What to Include in Each Programming Box (and Why There’s No “Wrong” Bo

What to Include in Each Programming Box (and Why There’s No “Wrong” Box)

Butler Diaries @ 08 Jan 2026 (updated)

One of the most common questions we hear from educators is:

“What actually goes in each programming box?”

And just as often:

“Am I putting the right thing in the right place?”

If you’ve ever paused over a box wondering whether an experience belongs there, you’re not alone. Programming in Early Childhood Education and Care isn’t about sorting experiences into rigid categories — it’s about making your intentional teaching visible and showing how learning unfolds across the day.

This post breaks down ideas for what to include in each programming box, links them clearly to the EYLF, and — most importantly — explains why the same experience can legitimately sit in different boxes, depending on your purpose.

A completed example of the inside of the EYLF Weekly Programming and Reflection Child Educator Diary - EYLF Programming Spread

First: A Helpful Reframe

Programming boxes are planning prompts, not rule-based containers.

The box you choose should reflect:

your intentional focus
how children are engaging
what learning you are supporting or extending

This is exactly what assessors are looking for — not perfection, but clear thinking and professional judgement.

For example, reading a story could fit into Group Learning/ Intentional Teaching and may be written as "Hungry Caterpillar - Exploring Healthy Choices", this shows you are intending to read it during a group experience and have the intention of exploring healthy food choices. That same story could also be recorded under Cognitive/ Language if the intention was just to explore language through reading a book or Wellbeing/ Mindfulness since you're exploring healthy bodies. It could also go under 'Environment/ Cultural' if your focus was on the caterpillar, its lifecycle or biodiversity.

Where you place the experience depends on the intentional teaching behind the experience.

This is how you show a holistic and intentional program.

If you’d like deeper guidance on this approach, our digital training (Weekly Programming and Reflection Diary Guide and Cycle of Planning Professional Development Training) shows exactly how the Butler Method aligns with the Cycle of Planning and EYLF expectations.

Experience Ideas for Each Programming Box

Now that we've had our thinking reframed, we will share experience ideas for each programming box to give you an idea of the kinds of experiences you can document. Keep in mind the section above, most of these experiences can be programmed across multiple boxes depending on your children's goals and intentional teaching strategies.

Group Learning / Intentional Teaching

What this box supports:
Planned, educator-guided experiences where learning intentions are clearly identified.

What you might include:

Small group investigations or experiments
Planned cooking or food preparation
Explicit literacy or numeracy experiences
Group discussions or problem-solving tasks
Cultural learning experiences introduced intentionally
Large whole group experiences or smaller group experiences

EYLF links (examples):

Outcome 2: Children are connected with and contribute to their world
Outcome 4: Children are confident and involved learners
Outcome 5: Children are effective communicators

Key point:
Intentional teaching doesn’t mean rigid or scripted. It means being purposeful — whether the experience is highly structured or flexibly adapted in response to children. It may be pre-planned or be spontaneous.

Remember:
Not all group experiences have to be placed in this box. You may have your large group experience recorded here and a small group experience recorded under creative activities because you are going to be doing yoga.

Creative Activities

What this box supports:
Creative expression across art, music, movement, and design.

What you might include:

Painting, collage, clay, drawing
Music and movement experiences
Creative construction using loose parts
Exploring textures, colour, and materials

EYLF links (examples):

Outcome 4: Creativity, imagination, and problem-solving
Outcome 5: Expressing ideas through multiple forms

Key point:
This could be educator-led or child-led. You may have loose parts available in the service and today children spontaneously used them to create a small world for their dolls. What matters is that you capture quality documentation that tells us something about the children and their learning.

Remember:
Creative experiences may occur throughout the day in many different areas so you may also record a creative experience under wellbeing/ mindfulness because the child was creatively reflecting on their learning in the Children's Voices Diary for example so the learning better reflects wellbeing and mindfulness learning outcomes.

Yoga stories - 5 Stretchy Story Bundle - Butler Diaries

Cognitive / Language

What this box supports:
Thinking, reasoning, communication, and language development.

What you might include:

Storytelling and shared reading
Games involving memory, patterns, or sorting
Conversations sparked by children’s questions
Early numeracy and literacy experiences
Problem-solving challenges

EYLF links (examples):

Outcome 4: Dispositions for learning
Outcome 5: Language, literacy, and communication

Key point:
These experiences can be practically anything if the main learning or intention behind the experience surrounds cognition or language. For example, building with blocks may go here if your intention is for children to problem solve and work together on a joint build. Or you may record Home Corner if children were fostering language skills during their role play.

Remember:
Almost all experiences involve some sort of cognition and language. You are recording an experience that demonstrates significant learning with the key intention being fostering cognitive or language development.

Wellbeing / Mindfulness

What this box supports:
Children’s physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing.

What you might include:

Yoga, stretching, or relaxation experiences
Emotional literacy discussions
Mindfulness or breathing activities
Quiet spaces for regulation
Self-help routines that build independence

EYLF links (examples):

Outcome 3: Children have a strong sense of wellbeing
Outcome 1: Sense of identity and self-regulation

Key point:
You might explore mindfulness through books, yoga, quiet spaces, routines, transitions, or any type of play.

Remember:
The intention here is the body and wellness, so could focus on being active, eating healthy, feeling calm, or other related areas.

Yoga stories - 5 Stretchy Story Bundle - Butler Diaries

Environment / Cultural

What this box supports:
Intentional design of learning environments and cultural responsiveness.

What you might include:

Changes to room layout or learning zones
Cultural resources reflecting families and community
Provocations that invite inquiry
Visual prompts, artefacts, and natural materials
Exploring the natural environment, including fauna and flora

Children sharing their identity

EYLF links (examples):

Outcome 2: Respect for diversity and connection to community
Outcome 4: Learning through exploration

Key point:
This area could focus on the environment and country or focus on learning spaces in your room. It could also be used to link to the Sustainability and Cultural Calendars with references.

Remember:
You do not have to record every environment update or cultural experience but record practice that is intentional and demonstrates learning outcomes, principles, and practices.

Outdoor Experiences

What this box supports:
Learning that occurs in outdoor environments.

What you might include:

Nature-based play
Risk-taking and physical challenges
Gardening and sustainability experiences
Outdoor creative or sensory invitations

EYLF links (examples):

Outcome 3: Physical wellbeing
Outcome 2: Connection to the natural environment

Key point:
This helps link intentional teaching across both the indoor and outdoor environment and can include planned or spontaneous experiences. If you use the Central Outdoor Weekly Programming and Reflection Diary, this space can be used to link back to that Diary.

Remember:
You do not have to record an experience in every box, every day. The boxes are prompts to inspire and help guide you, not box you in.

Children’s Spontaneous Learning

What this box supports:
Child-initiated learning that emerges naturally through play.

What you might include:

Free play experiences
Peer-led learning moments
Self-directed exploration
Unplanned investigations sparked by curiosity

EYLF links (examples):

Outcome 1: Agency and identity
Outcome 4: Curiosity and confidence as learners

Key point:
You are required to pre-plan part of your program to show intentional teaching but that also has to be balanced by a child-led curriculum.

Remember:
While all boxes can contain child-led experiences, this box ensures you capture children's interests and ideas daily for future extensions and planning.

Extension Column: Making the Cycle of Planning Visible

Extension Experiences / Children’s Voices / Community / Cultural / Sustainability / Weekend Plan / Observations

This column is where your programming truly comes together.

You might use it to record:

Children’s voices and ideas
Extensions to previous learning
Family or community input
Sustainability links
Reflections or observations
Ideas for weekend or future planning
Links to your Sustainability and Cultural Calendars or Individual Observation Duplicate Book

To-do lists or planning notes
Children's goals

This is where assessors often see reflection, responsiveness, and next steps — the heart of the Cycle of Planning.

A simple program example with links to frameworks using stickers and highlighters

The Most Important Thing to Remember

Any experience can fit into any box.

What matters is not the category — it’s the intentional teaching behind it.

The same activity could appear in:

Group Learning one week
Children’s Spontaneous Learning the next
Or be extended through the Extension column

That flexibility shows professional judgement and intentional teaching. It means the learning you are intending is what is leading your program.

Want Support Using the Diary With Confidence?

Our Weekly Programming and Reflection Diary digital training walks you through:

the programming and reflection spread
how to record experiences in your diary
how to avoid over-documentation
how to confidently explain your programming during Assessment and Rating

Once you're confident with your Diary, the Cycle of Planning Professional Development training takes you through detailed examples step by step of how to show the cycle of planning.