Babyccino excursions, pottery, AI robots and computer coding are being added as early learning centre offerings, as families become more willing to pay bigger bucks for bigger perks.
Competition between childcare centres and parents’ appetite for what one expert calls the “holistic advancement of a child” has driven daycare facilities across Melbourne to provide cheerleading and tai chi classes, sensory rooms and language lessons.
Children in the “hero playscape” area at Woodlands Early Learning Centre on St Kilda Road.Credit: Joe Armao
Mums and dads are also being wooed with perks such as barista-made coffee and baked goods, breakfast sandwiches, occasional care and concierge services at drop-off time.
Ash Sachdev, the chief executive of childcare comparison site Care for Kids, said that parents, long used to taking home coughs and sneezes from childcare, were now being treated by some services to take-home meals.
“I think often childcare gets a really bad rap for being expensive. And don’t get me wrong, it is expensive. It’s not easy to be paying these fees,” he said.
But Sachdev said rent increases, wages, staffing mandates, specialist educational offerings, and food and nappies contributed to costs, and often it was worth it.
Toddlers take part in a cheerleading class at hey dee ho childcare centre.
According to lobby group Thrive by Five, a family with two children in childcare can shell out $25,000 a year in costs.
For $179 a day (before childcare subsidies), Woodlands Early Learning Centre on St Kilda Road offers children computer coding classes, an exercise coach, an Italian language program and its “hero playscape”, which features a small plane that was airlifted into the high-rise centre with a crane.
The business, which has seven centres, is expanding in “high-growth, underserved areas of Victoria” and will open more than 20 new sites in the next 12 months.
Founder Hamish Rotstein said the plane sparked “wonderment and imagination” in toddlers.
“Like all our unique playgrounds, it has natural landscapes, vegetable gardens and custom-built play elements, which foster children’s exploration, resilience and creativity,” he said.
“In the next month or so we’re also introducing a robotics program for the kids featuring real
AI-enabled robots which can interact with them, recognise faces and greet children by
name, answer questions using AI technology, dance with the kids and even take children’s
temperatures.”
Green Leaves Early Learning has parent lounges where they can enjoy a complimentary coffee and treat. Templestowe’s Journey Early Learning offers “date night” packages, so parents can have a stab at romance before they pick up children.
Hey dee ho director Jenny Wilkinson, who has been running early learning service programs for 27 years, said centres had become more professional and “super educationally focused”.
“Over the time I have seen some unusual things, I did see pottery in one of the services, that is really game. Imagine cleaning that up,” she said.
Wilkinson said toddlers loved cheerleading in their Active8 program. “It’s the tactile experience of feeling the pom-poms. From toddlers up, they are learning their steps.”
Heathmont’s Cuddly Bear childcare centre, in Heathmont, has a waitlist of up to two years and charges $161 for a full day, before subsidies. Manager Cheyana Murdoch said every service offered something a little bit different and helped satisfy childcare rating systems.
“In the early childhood market particularly, it is competitive, and that’s not going to change because demand is so high,” she said.
Childcare app KindiCare chief executive officer Benjamin Balk said more providers were offering support with the “juggle struggle” of raising a young family, including visits from speech pathologists and allied health services.
“Childcare services can also vary greatly in terms of what’s included in the fee so it’s really important that parents compare services and ask questions around what’s included,” Balk said.
Staff at Cuddly Bear, which is focused on sustainability, connection to country and the Wurundjeri people, light a fire pit to farewell each week. The centre has a Henny Penny Hatching program, where children feed the chickens in the yard.
“It’s no secret that fees are skyrocketing for families, things are getting more expensive. People want to know where their money is going. If they are paying X amount in fees, I want more than just your stock standard program,” Murdoch said.
Her own son has just started care. “I think to have a service where I know that he’s going to be loved, more than anything else, is the most important thing for me.”
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