibara community members to be part of how we introduce and share Indigenous games and cultural activities
Using only culturally appropriate activities — the Queensland Government’s Burragun Games Trail resource specifically avoids games used in initiation ceremonies or religious events, and we follow this guidance carefully
Contextualising every game so children understand whose game it is, where it comes from, and why it is significant
Approaching this as an ongoing journey, not a completed task — always open to feedback, always willing to learn, always humble about what we do not yet know

The goal is not cultural performance. The goal is genuine, respectful, living cultural connection — for every child in our care, regardless of whether they are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, and regardless of where their family came from to reach Griffin.

Why Indigenous Games Matter for All Children

Cultural education through play belongs to every child — not just Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. In fact, the Queensland Department of Education is explicit that embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in early childhood education is as important for non-Indigenous children as it is for Indigenous children.

When all children play Buroinjin, when they learn to say gimbe (play) in Wakka Wakka, when they learn that the land they run on has a history older than written record — they are developing:

Cultural awareness and respect — a foundation for the kind of inclusive, empathetic, reconciliation-minded Australians our children deserve to become
Physical literacy — Indigenous games develop the same gross motor skills, coordination, balance, and physical confidence as any other movement program, while adding layers of cultural meaning
Mathematical and scientific thinking — tracking, aiming, catching, pattern recognition and spatial reasoning are woven through these games naturally
Language development — hearing and using words from south Queensland’s First Nations languages builds phonological awareness and a genuine sense of the diversity and richness of Australia’s linguistic heritage
Social and emotional development — cooperative, inclusive, non-competitive play builds empathy, teamwork, and a genuine sense of community

And for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in our care — seeing their culture reflected in our games, our language, our stories, and our outdoor spaces is an affirmation of identity and belonging that the Queensland Government’s early childhood resources recognise as fundamental to every child’s sense of self.

Extending the Learning: Playing Together at Home in Griffin

The spirit of Indigenous games can extend beyond our centre into the parks, backyards, and streets of the Griffin community. Here are some simple, joyful ways to explore these ideas at home:

Play Barambah Gimbe — Take a soft ball to your local park, throw it as high as you can, and try to catch it. Call out “gimbe!” (play) when you throw. This is it. That’s the game. That is 10,000 years of play culture alive in your backyard.
Go tracking — Walk through your local park and look for tracks: birds in mud, insects in sand, the impression of a bicycle tyre. Talk about what made each mark. This is the art of the tracker — one of the oldest and most sophisticated human skills there is.
Visit the Burragun Games Trail — The Queensland Government has documented traditional Indigenous games in a publicly accessible resource online. Explore it together as a family. Choose a game to try. Let your child be the expert.
Learn a word in Kabi Kabi language — The Kabi Kabi People’s Aboriginal Corporation (kabikabination.com.au) is the representative body for the Kabi Kabi people whose Country we live on. Learning even a single word of the language of the Country you live on is an act of respect that takes moments and lasts a lifetime.
Acknowledge Country together — Before you head outside to play, take a quiet moment together and acknowledge that you are playing on the Country of the Kabi Kabi, Turrbal, and Jinibara peoples. Explain what this means in words your child can understand. This is the most important game of all — the practice of paying attention to where you are and who was here before you.

The EYLF and Indigenous Games: Learning Through Every Outcome

Our Indigenous Games program is grounded in the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) V2.0 across all five learning outcomes:

Outcome 1 – Strong sense of identity: For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, seeing their culture’s games played with respect in our setting affirms who they are. For all children, engaging with the games of this Country builds a sense of belonging to place — to Griffin, to the Moreton Bay region, to Australia.
Outcome 2 – Connected to their world: The Queensland Government’s early childhood resources describe this outcome as children observing, exploring, and building their understanding of the world’s diversity. Indigenous games are a direct, living expression of cultural diversity — not in a textbook, but in the child’s own moving, laughing body.
Outcome 3 – Strong sense of wellbeing: Physical activity, joy, inclusion, and belonging — Indigenous games deliver all of these, supporting children’s physical health and emotional resilience simultaneously.
Outcome 4 – Confident and involved learners: Tracking, pattern recognition, spatial reasoning, motor skill development, and the kind of focused, purposeful inquiry that Indigenous games naturally inspire are all central to this outcome.
Outcome 5 – Effective communicators: Hearing words from Kabi Kabi, Wakka Wakka, and other south Queensland languages, learning the names and stories of games, and sharing what they have discovered with their families all build the rich, multidimensional communication skills of EYLF Outcome 5.

A Note on Doing This Well

We want to say, clearly and honestly, that this work requires ongoing humility.

Sorella Early Learning opened in September 2023. We are a young centre on ancient Country. We are still learning. We do not claim to have arrived at a perfect cultural program — we claim to be genuinely, earnestly trying to get it right, in partnership with the communities whose knowledge and whose Country we are privileged to share.

If you are a Kabi Kabi, Turrbal, or Jinibara community member, or an Elder from any part of south-east Queensland’s First Nations communities — we genuinely, warmly, sincerely welcome your voice in shaping how we do this work. Please reach out. Our doors — and our hearts — are open.

Enquire and Enrol

📍 32 Tesch Road, Griffin QLD 4503 📞 07 2111 6711 ✉️ enrolments@sorellaearlylearning.com.au 🌐 sorellaearlylearning.com.au 🕐 Open Monday – Friday, 6:30am – 6:30pm

Sources

The following Queensland-based and nationally recognised early childhood and cultural sources were used in the research and writing of this blog post. No other early childhood or childcare services have been cited as sources.

Queensland Government – Traditional Indigenous Games Trail (Burragun Games Trail) qld.gov.au – Traditional Indigenous Games Trail — A Queensland Government resource documenting traditional games played by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across Queensland, developed in consultation with Indigenous communities. Specifically references the Buroinjin ball game of the Kabi Kabi people of south Queensland.
City of Moreton Bay – Traditional Custodians Information ourstory.moretonbay.qld.gov.au – Traditional Custodians — The City of Moreton Bay’s official acknowledgement of the Kabi Kabi, Jinibara, and Turrbal peoples as the Traditional Custodians of lands and waters throughout the City of Moreton Bay, including Griffin, QLD.
Queensland Department of Education – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Capability Framework education.qld.gov.au – Cultural Capability Framework — The Queensland Department of Education’s framework outlining the responsibilities of early childhood services in developing genuine, respectful relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, Elders, and families.
Queensland Department of Education – Resources for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities earlychildhood.qld.gov.au – Resources for ATSI Communities — Queensland Government early childhood resources including the Ngana Waguna Woori Mumba artwork and Elders as Storytellers resources, connecting culture, Country, and early learning.
Queensland Government – Early Childhood Education qld.gov.au – Early Childhood — Queensland Government information on the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF V2.0), Queensland Kindergarten Learning Guidelines, and embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in early childhood education.
Queensland Government – Resources for Parents and Families qld.gov.au – Resources for Parents — Queensland Government guidance for families on supporting children’s learning, cultural awareness, and connection to Country through everyday activities.
Early Childhood Australia – Queensland Committee earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au – Queensland Branch — Queensland’s peak advocacy body for early childhood education and care, providing research, resources, and guidance on embedding First Nations perspectives, cultural education, and reconciliation in early childhood settings.
Kabi Kabi People’s Aboriginal Corporation kabikabination.com.au — The representative body for the Kabi Kabi people, the Traditional Custodians of the Country on which Sorella Early Learning stands, including the preservation and sharing of Kabi Kabi culture, language, and heritage.

Sorella Early Learning is a family-owned, purpose-built early learning centre in Griffin, QLD, dedicated to nurturing and empowering every child to blossom into their best selves. We welcome children from 6 weeks to school age, Monday to Friday, 6:30am to 6:30pm. We are committed to embedding genuine, respectful, and ongoing cultural education across everything we do. To enquire about enrolment or to share your cultural knowledge with our team, please contact us today.

Creative Mothers: Art Projects Celebrating Caregivers

by Josie | May 6, 2026 | Childcare Advice

The word sorella means sister in Italian.

It speaks of closeness, of warmth, of belonging to someone — of the particular kind of love that exists within a family, passed between people who share a life together. When we chose our name, we chose it because we wanted every family who walked through our doors to feel exactly that: held. Part of something. Loved.

And in the weeks leading up to Mother’s Day 2026 — falling on Sunday, 10 May — there is nowhere in Griffin more alive with that spirit of love than right here, in our studios and gallery spaces, where small hands are making big things for the people who mean the most to them in the world.

Welcome to Creative Mothers — Sorella Early Learning’s Mother’s Day art program, where we celebrate every mother, grandmother, aunty, foster carer, and special caregiver through the most powerful language children have: art.

Why Art Is the Perfect Mother’s Day Gift

A bouquet of flowers is beautiful. A box of chocolates is delicious. But a painting made by a two-year-old — with their whole palm pressed into gold paint, fingers spread wide, heart absolutely full — is something that will be on a wall for the rest of a mother’s life.

Art made by children for the people they love is not craft. It is not an activity. It is an act of communication so direct and so personal that no words can equal it. It says: I thought about you. I made this with my hands. I made this for you.

The Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) — Queensland’s own world-class cultural institution — has long recognised that children are natural artists, and that the creative process builds not just skills but identity, emotional resilience, and the capacity to communicate meaning in ways that transcend language. Their dedicated Children’s Art Centre offers programs specifically for children under six, understanding that artistic engagement in the earliest years is not supplementary to development — it is central to it.

At Sorella Early Learning, we have always known this. It is why we built an on-site art gallery into our centre — not as decoration, but as a declaration: the art our children make is real art. It deserves to be displayed with the care, the framing, and the quiet reverence of a professional gallery space.

This Mother’s Day, that gallery is being filled with work made for you.

The Sorella Art Gallery: Where Children Become Artists

Our gallery is unlike anything else you will find in a Griffin early learning centre. It is not a corkboard with paper flowers stapled to it. It is a thoughtfully curated, professionally lit display space where children’s artwork is mounted, framed, and exhibited with genuine artistic intention.

When a child’s painting hangs in the Sorella Gallery, something important happens. The child sees their work treated with respect — and they understand, viscerally, that what they have made has value. This is the foundation of artistic confidence, and it is one of the most powerful gifts an early learning environment can give.

Early Childhood Australia notes that popular theories in the field suggest children’s artistic abilities are consistently underestimated; and that when given opportunities to explore artistic practice and creative thinking, children generally demonstrate stronger outcomes not only in the arts but in science, mathematics, and social development. Artistic engagement in early childhood is not a nice extra — it is essential infrastructure for the whole child.

For Mother’s Day, our gallery transforms. Every child in our care creates an artwork specifically for their special caregiver — guided by our educators, inspired by their own imagination, and displayed in our gallery for Mother’s Day morning. Families are invited in to walk the gallery together, to stand in front of their child’s work, to see it as it deserves to be seen.

The Lumiere Studio: Art Made of Light

Lumière is the French word for light. And our Lumiere studio at Sorella is exactly that — a space dedicated to the extraordinary creative possibilities that emerge when children work with light, transparency, colour, and shadow.

Inspired by the Reggio Emilia tradition of the atelier — the artist’s studio — our Lumiere studio gives children access to light tables, translucent materials, natural light, mirrors, and carefully selected media that allow them to explore art not just with paint and paper but with light itself. Children discover that colour becomes something alive when light passes through it. That shadows tell stories. That a single beam of afternoon light can transform a piece of tissue paper into something breathtaking.

For Mother’s Day, our Lumiere studio is producing a series of light-inspired artworks — translucent colour panels, shadow portraits, pressed botanical arrangements on light tables, and illuminated collages — that will be gifted to caregivers as works that literally glow.

There is a particular beauty in giving someone a piece of art that glows in a window. It says: even in ordinary light, I see something extraordinary. Because you are in it.

This May’s Creative Projects: What Our Children Are Making

Our Creative Mothers program runs throughout the month of May, building towards a Mother’s Day gallery opening and morning celebration. Here is a glimpse inside the studios:

🎨 The Portrait Project

Every child creates a portrait of their special caregiver — in whatever medium they choose from our studios. Some children use paint, some use collage, some use pencil or pastel. Some create abstract colour fields that represent how their mum makes them feel. Some create remarkably literal faces with enormous eyes and broad smiles.

No portrait is corrected. No face is redrawn. What the child sees is what goes on the canvas — and what the child sees, it turns out, is always beautiful.

As the Sunshine Coast Gallery notes in its research on art and children’s development, the creative process helps children develop cognitive skills, emotional expression, and a sense of accomplishment that builds lasting confidence. When a child says “that’s my mum” and points to their painting, they are telling you everything about both of them.

🕯️ The Lumiere Love Letter

In our Lumiere studio, children create a translucent “love letter” on the light table — arranging coloured cellophane, pressed flowers, leaves, and tissue paper to create a glowing panel that, when held to a window, reveals a world of colour and light. Each piece is unique, mounted in a card frame, and inscribed with the child’s own words about the person they are making it for.

“Mum feels like yellow.” “My nana smells like flowers and biscuits.” “My mum’s hugs are very big.”

These words, unedited and unfiltered, are printed alongside the artwork. They are the best art writing in the building.

📚 The Story Scrapbook

Our library is not just for reading. This May, it is also a publishing house. Children in our older rooms dictate, illustrate, and create a short personalised book for their caregiver — a story about their family, their favourite memory together, or simply a catalogue of all the things they love about their mum.

Our educators transcribe the children’s exact words — no paraphrasing, no tidying up — and bind them into a small, handmade book that goes home as a Mother’s Day gift. These books have a way of becoming the most treasured objects in a family.

🌿 The Botanical Crown

In our outdoor learning spaces, children gather botanical materials — flowers, leaves, seed pods, and natural textures — and weave them into a celebratory botanical crown for their caregiver to wear on Mother’s Day morning. This is art-making that is also science, also nature connection, and also a deeply ancient human tradition of crowning the people we honour with the beauty of the living world.

Celebrating Every Kind of Caregiver

At Sorella Early Learning, we know that every family looks different. Some children have two mums. Some are raised by grandmothers who are the centre of their universe. Some have foster carers, aunties, older sisters, or family friends who fill the role of primary caregiver with enormous love and devotion.

Creative Mothers is not just for mothers. It is for every caregiver who shows up — every person whose love shapes a child’s world.

Our educators work carefully and sensitively in the weeks before Mother’s Day to understand each child’s family, to ask who they would like to make their artwork for, and to ensure that every child leaves our centre on Mother’s Day weekend with something magnificent for someone they love.

The Queensland Government’s early childhood guidelines are clear that early childhood services carry a responsibility to ensure every child experiences genuine belonging, and that positive relationships — between children, families, and educators — are the foundation of quality education and care. At Sorella, that is not a policy principle. It is the reason we exist.

Art at Home: Creative Projects for Griffin Families This May

The creativity doesn’t have to stop at our gate. Here are some beautiful, simple art projects Moreton Bay families can try at home together this Mother’s Day:

Window art — Cut simple shapes from coloured cellophane or tissue paper and stick them to a sunny window with a little water. Watch the light come through. Add the child’s handprint in the centre. It costs almost nothing and creates something genuinely lovely.
The colour portrait — Ask your child: “If Mum was a colour, what colour would she be? What about a shape? What about a weather?” Then give them crayons and let them paint what they described. The result will be abstract, personal, and perfect.
Visit QAGOMA — The Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane offers dedicated programs for children, including sessions specifically designed for children under six. A visit to the gallery — looking at art made by grown-up artists, talking about what you see — is one of the most developmentally rich things a family can do together on a long autumn weekend in Brisbane.
Make a family gallery wall — Collect all the artwork your child has brought home over the past year. Frame the best ones (dollar store frames are fine) and create a proper family gallery wall together. Hang them at the child’s eye height. Let them curate it. This is creative thinking, spatial reasoning, and self-expression all at once.
Cook art — At Sorella, our in-house chef understands that food is creative expression. At home, let your child decorate a Mother’s Day breakfast plate — with fruit arranged into a face, with sprinkles on toast, with a flower made of strawberry slices. Food art is real art, and it is delicious.

The Sorella Seedlings Life Skills Program and Creative Confidence

Everything we do in our Creative Mothers program sits within the broader framework of our Sorella Seedlings Life Skills Program — our unique approach to developing the whole child across all areas of growth.

Creative confidence — the belief that you have something worth expressing and the courage to express it — is one of the most important life skills a child can develop. It is the seed of artistic practice, of innovation, of entrepreneurship, of leadership. It begins the first time a child makes something and sees it treated with respect.

That is why our art gallery exists. That is why our Lumiere studio exists. That is why every artwork in our collection is handled, displayed, and valued as the genuine, important creative output of a genuine, important person.

That is the Sorella way.

Connecting the Dots: Creative Arts and the EYLF

Our Mother’s Day art program is grounded in the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) V2.0 across all five learning outcomes:

Outcome 1 – Strong sense of identity: When children’s art is displayed in a gallery, their identity as capable, creative beings is affirmed. They are not just learning to make art — they are learning that they are artists.
Outcome 2 – Connected to their world: Art made for caregivers deepens children’s understanding of relationships, family, love, and their place within a community of people who are connected to each other.
Outcome 3 – Strong sense of wellbeing: Children’s Health Queensland’s Arts in Health Program confirms that creative arts expression improves emotional wellbeing, supports healing, and helps children process feelings they cannot yet verbalise. The joy of making something for someone you love is one of the most powerful emotional experiences of early childhood.
Outcome 4 – Confident and involved learners: Open-ended art investigation — choosing materials, making decisions, experimenting with light and colour and texture — builds exactly the inquiry, problem-solving, and creative thinking dispositions that EYLF Outcome 4 describes.
Outcome 5 – Effective communicators: Art is language. The portrait, the love letter made of light, the story scrapbook — these are all acts of communication, as sophisticated and as meaningful as any words a child will ever learn to write.

Come and See the Gallery

Our Mother’s Day gallery opening is one of the most beautiful mornings in the Sorella calendar — a time when families gather in our gallery spaces, barista coffee in hand, to walk among the art their children have made and feel the particular, extraordinary joy of being loved by a small person with a very large heart.

We would love to welcome your family to Sorella Early Learning. Enrolments are now open.

Sources

The following Queensland-based and nationally recognised early childhood sources were used in the research and writing of this blog post. No other early childhood or childcare services have been cited as sources.

Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) – Kids and Families qagoma.qld.gov.au – Kids and Families — Queensland’s state art gallery and museum, providing dedicated Children’s Art Centre programs for children aged under six years, recognising the centrality of artistic engagement to children’s early development and identity.
Sunshine Coast Gallery (Sunshine Coast Council, QLD) – The Impact of Art on Children’s Development gallery.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au – The Impact of Art on Children’s Development — A Queensland-based cultural institution providing evidence on how creative arts activities support cognitive, emotional, motor, and social development in young children, including the role of self-expression and artistic confidence.
Children’s Health Queensland – Arts and Healthcare childrens.health.qld.gov.au – Arts and Healthcare — A Queensland Government health institution documenting the developmental and emotional benefits of creative arts participation for young children, including improved emotional wellbeing, self-expression, and sense of identity.
Early Childhood Australia (The Spoke) – Creative Arts in Early Childhood earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au – Creative Arts in Early Childhood — Early Childhood Australia’s research article on the role of the arts in early childhood education, including evidence that children’s artistic abilities are frequently underestimated and that art-based learning supports stronger outcomes across cognitive, social, and emotional domains.
Queensland Government – Early Childhood Education qld.gov.au – Early Childhood — Queensland Government information on the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF V2.0), Queensland Kindergarten Learning Guidelines, and the role of creative arts and play-based learning in early childhood education.
Queensland Government – Resources for Parents and Families qld.gov.au – Resources for Parents — Queensland Government guidance for families on supporting children’s creative development, emotional expression, and early learning through everyday activities including art-making and reading together at home.
Queensland Department of Education – Positive Relationships with Children earlychildhood.qld.gov.au – Positive Relationships with Children — The Queensland Regulatory Authority’s Statement of Shared Commitment, outlining the role of early childhood services in ensuring inclusive, positive experiences and genuine belonging for every child and family, regardless of family structure.
Early Childhood Australia – Queensland Committee earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au – Queensland Branch — Queensland’s peak advocacy body for early childhood education and care, providing research and resources on creative arts, play-based learning, and best practice in early childhood settings.

Sorella Early Learning is a family-owned, purpose-built early learning centre in Griffin, QLD, dedicated to nurturing and empowering every child to blossom into their best selves. We welcome children from 6 weeks to school age, Monday to Friday, 6:30am to 6:30pm. Our unique facilities include an on-site art gallery, Lumiere studio, library, swimming pool, in-house chef, and family breakfast bar. To enquire about enrolment or to book a tour of our gallery, contact our team today.

Transition Readiness: Preparing for Next Level Learning

by Josie | Apr 17, 2026 | Childcare Advice

Every transition in a young child’s life is a significant event — not just a change of room or a new building to walk into, but a moment of genuine becoming. Moving from one room to the next at Sorella Early Learning, stepping into our Kindergarten program, or preparing to walk through the gates of a primary school for the first time: each of these transitions asks something real of children, and of the families who love them.

At Sorella Early Learning in Griffin, we approach transition readiness with the same intention and care that defines everything else we do. As a family-owned centre, we understand that transitions are felt deeply — by children, by parents, and by the educators who have watched those children grow. Our role is not simply to prepare children for what comes next. It is to ensure they arrive at that next step with confidence, curiosity, and the deep sense of their own capability that comes from having been genuinely known and supported along the way.

What Does Transition Readiness Actually Mean?

When people talk about ‘school readiness,’ there is sometimes an assumption that it is primarily about academic skills — knowing how to count to twenty, write one’s name, or recognise letters of the alphabet. While these are certainly meaningful, the research on what actually predicts a child’s success in school — and in every subsequent learning environment — tells a more complete and more interesting story.

The most robust predictors of transition success are not academic at all. They are social and emotional: the ability to manage one’s own feelings across a long and varied day; the capacity to build relationships with new adults and peers; the confidence to try something hard and ask for help when needed; the curiosity that keeps a child engaged even when the material is unfamiliar; and the resilience to recover from setbacks without falling apart. These are the capacities that determine whether a child thrives in a new environment — and they are precisely what we build at Sorella from the very first day.

This is not to say that language, literacy, and numeracy don’t matter — they do, profoundly. But a child who can write their name and cannot yet manage their emotions in a group setting is not well-prepared for the transition ahead. And a child who cannot yet write their name but who is curious, communicative, resilient, and capable of genuine connection is far better positioned to succeed than any checklist might suggest.

At Sorella Early Learning, our approach to transition readiness holds all of these dimensions together.

How We Support Transitions in Practice at Sorella

Here are some of the specific, practical ways it shows up in our program at Sorella Early Learning.

Gradual Familiarisation Visits

Whether a child is moving to a new room within Sorella or preparing to visit their future primary school, we believe strongly in the power of gradual familiarisation. A child who has walked into a new room several times before the official move, who has met their new educators and eaten morning tea in the new environment, arrives on transition day with a felt sense of safety rather than a first-time experience of the unknown. We coordinate these visits carefully and follow each child’s individual pace.

Partnerships with Receiving Schools

For children transitioning to primary school, we actively build relationships with the receiving schools in our Griffin community. Where possible, our educators connect with Prep teachers and school transition coordinators to ensure that what we know about a child is shared in a way that supports their first weeks in the new environment. We participate in school transition programs, support children’s orientation visits, and keep families informed about every step of the process.

Family Communication and Partnership

Families are the most important transition support a child has. At Sorella, we communicate openly and regularly with families about their child’s transition journey — sharing what we are observing, what we are working on, and what families can do at home to support the readiness process. We invite families to ask questions, share concerns, and participate in the transition planning that shapes their child’s experience. Nothing about transition happens without you.

What Families Can Do: Supporting Transition Readiness at Home

The Sorella team is your partner in preparing your child for their next step — but here are some of the most effective things families can do to support their child’s readiness.

Talk about change positively and honestly — Children take enormous cues from the adults around them. When you approach the upcoming transition with calm excitement and honest acknowledgement that new things can feel big, you give your child both permission to feel nervous and confidence that they can handle it. Avoid false reassurances (‘it will be so easy!’) and instead offer honest warmth: ‘It might feel new at first, and that’s okay. New things always feel that way, and you’re so good at figuring things out.’
Practise independence skills at home — Give your child real opportunities to do things for themselves: packing their own bag, pouring their own drink, managing their own belongings, dressing independently. These are not just practical skills — each one is a small act of confidence-building that tells a child: you are capable of this.
Read books about transitions together — There are wonderful picture books about starting a new room, starting school, making new friends, and navigating change — stories that normalise the experience and open conversations about feelings in the most natural way. Ask your child’s educator at Sorella for recommendations tailored to your child’s specific transition.
Maintain consistent routines — Predictability is deeply reassuring to children navigating change. Consistent sleep routines, mealtimes, and morning rituals reduce the overall load of uncertainty a child is carrying, and free up more of their capacity for the new things the transition will ask of them.
Visit the new environment together before the day — If your child is transitioning to a primary school, take the time to walk past the school, look at the playground, and if possible attend any open days or orientation sessions together. The more familiar a new environment becomes before the first day, the more manageable it feels.
Share your own stories of starting something new — One of the most powerful things a parent can offer is the knowledge that they, too, have navigated transitions — and thrived. Sharing age-appropriate stories of your own experience of starting school, moving to a new place, or trying something unfamiliar gives children a living example of the resilience that transitions require and produce.
Trust your child — and trust our team — Children are more resilient and more capable than we sometimes give them credit for. The months and years they have spent at Sorella Early Learning have been building exactly the foundations they need for this next step. Trust what has been built. Trust what you know about your remarkable child. And trust that our team will continue to walk with your family every step of the way.

Signs Your Child Is Building Transition Readiness

Families sometimes ask us: how do I know if my child is ready? It is a natural question — and the honest answer is that readiness is less a destination than a direction. Here are some of the signs we watch for at Sorella as indicators that a child is building the foundations for a successful transition.

They can separate from their parent at drop-off without any upset — or recover from initial upset within a short time.
They show curiosity about new activities and engage with unfamiliar materials without requiring constant reassurance.
They can communicate their needs and feelings to a trusted adult using words — even simple ones.
They participate in group activities, take turns, and show awareness of others around them.
They can manage basic self-care tasks: eating independently, managing toileting, attending to their own belongings.
They show persistence when something is difficult — returning to a challenge after a setback rather than immediately disengaging.
They have at least one genuine friendship or comfortable peer relationship.
They show enthusiasm for learning — asking questions, exploring materials, and showing interest in how things work.

Talk to your child’s educator at Sorella. Share what you are observing at home. The more we know, the more intentional and targeted our support can be. Transition readiness is built together.

Watching a child make a successful transition is one of the most deeply satisfying experiences in early childhood education. After months or years of building relationships, cultivating capabilities, and holding each child’s potential with care — seeing them step confidently into what comes next is the moment we work toward every day at Sorella Early Learning.

Further Reading & Sources

Easter Exploration: Cultural and Religious Learning

by Josie | Apr 3, 2026 | Childcare Advice

At Sorella, we believe that learning about where celebrations come from — the stories, the symbols, the traditions, and the different ways families across the world celebrate tradition.

Why Cultural and Religious Learning Matters in Early Childhood

Young children are natural anthropologists. They are deeply curious about the way the world works — and that curiosity extends naturally to the question of how people live, what they believe, and why they celebrate. Research in early childhood development consistently shows that children who are introduced to cultural and religious diversity in their earliest years develop stronger empathy, more flexible thinking, and a more confident and grounded sense of their own identity.

The Early Years Learning Framework reminds us that children’s sense of belonging, being, and becoming is profoundly shaped by their experience of community and culture. When we explore Easter — its Christian origins, its pre-Christian seasonal roots, and its diverse expressions across communities around the world — we are not teaching theology. We are teaching children that the world is wider, richer, and more fascinating than any single perspective can contain. That is one of the most important early childhood lessons there is.

At Sorella Early Learning, our Griffin community brings together families from a wide range of cultural and religious backgrounds. Our Easter exploration is designed to honour that diversity — reflecting the real fabric of our community back to the children in our care, and ensuring every child sees their own family’s way of experiencing the world as worthy of celebration and respect.

One of the most joyful aspects of Easter exploration in early learning is discovering how differently this season is celebrated across the world. Each tradition carries its own beauty, and each one opens a door to a new kind of wonder.

A glimpse of Easter around the world includes:

In Greece and Russia, Orthodox Easter — often celebrated on a different date to Western Easter — is marked by candlelit midnight services, the greeting “Christos Anesti!” (Christ is risen!), and the sharing of red-dyed eggs symbolising the blood of Christ and the joy of resurrection.
In Sweden and parts of Scandinavia, children dress as Easter witches — wearing headscarves and carrying broomsticks — and go door to door offering decorated twigs in exchange for sweets, in a tradition that blends ancient folklore with Christian celebration.
In Mexico and parts of Latin America, Semana Santa (Holy Week) is observed with elaborate processions, beautiful street art made from coloured sawdust and flowers, and deeply communal acts of remembrance and celebration.
In Australia, the Easter Bilby has become a beloved alternative to the Easter Bunny — a culturally resonant symbol that honours native wildlife and raises awareness of conservation, weaving First Nations perspectives into the seasonal story.
In Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Orthodox celebration of Fasika is one of the most significant religious events of the year — marked by fasting, prayer, feasting, and the wearing of traditional white clothing in communities across the country.
In Poland, Śmigus-dyngus (Wet Monday) is celebrated on the day after Easter Sunday, when people playfully splash each other with water — a folk tradition believed to bring health and good fortune as the new season begins.

We actively invite families to share their traditions with us — through a photograph on our Celebrations Table, a recipe shared with the room, a visit to share a story, or simply a conversation with your child’s educator about how your household marks this time of year. The more our program reflects the real diversity of our Griffin community, the more meaningful and honest our children’s learning becomes.

And for families who may not observe Easter at all, we want you to know that your child is always held with care and respect in our Easter learning. Our approach is never prescriptive or exclusionary. We explore Easter as one of many rich human celebrations, and every child is free to engage with that exploration at their own level and in their own way.

We are proud to be a place in Griffin, Queensland, where that curiosity is welcomed, nurtured, and met with warmth. From our family to yours — may this Easter season bring you joy, connection, and a little unexpected wonder.

Further Reading & Sources

Getting Ready for April School Holidays: Maintaining Routines at Home

by Oksana | Mar 28, 2026 | Childcare Advice

The April school holidays are just around the corner — and while a break from the regular routine is something every family looks forward to, it can also bring a few unexpected challenges, especially for young children who thrive on structure and predictability.

At Sorella Early Learning, we know that routines are more than just timetables — they are a powerful source of security, comfort, and confidence for young children. The good news is that maintaining a sense of routine over the holidays doesn’t mean sacrificing the fun. With a little planning and flexibility, the April break can be both relaxed and wonderfully enriching.

🧠 Why Routines Matter So Much for Young Children

Young children experience the world very differently from adults. When children know what to expect — when mealtimes, rest, and play follow a familiar rhythm — they feel safe, regulated, and ready to learn. Disruptions to routine, even enjoyable ones like holidays, can sometimes lead to increased emotional sensitivity, trouble sleeping, and changes in behaviour.

This isn’t a sign that something is wrong — it’s simply a child communicating that their world feels different right now. Understanding this helps families respond with warmth and intentionality rather than frustration.

🌟 Sorella Tip

You don’t need a minute-by-minute schedule over the holidays — but keeping the “anchors” of the day consistent (wake time, mealtimes, nap or rest time, and bedtime) gives children the predictability they need to feel secure and settled.

⚓ The Four Routine Anchors to Keep in Place

🌅 Morning Wake Time — A consistent wake time helps regulate the body clock and sets a positive tone for the whole day ahead.
🍽️ Mealtimes — Regular, predictable mealtimes support healthy eating habits and give the day a natural, reassuring rhythm.
😴 Rest & Nap Time — Even children who have outgrown napping benefit from a quiet rest period — it supports emotional regulation and focus.
🌙 Bedtime Routine — A consistent wind-down sequence — bath, stories, bed — signals to the brain that sleep is coming, making bedtimes smoother for everyone.

🗓️ Creating a Relaxed Holiday Rhythm

Think of your holiday routine as a gentle structure rather than a strict schedule. Instead of planning every hour, try organising each day around three simple zones: a morning activity, a midday rest or quiet time, and an afternoon adventure. This gives children just enough predictability to feel secure while leaving plenty of room for spontaneity and fun.

Even simple visual cues — like a hand-drawn daily chart with pictures that children can help create — give young children a sense of ownership and calm. When children can “see” what’s coming next, anxiety decreases and cooperation tends to follow naturally.

🌿 Enriching Holiday Activities That Support Routine

The best holiday activities are those that feel special but also slot naturally into the rhythm of the day. Here are some ideas that align beautifully with the Sorella approach:

Morning nature walks — a short walk after breakfast connects children with the outdoors and burns energy early in the day.
Cooking a simple lunch together — involving children in meal preparation builds life skills while keeping mealtimes meaningful.
Afternoon creative time — drawing, painting, or building after rest time gives children a calm, purposeful outlet for their energy.
Bedtime story ritual — choose a new book each night of the holidays to make bedtime something children look forward to.
Screen-free mornings — keeping the first part of the day screen-free encourages imaginative play and sets a calmer mood for the hours ahead.

💛 A Note on Flexibility

Holidays are also meant to be enjoyed — and some days, routines will slip, and that’s completely okay. The goal isn’t perfection; it’s consistency over time. One late night or a skipped nap won’t undo the good work of a generally well-structured break. Give yourself and your family grace, and gently reset the following day.

🔄 Transitioning Back After the Break

As the April holidays draw to a close, a gentle wind-back to the regular routine in the final day or two makes the return to early learning much smoother for children — and for families. Try reinstating regular wake times, mealtimes, and bedtimes a couple of nights before the first day back, and talk positively with your child about returning to their friends and educators at Sorella.

Children take their emotional cues from the adults around them. When families approach the end of the holidays with calm positivity, children are far more likely to transition back with ease and excitement.

🍂 From all of us at Sorella Early Learning, we wish your family a wonderful, restful, and joy-filled April break. We can’t wait to welcome your children back through our doors refreshed and ready to explore!