What Is a Childcare Incursion? A Director's Guide to Cost, Value and Choosing a Provider
If you run a childcare centre or kindy, you have probably been offered dozens of incursions. Some are brilliant. Some are a one off show that the children forget by lunch. This guide explains what an incursion actually is, what drives the cost, and how to choose one that genuinely adds to your program.
What Is a Childcare Incursion?
An incursion is a learning experience that comes to your centre, rather than your children going out to it. Instead of an excursion with buses, permission slips and extra staff, a specialist visits your service and runs a session on site, inside your normal day.
Common incursions include music, dance, science shows, animal encounters, sport and yoga. They can be a single visit or, more usefully, a regular weekly program that builds skills over time.
Why Centres Use Incursions
No ratio headaches. Children stay on site, so you avoid the staffing, transport and risk assessments that come with excursions.
Specialist knowledge. A trained specialist brings skills your educators may not have, and educators often pick up techniques they can reuse during the week.
Evidence for assessment and rating. A well designed incursion gives you clear links to the Early Years Learning Framework and the National Quality Standard that you can document in your program.
Something families notice. Parents love hearing about a regular, structured activity, and it gives your centre a point of difference.
One Off Shows vs Weekly Programs
A one off incursion is fun, but the learning rarely sticks. A weekly program works differently. Children become familiar with the teacher, the routine and the skills, and that repetition is where real development happens. Balance, coordination, listening and self regulation all improve with practice, not with a single visit.
If you are choosing where to spend your budget, a consistent weekly program almost always delivers more value per dollar than a series of unrelated shows.
What Affects the Cost of an Incursion?
Prices vary widely across Australia, so rather than quote a single number, here is what actually drives the cost:
Frequency. Weekly programs are usually priced per session and often cost less per visit than one off bookings.
Number of rooms and children. Several short sessions across different age groups in one visit is usually more efficient than separate bookings.
Session length. Sessions for babies and toddlers are shorter than those for kinder groups.
Location. Travel time to regional areas can affect pricing.
Whether it is funded from fees or a parent levy. Some centres include incursions in their daily fee, while others offer them as an optional extra.
The best approach is to ask any provider for a clear quote based on your rooms, ages and preferred day.
Questions to Ask Before You Book
Before you commit to any provider, check the basics:
Are teachers screened? Every teacher should hold a current Working with Children Check for your state, such as a Blue Card in Queensland.
Do they hold insurance? Ask for public liability cover details.
Is the program age appropriate? A session for a two year old should look very different from one for a five year old.
Does it link to the EYLF and NQS? Good providers can explain exactly which outcomes their sessions support.
Who runs it on the day? Your educators should be able to support the children, not run the session for the provider.
Why Yoga Works So Well as an Incursion
Yoga is one of the few incursions that covers physical development, emotional wellbeing and focus in the same session. It needs no equipment beyond a clear floor, works indoors whatever the weather, and gives children calming tools they can use long after the teacher leaves.
Yoga Bears Kids Yoga has run weekly yoga incursions in more than 600 early learning centres across Australia since 2019, for children from 6 months to 6 years. See how our childcare yoga incursions work, or contact us for pricing for your centre.
