Merrilands Children’s Centre and Kindergarten

Merrilands Children’s Centre and Kindergarten provides a well-equipped outdoor environment that encourages children to pursue personal interests and develop both physically and socially. Our safe and upgraded facilities will keep your child endlessly entertained, while offering opportunities for learning about nature and the environment.

Our early learning centre features:

• Planned and intentional indoor spaces
• Large outdoor space
• Sandpit
• Herb and vegetable gardening beds
• Shade sail
• Play area with climbing equipment
• Swings
• Bicycle track
• Recycling area to encourage sustainability and caring for the environment
• Cubby house
• Gross motor play equipment
• Fairy garden.

We view all activities as an opportunity for your child to learn and nurture their natural curiosity through hands-on tasks such as feeding animals and tending to the vegetable garden. Many of our organised activities encourage children to interact with the natural environment to promote their knowledge of sustainable practices.

Some of these include:

• Recycling materials and water
• Tending to recently upgraded vegetable garden
• Cooking with home-grown produce
• Reptile encounters and egg hatching program
• Bug hunts
• Feeding animals and play time with safe animals
• Learning about native Australian wildlife
• Caring for recently hatched chicks.

We’ve also had many visitors and guest speakers including:

• A dental information session and van visit
• Responsible pet ownership program
• Melbourne Museum (about bugs, insects, and sea life).

We focus on empowering children to make healthy choices by offering engaging lessons on nutrition, food safety, and cooking. Hands-on activities in our garden get them excited about practising healthy eating habits and sustainable living, and we encourage parents to get involved in exposing their children to a range of diverse foods.

Some of our healthy practices include:

• Growing our own produce (e.g. herbs, vegetables, fruit)
• Accommodating diverse dietary requirements
• Practising food safety
• Working sensitively with parents and families from a range of cultural backgrounds to ensure cultural foods meet food standard requirements
• Preparing meals on site with a focus on balanced nutrition, flavour and variety
• Encouraging physical exercise
• Participating in the Sun Smart program.

Merrilands Children’s Centre and Kindergarten aims to create a welcoming environment that encourages all families to share their culture, skills, resources, and knowledge with the children. Families are vital to establishing connections with community organisations and resources that can be used to broaden your child’s understanding of the world.

Our staff speak a range of languages including Italian, Spanish, Filipino, Chinese and Greek. We can have all forms of communication translated for families who speak languages other than English.

Our educators are experienced in working with children who live with a range of physical and intellectual disability or have experienced challenges and trauma.

*Due to additional Government Covid-19 funding for 2021 only, kindergarten fees have been reduced to $0 for 4 year old children and $44 per term for 3 year old children.

4 year old kindergarten

$466.00 per term

Red Group - Tuesday and Thursday 8.30am - 4.30pm

Blue Group - Wednesday and Friday 8.30am - 4.30pm

3 year old kindergarten

$444 per term payable at the start of the term.

1 x 5 hour session per week on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday 9am – 2pm

Long day care

Monday to Friday 7.00am - 6.00pm $125 daily, $615 weekly