Ivory Curl: our 2027 Weekly Programming and Reflection Diary cover, and 3 ways to explore it with children
Meet Buckinghamia celsissima, the ivory curl flower behind the cover colour of our 2027 Weekly Programming and Reflection Diary, plus three easy EYLF-linked nature-play ideas to try with your children.
Each of our 2027 cover colours is named after an Australian native plant. The Weekly Programming and Reflection Diary wears Ivory Curl, and here is a little about it, plus three easy ways to explore it with your children.
Meet Ivory Curl
Buckinghamia celsissima, the ivory curl tree, comes from the rainforests of tropical north Queensland and is now planted in streets and parks across the east coast. In summer it covers itself in long, cream flower spikes that curl like ribbons and hum with bees and butterflies for weeks on end.
We chose it for the educator's diary because it rewards patient watching. The spikes unfurl slowly, a little more every day, which is a lovely echo of the cycle of planning this diary makes visible, one week at a time.
Bring it into your program
Three simple experiences, each with a link to the EYLF so you can drop it straight into your planning.
1. Ribbon curls
Show the children a photo of the flower spikes, then let them curl paper strips around pencils and build their own ivory curl tree collage. Talk about which strips curl tightly and which spring loose.
EYLF: Outcome 5 (children are effective communicators, expressing ideas through art) and Outcome 4 (fine-motor experimentation).
2. Bee watch
Find any flowering tree or shrub in your outdoor space and sit quietly with the children for five minutes. Who visits? Count the bees and butterflies, and wonder together about why flowers feed them.
EYLF: Outcome 2 (children are connected with and contribute to their world).
3. Slow-motion flowers
Choose one bud in your garden and photograph it with the children every day for a week. Line the photos up and talk about what changed. Nothing teaches patience and observation like a flower on its own schedule.
EYLF: Outcome 4 (children are confident and involved learners, developing skills of observation and inquiry).
Notice and document
As the children explore, jot down their questions, theories and discoveries in your Weekly Programming and Reflection Diary. That is the Butler Method in action, planning from real interest and making the learning visible.
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