Our Wonderful Giraffe Graduates

Spring is here!

We are often asked by parents when is it appropriate for their children to return to creche after an illness.

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.  

We love Halloween in Giraffe! The children and staff alike love decorating the centres and dressing up and really getting into the spirit of the spooky season! Each centre held a Halloween party and the children were delighted to dress up and see their carers dress up! For some of the younger children,  it was […]

All of our centres were full of creativity and inspiration last week leading up to the festivities of Easter. The centres took part in our annual Easter project where they were all provided with an Easter pack of art supplies to allow the children explore and express their own creativity. As part of our Reach […]

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

Lá fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh go Léir! ☘️ 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).St. Patrick’s Day is an exciting time for all children! In the run up to the day, […]

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 […]

Learning to Learn Every Day All of our centres are currently hosting parent developmental evenings. The parent evenings are an excellent opportunity for parents to discuss these records with their child’s key carers, and to look at their child’s holistic development linked to the Aistear curriculum themes : ·         Exploring and Thinking ·         Well Being ·        […]

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 […]

A team Workshop focusing on the Preschool learning environment.

Keeping calm…

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

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.

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).

Congratulations! We are thrilled to announce that three of our Giraffe centres have recently been awarded the status of Healthy Ireland Smart Start centres! Congratulations to Giraffe Cherrywood, Giraffe Navan and Giraffe Liffey Valley on completing this initiative. All Giraffe centres are currently enrolled in the programme and expect to receive their awards over the coming […]

Every year in October, ISPCC Childline host a fundraising event called Cheerios Breakfast.  It is a fun charity breakfast which is hosted across the country to help support the ISPCC Childline services which answers calls from children in need across Ireland 24 hours a day. This year the event ran from 17 – 21st of […]

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 […]

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

We recently held a special informational evening with our Parent Coach, Aoife Lee of Parent Support. The topic of the parent discussion was “Managing Change Together -Settling into Crèche, Moving Rooms and Preparation for School”. Our parents had provided feedback over the last few months on what they found were some of the more challenging aspects of parenting. […]

Summer is festival time in Giraffe! The children look forward to the Summer Festivals every year, and every Giraffe Centre hosts different events through the summer months. This year, we saw Teddy Bear Picnics, Jungle Days, Magic Shows & Magicians, Beach days, Family BBQs and much much more! We have as many fun outdoor activities […]

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 […]

Last week it was Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. To celebrate it with all our children relocated from Israel, we invited Maya’s mum Efrat to come today to bake a Challah with us at our centre in Celbridge. Challah is a special Jewish braided bread. The one made for Rosh Hashanah is made with […]

Summer is festival time in Giraffe! We have as many fun outdoor activities as possible during the summer months to make the most of the fresh air and sunshine! ☀️☀️☀️ Each centre has its own calendar of events from Family BBQs to Sports Days to Beach parties. We encourage the children to take an active part […]

Starting school is an exciting time for you and your child

Young children just cannot get enough of Nursery Rhymes