Mooroolbark Early Childhood Education Centre

last week was science week! Children participated in a number of science based activities such as potion mixing, colour mixing, floating and sinking, magic milk and chemical reactions. Bunnings Warehouse Australia also came out and did a magic tiles experiment with all the children!

Fabulous to visit Mooroolbark Early Childhood Education Centre (MECEC) this morning for Early Childhood Matters Week!

Educating our youngest children plays a vital role in their development and sets the foundation for lifelong learning, health & achievements.

This year's theme of "Learning Through Play" was evident throughout the centre with all the children engaged in various activities with the support of their fantastic teachers & educators.

Thank you to Bri & Mel for showing me around!

Today we took a walk to the Mooroolbark Community Garden. We started off by talking about how to walk safely across the road and how to act safely and respectfully at the gardens. We talked about the different coloured cards around the gardens. Red means STOP this plant is not ready to pick. Green means YES this plant is ready to harvest. And yellow means WAIT this plant has just been planted.
We walked around the gardens and looked at all the plants, some garden beds were netted to protect the pants. Educators picked some herbs and vegetables to bring back to kinder. We talked about the volunteers and the hard work they do and placed a donation in to the donation slot.
The children then got the opportunity to climb the big tree, play with the fairy garden and look around the children’s area. The children found strawberries, garden ornaments, mushrooms, and bees buzzing around the gardens.
After the children had a play, we walked through the rest of the garden before heading back to the kinder.

Last week the 4 year old Possum group took a chartered bus to the Melbourne Museum! It was our first excursion of the year and all started with a book! The book called “Shoo you crocodile” sparked an interest in the museum, so we followed the children’s lead and organised this amazing excursion! The children were so excited to see the dinosaurs, see Phar Lap, see the ‘little house’ (old house) and of course, to ride the bus! We spent almost 5 hours there and had many sleepers on the way home!

Enrolments for 2027 are open! Do you have a child due to start kindergarten in 2027? Come down for a private tour to see what we have to offer!

We have two spacious yards and two large rooms. We have strong connections with the local community such as Mooroolbark library, Mooroolbark community gardens and local schools.
We offer many additional programs such a book borrowing, toy library, dental program, breakfast club and more!

For more details, give us a call!

https://www.yrkinders.com/how-to-apply

Today we were apart of Mooroolbark’s harmony day event in Hookey park! Our very own Lydia read a story during the event in hakha chin, we offered the children in attendance show bags and a play with some playdough and we sung heads and shoulders together!
It was so wonderful to see everyone and to liase with lots of wonderful community organisations including the Your Library (mooroolbark library) Cire Children's Centre Yarra Ranges Council Mooroolbark Community Garden and Lancaster Preschool!

Please see our 2026 timetable with limited spaces still available. Contact us for a tour and enrolment information.

Over The past few weeks, the kinder groups at MECEC have gone on local walking excursions to the Mooroolbark community gardens across the road. We have looked at different plants, fruits and vegetables, spied insects and birds, played in the fairy garden and met some of the volunteers. We even got to bring some vegetables back to kinder to eat, like beetroot, parsnip and turnip!

This week we have celebrated book week at MECEC! Hanna from Mooroolbark Library came and ran a story time for all of the groups, reading award winning books and some old favourites! Some of the staff also got into the spirit by dressing up!

This week has been national science week. The children at MECEC have embraced this by being involved in numerous science experiments. We watched the chemical reaction of vinegar and bicarbonate soda when making volcanos erupt in the sand, we repelled colour with magic milk, we created rain using shaving foam and watched baloon rockets blast off!