Brisbane Adventist College Early Learning has a brand-new play space that officially opens on Thursday 12 March and already feels like the beating heart of our campus. It’s a place where children, educators – and even the local wildlife – want to linger and play.
Our new play space replaces our 27-year-old playground and was designed by Early Learning educators and children in collaboration with Wearthy, a team that creates bespoke, nature-based play spaces. The concept for every corner is inspired by the different ways children move, imagine, and learn together.
Even our youngest learners are invited into safe, sensory-rich exploration with a dedicated Baby Space that has an open cubby and gentle waterplay. Gradual challenges and thoughtfully scaled features mean babies, toddlers, and Kindy children each find adventures that offer an appropriate challenge as they learn from each other and their educators, and in turn, their confidence grows.
Stepping into the Brisbane Adventist Early Learning play space feels like walking into natural bushland. Natural materials, grass, rocks, and plantings encourage imagination and help children feel adventurous.
In a single day, a child might:
- cross “fallen” logs
- conquer hills and survey their surroundings
- discover hidden treasures
- navigate the timber fort
- taste-test edibles from the kitchen garden
- get dirty hands in the mud kitchen
- spend contemplative moments in the yarning circle
- go for big moves and big energy on the soft green lawn
Child-led play and peer interactions unfold in the playscape, with educators close by for support. Every activity builds physical skill, resilience, independence, and social cooperation.
With so many places to choose from, it could be the ecosystem created for Zinzi – our Murray River turtle – that speaks the most to many of us. His living habitat shows how we share our space with God's creatures. Our local visitor would agree: a little possum curls up in a shady spot in the arbour for its daytime sleep, and passing children lower their voices whenever they spot him. It sums up what many of our children instinctively know – this space is welcoming, safe, and alive.
Yes, it supports the Early Years Learning Framework – but our families notice the joy rather than the accreditations. Parents, educators, and children equally have watched diggers and earth movers dismantle the old and reshape the new over the last few months – and the excitement has been contagious! To all of us, this new play space turns the outdoors into a living classroom and matches the natural rhythms of childhood. It represents everything we love and value: play that is purposeful and adventurous, grounded in nature and helping every child find a place to belong.
