Healesville Sanctuary Kinder/Early Years

Healesville Sanctuary offers exciting Early Childhood programs that provide fun and safe ways for young children to explore natural environments and to get up-close-and-personal with our wildlife. 

Our Early Years programs provide great opportunities to discover, explore and connect with the natural world. Closely linked to VELS, our programs help students to develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours that are the foundations of their future learning.

  • KINDER- Things that go bump in the Night

    This program allows children to explore our bushland habitat room, meet and pat some sleepy Australian animals, and learn through play with puppets, puzzles, storyboards and games designed especially for pre-schoolers.

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  • KINDER- What are you wearing today?

    Pre-schoolers explore a variety of animal body coverings by making friends with some of our gentler animals. Through exploration and activities, children are encouraged to compare and contrast the textures of the different body coverings and wonder at their purpose for the animal's survival.

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  • A Circle of Life

    Animals, both great and small, have amazing and unique ways of beginning and completing their life cycles. Engage with a range of animals at different stages in their life cycle, wonder at the different life cycles of different species, and be inspired to care for animals in their habitats.

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  • Aussie Creature Features

    Investigate a variety of Australian animals to compare their features and discover how they use these to assist their survival. Feel the scaly covering of a reptile, pat a soft, shy possum or glider, be surprised by a slimy frog and meet inquisitive emus and their glossy green eggs.

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  • Homes and Shelters

    Animal habitats provide everything they need: food, water, shelter and protection.
    Meet some animals up close and discover their needs for survival, investigate how animal homes such as a frog bog and a Manna Gum stag meet survival needs, and plan some everyday actions to help protect animal homes.

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  • Wetlands and Waterways

    Let's go ponding! Explore a natural waterway where platypus live.

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