Active In-Betweens: Autumn 2026

Term 3 was another amazing term of connecting to community through learning and play! We are proud to have continued the program at our local community and neighbourhood centres at Bundaleer, Bellambi, Warrawong, Albion Park Rail and Koonawarra. The mission we have at Active In-Betweens is to continue to provide a safe, free, and inclusive environment where everyone fees supported and empowered. 

It’s so lucky that there’s a program like this in the area — the kids get to hang out and do fun stuff!

The Focus – Fundamental Movement Skills 

This term we focused on the Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) which are the building blocks of physical development for children and young people. Through the development and practice of our fundamental movement skills we can ensure a lifelong involvement on physical activity! It’s been proven to help boost self-esteem and encourage young people to join in confidently in sports and outdoor play without the pressure of competition. 

Core skills like jumping, running, kicking and throwing form the foundation of physical literacy. By pairing fundamental movement skills with fun noncompetitive active games each week, we allowed children to have the freedom to move, take safe risks, and build lifelong healthy habits with their friends, peers, and mentors. 

SNAIIC Scavenger hunt 

This term we celebrated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day across our programs. We explored culture through connection food and play. A wonderful highlight was learning local Darawal language, with children showing of their skills and practicing how to introduce themselves in Native tongue. 

“Nagangbi ngayagang Sean.” 

We also connected to country by including a nature-based component to the scavenger hunt. We went out into the environment around the neighbourhood centres and encouraged children to explore the environment around them, whilst also taking care not to damage nature and collect some rubbish while we were at it. We also tasted native flavours including Warrigal Greens and Lemon Myrtle leaves. 

Children also loved getting to try out new and different games including Gorri and kai saying things like “I really like playing Kai — it’s fun to try games I’d never get to play otherwise!” 

Breathe Better Illawarra visits AIB

We were once again visited buy Alexander Brown from breath Better Illawarra. This term we combined fast paced physical activity with the children measuring how their breathing and heartrate is affected by it. The children thoroughly enjoyed getting into it with each other with games like soccer, boxing badminton and more. It is made even more fun and more engaging with Alexander bringing his stopwatch and medical grade heartrate monitors to bring an extra layer of realism. 

The kids loved seeing the instant results of their active play, with Ace observing: “That’s really cool, I’ve never seen my heartbeat before!” and Rylo exclaiming: “My heart rate has gone up so much!” 

Getting our hand dirty – Interactive art

We encourage children to engage in a wide variety of activities, not only getting them physically active, but also allowing them to express themselves in a variety of ways. This term we included fun art including playdough, Lego’s, leftover toys and nicknacks and paddle pop sticks. The children helped to make not only make the playdough with each other but also were able to take their creations home with them. The activity sparked great curiosity and creativity, with children asking us “This is so cool, I didn’t know you could make playdough! How did you make it?” 

Up Next: School Holiday Programs and Term 4

While we take a short break during the school holidays, the fun doesn’t stop! Check out our school holiday programs:

Give Me Space! A School Holiday Workshop for Families Living with Asthma: Thursday 8 October, 10am – 2pm

Learn to Cook: Wednesday 30 September, 10am – 2pm

Soccer Skills: Tuesday 6 October, 10am – 2pm

Kicking off the week of 19 October, Term 4 AIB runs for nine weeks in the following locations. See our What’s On page for program and location details.

📍Albion Park – Mondays

📍Bellambi – Tuesdays

📍Bundaleer – Wednesdays

📍Koonawarra – Mondays

📍Warilla – Thursdays