Mini Ivy

Mini Ivy Mini Ivy Art | Adelaide
A calm, creative space for little ones to grow
Ages 3–6
Payneham & Torrensville
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www.miniivy.com.au

26/08/2026

A strip of grass along the bottom. A strip of sky at the top.

White space in the middle.

Before this, everything floated. Nothing sat on anything.

This is the moment a child works out they are standing inside a world.

Not floating in one.

Usually somewhere between 5 and 7. And it arrives all at once.

It is one of my favourite things to spot, because you can date it. One week the page is floating, the next week there is ground.

Nobody teaches this. No adult sits a child down and explains perspective. The child simply works it out, and the drawing changes overnight.

If you have a five year old, go and look at their last few drawings. You will know instantly which side of it they are on.

All five stages, and the seven things to say instead of “what is it”, are on one free printable page.

We run Mini Ivy in Torrensville, a structured creative development program for 3 to 6 year olds.

Comment CHART and I will send it straight to you.

Follow Art Studio for 3-6 year olds • Mini Ivy 🎨 for education, art and honest parenting.

25/08/2026

Your child is allowed to be bored.

I know exactly why the iPad comes out. You need ten minutes.
Ten minutes where nobody is touching you or asking you for anything. I’ve stood there with Kiara on my hip and dinner half made and thought, fine, take the screen, just give me the quiet.
But here’s the bit nobody talks about. We have filled every single gap in their day. School, then an activity, then a screen in the car, then a screen at the table while we cook. There is no empty space left anywhere in their life.

Boredom isn’t a problem to solve. It’s where a child learns to start something on their own. To sit in discomfort without escaping it. To make their own fun instead of waiting for someone to hand it to them.

The first twenty minutes are horrible. They’ll follow you around the house telling you there’s nothing to do. Let them be annoyed. 🙂

And then something shifts. Katerina builds something strange out of the recycling. Kristy is under the table narrating an entire storyline to herself. Nobody gave them a prompt or a plan.

That’s the skill. Not the drawing, not the game. The starting.
We took the iPads out of our house. My kids were furious. They got over it.

Follow Art Studio for 3-6 year olds • Mini Ivy 🎨 for more and comment DISCOVERY for a free session x

The mistake almost everyone makes, me included in my first year of teaching, is going straight to the pencil.Handwriting...
24/08/2026

The mistake almost everyone makes, me included in my first year of teaching, is going straight to the pencil.

Handwriting sits on top of shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand strength, in that order. Skip a rung and the child compensates with a grip that hurts and tires them out by lunchtime.

So stop correcting the grip and build the arm underneath it. None of these ten cost anything and most are already in your house.

Which of the ten is already happening in your house? I want to know.

Age-by-age milestones plus the full list is free. Comment GRIP and I will send it.

We run Mini Ivy in Torrensville, a structured creative development program for 3 to 6 year olds.

Follow Art Studio for 3-6 year olds • Mini Ivy 🎨 for education, art and honest parenting.

Address

211 Henley Beach Road
Adelaide, SA

Opening Hours

Tuesday 9am - 3pm
Friday 9am - 3pm

Telephone

+61433602888

Website

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