Vacation care programming is its own kind of problem. You have a room holding children from 5 to 12, a day that runs eight hours or more, and a group that has already done the obvious craft three holiday blocks running. An incursion has to hold all of them at once, not just the middle of the age range.

Mini Ivy runs art incursions across South Australia, and a solid share of them go to OSHC services rather than classrooms. This is what one looks like when the booking is for out of school hours care or a vacation care block, rather than a single year level.

Why an OSHC booking is not a school booking

Schools book an incursion for one year level with a fairly narrow age band. OSHC does not have that luxury, and the differences matter when you are choosing an activity.

  • Mixed ages share the table. A Reception child and a Year 6 child can sit at the same session. Our packages are built to absorb that: the same materials and the same brief, with room to go deeper. Children who want to follow the technique closely can. Children who want to push past it can. Nobody is finished after ten minutes and nobody is lost.
  • The session has to earn a real block of the day. These run 90 minutes and end with a finished piece each child takes home, so it anchors a session rather than filling a gap.
  • Your educators stay with their groups. We run the art, your team stays with the children, and duty of care and ratios sit exactly where they already sit. Mini Ivy is a visiting art program, not a staffing solution, and we are never counted in your numbers.
  • Attendance moves. Vacation care numbers are rarely what the roll said on Monday. The minimum is 20 children, so tell us the likely range when you enquire and we will quote on the realistic figure.

What actually arrives

It is our Torrensville studio, packed into the van and brought to your room. The team arrives 30 minutes before the start, puts drop sheets down, sets out materials, runs the 90-minute session, then packs down and leaves the room clean.

Mini Ivy art teachers deliver every session, with current Working With Children Checks and copies available on request. The children work with real techniques and real materials, not a worksheet, not a craft template, not a colouring page. They paint on canvas, build with structural materials, or sculpt with air-dry clay, and they take home something they are genuinely proud of.

The four packages

Pricing is per child. All packages run 90 minutes, suit ages 3 through Year 6, and need a minimum of 20 children. Travel fees may apply for regional South Australia.

  • Engineering Hub, $30 per child. Build and make: kinetic sculptures, paper engineering, structural collage. This is the one OSHC services book most often, and it is a natural fit for a STEM themed week.
  • Creative Cardstock Experience, $32 per child. Card-making, collage and mixed media using premium cardstock. Bright, accessible and mess-light, which helps if the room you have is carpeted or a long walk from a sink.
  • Easel and Canvas Package, $36 per child. Real canvas and real easels. The package that gets rebooked most across all our bookings, and the one that produces the most take-home pride.
  • Clay Creations, $38 per child. Air-dry clay: pinch pots, simple sculpts, beads and wall hangings. Pieces dry overnight, so you will want somewhere flat to leave them until the next day.

What works best for a mixed-age group

If your group spans the full 5 to 12 range in one room, Engineering Hub is usually the safest pick. It is open-ended, there is no single correct outcome, and a Year 1 child and a Year 6 child can work side by side and both be stretched. Clay behaves in much the same way.

Easel and Canvas still works with a wide age spread, and it is the package children talk about afterwards, but expect a broader range in the finished pieces. If that matters for a display, or the group leans young, Creative Cardstock is the more even result.

Every package can also run to a theme. Tell us your topic for the week, whether that is famous artists, under the sea, farm animals or something of your own, and we will match the activity to it. We have run sessions tied to NAIDOC Week, Harmony Day, literacy units and end-of-term celebration days.

What you provide

A room, tables, chairs, and access to a sink. That is the whole list.

We bring all art materials, paints, paper, canvases, aprons, drop sheets and brushes, plus setup 30 minutes beforehand and a full pack-down afterwards. If you have booked Clay Creations, add a flat surface where the work can sit overnight.

Planning a vacation care block

A few things worth knowing before you lock in dates.

  • Two weeks of notice is comfortable. We can sometimes manage a week. If you are working to a tighter deadline, text Valando directly on 0433 602 888 rather than using the form.
  • Book before the term ends. The days either side of a holiday block fill first, because every service is programming the same fortnight at the same time.
  • Regional South Australia is fine. We travel beyond Adelaide metro regularly, with a travel fee added to the quote. Tell us your town and we will price it properly rather than guessing.
  • One session a day is the usual shape. A larger service can run two back to back with different groups, which spreads the setup cost across more children.

How to book an OSHC or vacation care incursion

The fastest path is the quote form on the Mini Ivy incursions page. It gives you an instant estimate on the page, takes about three minutes, and asks for your group size, age range, preferred dates and suburb. Valando replies within 24 hours on weekdays with a quote, available dates and a package recommendation for your age mix.

If you would rather skip the form, email hello@miniivy.com.au or call 0433 602 888.

Booking for a classroom and a single year level instead? The guide to art incursions for Adelaide schools covers how a school booking runs.