Fabulous February

Spring is here!

If you’re a parent, then you know it’s a constant challenge to balance keeping the kids both healthy and entertained at the same time! That’s why we at Giraffe Childcare have come up with a clever, informative and adorable infographic, titled The A-Z of Getting Fit with Your Children. From Football to Yoga, Playgrounds to […]

Christmas is a fun time of year for children and their families.

It is that wonderful time of year again where the witches and goblins are out on show and there are magnificent displays of pumpkins everywhere.  

Mindfulness for children is about awareness of their thoughts, well-being and feelings.

While the seasons are slowly changing from winter to spring, and the days continue to get a little bit brighter, the children in Giraffe have enjoyed a wide range of spring time activities. Below are just some of the wonderful events that have taken place over the last few weeks in our centres: Pyjama Day […]

A team Workshop focusing on the Preschool learning environment.

Keeping calm…

Starting way back in the 8th century, dressing up and playing tricks is a Halloween tradition!

Halloween is just around the corner and it’s time to prepare! Whether you’re invited to a party, you’re planning on going trick or treating, or whether you’ll just be hanging out at home, kids just love to dress up for this special occasion. Here are some ideas for easy homemade costumes that won’t break the […]

Here are the highlights from our Summer Festivals in 2017!

Congratulations to the 2017 Preschool Graduates! Here are some photos that capture the excitement of the most recent celebrations.

Learning through play

Peter’s story-time tradition started after our Leopardstown centre held their annual Grandparents Day in September & invited the children’s grannies and granddads to join them for games and activities.

The children were all very egg-cited when a special Easter visitor hopped into our creches last week!

Celebrating our national day makes us all feel proud to be Irish, and it allows the children to gain a better understanding of Irish culture and traditions ( Aistear themes, Identity & Belonging).

It’s never too early to foster a love of books with your child. Stories will teach them all they need to know about the world they live in,

Staying fit as a Family

Giraffe Training Academy  – Toddler Staff Workshop Last Saturday, Giraffe Childcare’s Training Academy hosted a training day for 63 practitioners with Lillian and Carol from Early Childhood Ireland, delivering workshops on Facilitating Play Based Learning. Our senior crèche managers acted as our In-House workshop facilitators on the day, and covered a wide range of topics on Managing Children’s […]

The Affordable Childcare Scheme is currently available for ‘FIS’,  Medical Card holders and One-Parent families. It is also available to Adult Learners enrolled in VTOS or ETB courses.

Tips for preventing cold and flus this winter

Staff from each of our centres get together once a year to do a 10km mini marathon. This year a record number of our staff – 102 (!) signed up to take part in one of the biggest women’s sporting events of the year in Ireland – the VHI Dublin Women’s Mini Marathon. Our staff […]

As we wind down from the Christmas festivities, encouraging calm after the sugar rush, and as Santa returns to the North Pole, we begin to focus on the widely anticipated return to our normal day-to-day family life, whether that is back to work, school or crèche. Although we may have sustained some form of routine […]

If you really want to break the cycle of rivalry and children clashing with one another, allow them to pick activities that they can do together.

The children and staff at Giraffe Leopardstown host a rugby day in honour and support of the Irish Rugby team. Our Giraffe Leopardstown pre-schoolers had so much fun showing their support by preparing rugby related artwork and learning ‘Irelands Call’ assisted by their teachers, Ciara O’Reilly and Ivonne Gonzalez. Our deputy manager, Roisin Byrne, accompanied […]

Father’s Day is a great chance to celebrate the Daddies and it is a lovely family day. We brought a real sense of that into the centres with many activities leading up to the day.The boys and girls in our crèches had a busy week leading up to Father’s Day preparing gifts and cards for their […]

Planning for the potty is all about timing… it’s when your child is ready! You will know when the time is right when your child has developed enough physical skills to be able to walk and climb the stairs, to wash their own hands, and are showing an interest in what is happening in the […]