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The Children’s Gardens

The heart of The Farmhouse lies in the Children’s Gardens. It is here children engage with nature, be absorbed by it’s texture, individually discover the world around them, and have time to smell Mother Earth and understand her ways.

This is one of the most exciting parts of my dream for The Farmhouse!

There is such joy in watching children free to be themselves, be it chasing butterflies or making daisy chains, searching for worms and feeling them tickle your hand as they squirm. Having a secret space for sharing friendships, or building channels and bridges in a mud pit, children will be free to be themselves at their own pace, in their own time.

Sense of community

The value and breadth of life skills children learn from their older – and younger – comrades is phenomenal.

This sense of community is central to The Farmhouse so we have created one large, communal garden so children from different rooms can mix when outdoors.

However for children at primary school, we have a dedicated garden which provides an environment more appropriate for their longer legs and inquisitive minds !

Aaaah, space..

Australian legislation stipulates that outdoor play spaces provide 7 square metres per child. And most centres provide only this.

Bah-humbug! Our children have over 60 square metres per child in the main garden – and yes, all our children can play together at the same time!

Our research to date shows these are the largest outdoor play spaces provided in a childcare environment in the world! Larger than anywhere in Canada, USA, NZ, UK and Europe (we were pretty surprised by that too!).