At Sanctuary Early Learning Adventure Buderim, growing resilience and the journey toward school readiness begins early – long before children ever set foot in a school Prep classroom.
While many families believe that the journey to school readiness often starts in the kindy room, Sanctuary believe it starts in the nursery with loving routines and responsive relationships. With that foundation in place, the pre-Kindy and Kindergarten years are when significant developmental strides can bloom. These years are filled with new challenges, growing autonomy, and expanding social worlds.
Children are learning not just how to communicate and collaborate, but how to cope. How to manage big feelings, bounce back after disappointment, and navigate the complex world of friendships, routines, and responsibility. At Sanctuary Buderim, emotional resilience is not an added extra; it is at the heart of everything they do.
Riding a trike at Sanctuary Early Learning Buderim
Understanding emotions in Pre-Kindy: where it all begins to bloom
For three-year-olds in the pre-Kindergarten room, emotional development is at the forefront. Children at this stage are navigating the early balance between “I can do it myself” and “I still need help,” often without the language to express what’s going on inside. As independence rises, so too does frustration, excitement, anxiety, and joy—sometimes all in a single morning.
To support this growth, educators have introduced a research-based project exploring emotions through colour, facial expressions, and reflective documentation. The children are invited to express what sadness might look like. What colour feels like “calm,” or how their face changes when they’re surprised. It’s a gentle and creative invitation to gain a deeper understanding of oneself and others.
The outdoor playground at Sanctuary Early Learning Buderim
This project is embedded into daily practice through conversations, puppetry, storytelling, and calming strategies such as “balloon breathing.” Educators model emotional language and co-regulation techniques, building trust while empowering children to recognise and manage their feelings. The result? Children who are not only more in tune with their emotions, but also more confident in expressing them, and more resilient when things don’t go to plan.
Resilience built through natural connection
Emotional resilience is being shaped through connection – with people, with place, and with nature. Educators are currently leading a transformation of the outdoor environment, creating spaces that are both functional and emotionally rich.
The team has embarked on reviving the herb garden and worm farm, creating daily rituals that involve tending, nurturing, and observing. These small acts of care are powerful in building responsibility, patience, and pride. Children are learning that what they do matters—that they are capable, helpful, and needed.
Outdoor mealtimes have also become a cherished part of the pre-Kindergarten experience. Gathered beneath the sky, surrounded by the gentle sounds of nature, children share food, conversation, and laughter. These moments foster social connection and mindfulness, making mealtime a time to reflect, recharge, and relate.
Building resilience begins with feeling happy and safe
Soon, this ritual will become even more intentional, as the centre plans to install permanent outdoor dining furniture, turning this nourishing routine into a long-term feature of daily life. The connection between environment and emotional security is a powerful one—and one that Sanctuary Buderim embraces with intention.
Creative confidence in Kindergarten
In the Kindergarten program, emotional resilience is paired with growing cognitive capability and creative identity. Children are entering the final stage before Prep, and their sense of self is beginning to take a clear and confident shape.
Guided by experienced Early Childhood Teacher Kristel, the Kindergarten room is a lively blend of purposeful learning, self-expression, and social collaboration. The children are immersed in mark-making and imaginary play, where early writing concepts, such as line formation, are explored alongside storytelling, drawing, and role-playing.
But these activities aren’t just about literacy—they’re about emotional language. When a child draws their “angry” face in charcoal or builds a pretend hospital for a sad teddy, they’re processing emotions, working through empathy, and building emotional literacy in deeply meaningful ways.
Popular group activities—like constructing cubby houses and elaborate magnetic tile structures—add another layer to resilience-building. These experiences require negotiation, cooperation, and perseverance. Children are encouraged to listen to others, navigate disappointment, and keep trying. Through it all, educators provide scaffolding and space, allowing children to experience struggle without fear and success without pressure.
Playing in the sandpit at Sanctuary Early Learning Buderim
A long daycare kindergarten makes a big difference
Unlike stand-alone sessional Kindergarten models, Sanctuary Buderim’s Kindergarten program is integrated within a long day care environment—a difference that offers deeper support, greater consistency, and stronger emotional security.
Children have more time to revisit concepts, to build strong peer and educator relationships, and to experience learning at their own pace. There is no abrupt shift at midday, nor is there a transition to unfamiliar staff or environments. Instead, children are surrounded by familiar faces and steady rhythms from morning to afternoon, five days a week.
This model also strengthens the bridge between home and early learning. Families and educators work closely together, sharing insights and strategies, celebrating developmental wins, and building a shared understanding of each child’s unique emotional needs and strengths.
The result? Children who are not only academically ready for Prep, but also emotionally and socially ready.
Enjoying healthy chef-prepared meals each day
A continuum of care, a culture of belonging
While this article celebrates the transformative years between three and five, it’s important to acknowledge that the foundation for school readiness begins in the nursery. From the very beginning, Sanctuary Buderim provides infants and toddlers with consistent, nurturing care that lays the groundwork for future resilience.
However, it is during the Pre-Kindergarten to Kindergarten years that these early lessons begin to bloom. Children begin to self-regulate, leading their own play, collaborating, creating, and coping. These are not just skills for school—they are skills for life.
Thriving now and into the future
At Sanctuary Buderim, the goal is not just to prepare children for school, but to grow resilience that prepares them for the whole, beautiful, sometimes challenging experience of being human.
Emotional resilience doesn’t develop overnight. It’s cultivated slowly, over years of caring relationships, creative opportunities, and consistent support. It is grown in worm farms and block towers, in painted emotions and shared picnics. It’s in every “I did it myself” and every “Can you help me?” that echoes through the centre each day. And when children leave Sanctuary Buderim for their first day of Prep, they don’t just carry with them a backpack and lunchbox—they carry with them the strength to try, the courage to speak up, and the inner calm to navigate whatever comes next.
Because here, resilience is more than a program. It’s part of the culture. And it grows stronger every day.
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