Staying fit as a Family

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.

The workshops covered topics such as play-based learning, transitions for children moving rooms, and a wide range of skills demonstrations modules to promote best practice in care for the Wobbler age group

For the past 4 years, team members from our Giraffe centres have taken part in the Dublin VHI Mini Marathon on the June Bank holiday weekend. 81 of our Giraffe team members took part in the race this year. This year’s event was held on Sunday instead of on the Monday – and we were all very grateful […]

Our wellbeing week was full of activities running across all of our centres, including the LunchtimeMile, healthy eating and wellbeing initiatives.

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 […]

February has been an exciting month in Giraffe! With so many wonderful ‘early spring’ activities taking place over the past few weeks, we want to share some of the magical photos with you here. Fun in the Snow! Some of our centres enjoyed playing outside in the snow on a couple of occasions this month. The […]

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!

Learning through play

The children are waiting patiently at the lunch table, while Chef Natalia presents them with one of their favourite dishes…. Pork & Apple Casserole! Natalia has been our chef at Giraffe Blanchardstown for 4 years, and creates exciting seasonal menu options for the children. Pork and Apple Casserole from our Spring Menu The ingredients in this […]

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!

Some helpful travel tips

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 […]

What is Heuristic Play?

Halloween is the time when scary skeletons, spooky ghosts and wicked witches roam the world. All of the Giraffe centres enjoyed the build up to Halloween last week, and the children and staff certainly got into the spirit of the festivities! The children were delighted to dress up for the whole day for their Halloween parties. For […]

Tips for Toilet Training

Giraffe Training Academy  – Wobbler Staff Workshop Giraffe Childcare’s Training Academy hosted a training day for 75 practitioners on Saturday with Lillian and Carol from Early Childhood Ireland, delivering a session on Facilitating Play Based Learning.  There were also a range of skills demonstrations modules delivered by some of Giraffe’s senior crèche managers to promote best practice in […]

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

Celebrating Grandparents Day at Giraffe!

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 […]

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.

Supporting a clingy child

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 […]