Welcome to Laugh, Learn, Play — your go-to spot for all things fun, educational, and exciting at Building Blocks. We celebrate the joy of childhood with tips, activities, and stories that inspire and delight. Whether you're a parent, caregiver, or just love the magic of childhood, explore the latest adventures in our world of childcare!
Providing tamariki with plenty of rich opportunities to engage their creativity and imagination helps support their development, identity and ideas about the world around them. Art is a fantastic way to support this. Here are a range of art experiences you can provide to engage young minds and encourage their natural curiosity.
Matariki 2026 celebrates “Matariki herenga waka” which celebrates Tamaki (the wider Auckland region and the city of sails), Matariki and the gathering of canoes. In essence it celebrates that Matariki brings all of us together and creates a connection across Aotearoa.
Young children experience art by sensory exploration that helps to develop their fine motor skills, spatial awareness, and cognitive abilities such as cause and effect understanding and problem solving. Through art children learn to express their emotions, communicate ideas, and foster creativity making it a crucial part of their academic and holistic growth.
"What if I was to tell you that a game of peek-a-boo could change the world?" asks seven-year-old Molly Wright, one of the youngest-ever TED speakers. Breaking down the research-backed ways parents and caregivers can support children's healthy brain development, Wright highlights the benefits of play on lifelong learning, behaviour, and well-being, sharing effective strategies to help all kids thrive by the age of five.