Tag: australia

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The Benefits and Beauty of Bush Kinders

There’s something so special about children enjoying nature. And while we love to see children enjoying the summer sun, seeing them pull on some gumboots to splash in puddles and explore soggy wetlands is fantastic.

Early childhood education has many approaches, each with its own benefits and advocates. We are all continually developing and adapting, and that goes for educators too. One early learning approach that has been growing in popularity of late is the incorporation of the great outdoors. And with so many learning experiences to offer, this is very exciting!

Danish Forest School Approach

Just this week a great article about the Danish Forest School approach was featured in the Australian Scholarships Group (ASG)’s publication ‘Early Horizons’. Galina was featured in this edition too, interviewed about children’s wellbeing and the magic of the Bonkers Beat programs. You can read the whole publication here: http://bit.ly/2sL7k5P

The Danish Forest School approach is truly unique and special – and there is no one type of ‘forest school’… no two are the same. The Early Horizons article talks about how the Danish Forest School Approach uses its deep understanding of informal learning environments to promote creativity and critical thinking in its young students.

This forest pre-schooling approach has caught on internationally, including in Australia with the rise of Bush kinder programs.

The benefits of the bush

The research around kinder programs that take to the bush shows many benefits:

  • Increased confidence, motivation and concentration, increased social, physical and language skills, deeper conceptual understandings and respect for the natural environment
  • Increased social and imaginative play
  • Teachers understandings of and relationships with the children are deepened, while families and wider community attitudes towards natural places for play and children’s risk management can be enhanced
  • Positive outcomes for many diverse communities including disadvantaged or challenging youth, children with autism and drug addicted adults

Read more here.

Nurturing nature – the rise in outdoor learning

Bush Kinder is growing in popularity in Australia for good reason – the immediate and long-term benefits for children are undeniable. It’s an exciting time in early childhood education. Doug Fargher, the founder of Bush Kinder in Australia is joining us at the upcoming Wellness Summits in September and we cannot wait to learn from him.

Doug, in line with the forest schools of Europe, believes in nature’s potential to create a space for children to flourish in their period of critical early development.

Joining our award-winning Bonkers Beat community can provide you with many benefits and give you all access to our Summits on 2, September 2017 in Melbourne or 9 September 2017 in Sydney. You have to act fast to join us though – email info@bonkersbeat.com now or call 13000-B-BEAT (2-2328).

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This is it: 12 months of opportunity has begun

Welcome to 2017! A new year is upon us with 12 months of amazing opportunities for success and happiness for us all.

Like many, you may have made some resolutions entering the new year…  These can come in many shapes and forms – quit a bad habit, eat healthier food, do more exercise, visit friends more often…

Did you know that making resolutions on January 1st is said to date back to the time of Julius Caesar? He created the tradition, basing it on a mythical Roman god named Janus. Janus had two faces so he was able to simultaneously look back into the year that has past while looking forward into the new year that has commenced.

Two faces aside, we can all do a little bit of this, and should. That is, we should all reflect on 2016 and try to work out what went well and why. How can we repeat it? Can we do better?

We can also consider what didn’t go so well or where there was plenty of room for improvement. Again, why? And how can we make change and take steps towards bettering this area in 2017?

This year Bonkers Beat has made the resolution to grow and reach more early childhood educators and industry professionals than ever before.

We are expanding the Bonkers Beat Music and Wellbeing Program, providing more room for centres right across Australia to come on board. We are even taking interest from those interested internationally!

The Bonkers Beat Program includes more than ever before too – more value and even more amazing results for centres, management, educators, families and, of course, for children.

Just a reminder too that Bonkers Beat members have exclusive access to not one but TWO jam-packed, high quality early childhood professional development conferences in your state this year. We are very excited about our special guest speakers for the 2017 Wellness Summits, and you should be too!

Bonkers Beat could be just what you need to achieve your 2017 resolutions. In fact, it’s not too late to join us and come along to our February and March Wellness Summits! Click here to learn more about our programs or email your expression of interest to admin@BonkersBeat.com.

Again, welcome to 2017 and we can’t wait to make this year absolutely awesome with you all!

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Staying healthy in winter

Winter has arrived and this often means the beginning of colds, flus and other bugs. Parents and early childhood educators would have to agree that children and colds are not a good mix! Let’s look at how to avoid illness this winter, how to prevent it spreading and how best to treat viruses if they do sneak in.

Preventing colds and other viruses

Prevention is the ultimate goal for health at any age, and these tips will help you stay healthy, even through winter:

-Exercise

-Get enough sleep and make sure it’s quality sleep

-Head outside and get fresh air even when it’s cold

-Eat a balanced diet including protein, fibre, vitamins and antioxidants

-Stay hydrated to keep your body functioning optimally

Stopping the spread of germs

Adults and children alike can reduce the spread of colds by being paying extra attention to:

-Handwashing

-Avoid sharing drinks, food and cutlery

-Stay home from work/childcare/kinder/school

-Throw used tissues away straight away

-Avoid touching mouth/nose/eyes

-Cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze

Treating colds and other viruses

While antibiotics are sometimes necessary, most colds and flus are viral infections, so antibiotics won’t help. Help the body get better faster with these tips:

-Plenty of fluids to keep hydrated

-Vaporiser or humidifier to break up mucus

-Lots of rest and quality sleep

-Honey to relieve coughs for children over 1 year old

-Keep warm, but don’t overheat

-Try eating a nourishing soup, like this one

In fact, what a fun opportunity to teach children about nutrition by cooking up a delicious, vitamin-packed soup! And as far as getting children to stay active in winter, rugging up with a coat and gumboots and having a splash in some puddles is always a hit!

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Learn, Respect and Celebrate – NAIDOC Week 2015

In 2015 the National NAIDOC theme is We All Stand on Sacred Ground: Learn, Respect and Celebrate.

Taking place from July 5-12, 2015, NAIDOC Week, as always, presents educators across the country with the opportunity to discuss and celebrate Australia’s rich indigenous culture.

If you haven’t celebrated NAIDOC Week before, NAIDOC originally stood for ‘National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee’, who would organise the events for this week of celebration, but has since become the name of the week itself. The week is dedicated to activities centred on supporting and celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

The NAIDOC website suggests a few points on how you can go about celebrating this year’s theme:

  • Invite elders or others to talk about local sacred sites or Indigenous culture
  • Learn the Traditional names and stories for places, mountains, rivers etc around your region

To celebrate Indigenous culture in a more general sense you might like to:

  • Read a Dreamtime story
  • Create your own Aboriginal art
  • Listen to Indigenous music
  • Take children to visit local Indigenous sites of significance or interest if possible

Expanding our knowledge and understanding of our history and culture is such a special part of learning, and being Australian we have a rich Indigenous history that deserves to be recognised and celebrated.

Here we also have for you some ideas, that can be used for celebrating NAIDOC week at home, in a centre, for a school holiday program or an incursion.

NAIDOC Week is the perfect time to do this and you’ll find plenty more information and resources via their website: naidoc.org.au

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Reaping the Rewards of Reading

We all have a book from our childhood that has special significance, perhaps even several that we treasure and love to revisit even now. The joy of stories and reading is something that Bonkers Beat truly believes in and this is why we are so excited to celebrate Book Week 2014.

The obvious benefit of reading to and with children is the development of great reading ability, but reading also assists in the development of bonding, thinking and numeracy skills. The slogan for this year’s Book Week is ‘Connect to reading ~ Reading to connect’, and is explained beautifully on the Children’s Book Council of Australia website:

“Connect to reading is about enjoying the experience of exploring story, and travelling to other worlds. The reflected slogan Reading to connect, has a broader social meaning, suggesting that reading assists in creating a bond with others. Within the world of the contemporary child, this is also relevant as they read books and they read to connect through a variety of media.”

At Bonkers Beat we often encourage children to act out stories that we read – we’d love to hear your ideas for celebrating Book Week, so please share with us over on our Facebook page!

Following this brilliant week of book celebration is a week to celebrate the core areas of education – from August 25 – 31 Australia will enjoy National Literacy and Numeracy Week (NLNW).

The NLNW website is exceptional and offers a range of useful resources and activities to incorporate Numeracy and Literacy themes into your week. For numeracy activities use this link: http://www.literacyandnumeracy.gov.au/reach-stars; and for literacy activities head here: http://www.literacyandnumeracy.gov.au/literacy-activities-0

It’s a busy couple of weeks for literacy and numeracy! What a perfect opportunity these educational weeks present for us to put a focus on these areas and continue to reignite the passion for learning in each child… and ourselves!

 

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Early Childhood Conference of the Performing Arts 2014

Based on the theme of ‘Learning Through Musical Play’, the 19th Early Childhood Conference of the Performing Arts takes place in Victoria this weekend, presented by the Victorian Orff Schulwerk Association.

As you can imagine, this conference is something that the Bonkers Beat team is passionate about and we are proud to announce that Galina Zenin will be among the exceptional collection of presenters at this year’s conference.

The EECPA 2014 program comprehensively covers various elements of music and education, right through from exploration of holistic education to boosting your confidence and renewing your enthusiasm.

The keynote speaker is a special guest from the USA, Lynn Kleiner and she has a wealth of amazing musical approaches to education to share with us:

Lynn Kleiner will introduce delightful rhymes, folk songs, dances, world music, classical pieces as well as instruments for the youngest music makers. Children become sensitive listeners, considerate participants, & successful musicians. The use of language, movement, rhythm & melody in a game-like atmosphere develops mental concentration, coordination, self-concept & creativity, while building an excellent foundation for future musical pursuits. From the beginning, the ideas & contributions of even the youngest music maker are recognized & encouraged. Everyone, including the adults are viewed as successful music makers.

Where: Genazzano FCJ College, Kew, Victoria
When: August 16 and 17, 2014

To join us at ECCPA 2014, register online here: http://www.vosa.org/index.php/Registration/36-eccpa-2014-registration

To find out more about Lynn Kleiner’s Teacher Training Course held across Kew and Caulfield locations in Victoria from August 16-19, click here: http://www.vosa.org/index.php/events/35-lynn-kleiner-teacher-training-course

 

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Growing Through Emotional Intelligence

Children’s imaginations are racing every day as their various types of intelligence are developed and they continue to learn new things. One particularly crucial area that they are experimenting with and learning about is emotions.

Emotional intelligence and awareness are very important skills for becoming a confident, resilient adult. The Victorian government’s education website identifies the set of skills involved in emotional intelligence, which includes:

  • Knowing your own emotions
  • Recognising and being sensitive to other people’s emotions
  • Knowing how to calm down when you are upset or angry
  • Developing the skills of restraint—knowing when it is wise not to say or do something.

 

Here are some ways you might like to consider developing children’s emotional intelligence:

  • Emotional literacy – identifying emotions in others and in ourselves, giving them a name so they can be acknowledged, accepted and dealt with in an acceptable way
  • Activities focused on expression of feelings  – instead of writing about how something made them feel, younger children may like to draw how they felt during a certain time
  • Conflict resolution role play – demonstrating and working with children to show them how to find a solution to a problem with others in a fair and measured manner
  • Reflecting on triumphs – encouraging children to remember times where they came out on top facing a challenge to assist them with developing optimism

(Reference: http://www.happychild.com.au/articles/teaching-emotional-intelligence-how-schools-can-educate-children-for-life)

Whether at home or within a childcare or kinder setting, the first step towards promoting positivity and wellbeing when it comes to emotions is allowing children to see that all feelings are okay, including the bad ones. A fantastic article on Berkeley’s ‘Greater Good’ site makes a powerful comment: “Terrible feelings like jealousy and fear and greed are invitations to grow, to understand ourselves better and to become a better person. When you see these “undesirable” emotions in children, think of them as opportunities to both learn more about their inner-world and—importantly—to teach them how to deal with negative emotions now and in the future.”

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Engaging Multiple Intelligences

When it comes to education at any level, we often see great emphasis placed on two areas of intelligence – verbal or English and maths. Intelligence quotient (IQ) tests and many academic tests predominantly measure aptitude in these areas. While we believe in the importance of these areas, we are also passionate about the idea of each person having multiple intelligences’ and that each one of these areas should be nurtured in early childhood education and beyond.

The term ‘multiple intelligences’ refers to a theory by American developmental psychologist Howard Gardner, who proposed that there are eight kinds of intelligence and of course we each possess skills within these. The eight areas Dr Gardner identified are:

Musical – a great understanding of music and often enjoy singing or tapping away
Linguistic – talented when it comes to words. These children may enjoy reading, writing and telling stories
Logical-mathematical – ability in maths and patterns. Skilled in strategy games
Bodily-kinesthetic – great physical ability when it comes to sports and expressing oneself physically
Spatial – often think visually and have well-developed artistic ability
Intrapersonal – understanding of their own emotions and desires with the ability to be self-motivated
Interpersonal – perceptive and leaders among peers with exceptional communication skills and ability to understand the feelings of others
Naturalist – a natural aptitude for recognising and classifying elements in nature, from animals to plants

Here are some really great links that offer comprehensive information on how to identify where one’s strengths lie when it comes to these seven areas, as well as supporting and opposing theories and the eights type of intelligence that Dr Gardner later identified: ‘naturalist’, referring to an ability to recognise elements in nature.

LINKS:
http://childdevelopmentinfo.com/learning/multiple_intelligences/
http://www.examiner.com/article/what-are-multiple-intelligences
http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=251
http://www.professorlamp.com/ed/TAG/7_Intelligences.html
As you can see, each child can fit into many of these intelligence categories to varying degrees. This broader view of intelligence equips educators and parents alike with the ability to teach in a way that can enhance these areas and allow children to blossom in the areas they are naturally destined to excel in.

Visit the Bonkers Beat Facebook page and share your ideas when it comes to educational techniques that focus one or more particular areas – we’d love to hear from you.

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Grandparents & Special Friends Day Celebrations

With Mothers Day in May and Fathers Day in September, at Bonkers Beat we have always found July to be the perfect time to host Grandparents Day.

The relationship between grandparents and their grandchildren can be varied – some are very close and play a huge role in children’s every day lives, while others may not be as close and perhaps even live quite far away or are no longer with us. Whatever the case may be, the grandparent role is very important in children’s lives and where a close grandparent is not be in the picture, children may have a ‘special person’ who they look to outside of their home such as an uncle, aunt or perhaps a close friend of their parents.

To quote the Raising Children website: ‘One of the great things about becoming a grandparent is loving and caring for your grandchild without being responsible for him in the same way his parents are’. And it’s easy to imagine what a special relationship can flourish from this bond with a child!

Research has shown that there are mental health benefits to maintaining a good relationship with grandparents as children get older, with both parties less likely to suffer from depression as a result of their bond. In fact, the same researchers highlighted the benefits of extended family for children, saying that these relationships are more important today than ever before.

Grandparents & Special Friends Day within centres can be a fantastic way of celebrating these support networks for children by giving them the opportunity to show their love and appreciation. Here are some suggestions and ideas from Bonkers Beat if you’re brainstorming activities:

-Create an ‘I Love You because…’ card and children can offer a special reason
-Create a photo frame as a gift
-Create a collage together of things that remind them of their relationship
-Sing some special songs together
-Play instruments together in a music session
-All children act out a favourite book for the grandparents/special friends
-Yoga and wellbeing activities with grandparents/special friends
-Grandparents/special friends may enjoy sharing a snack with the children
-Children might like to give grandparents/special friends a tour of their room

Here’s a link for you to find some great printables and other ideas for your Grandparents & Special Friends Day: http://activityvillage.co.uk/grandparents-day
Do you have some amazing ideas for Grandparents & Special Friends Day? Share them with us on the Bonkers Beat Music & Wellbeing Facebook page or comment here!

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Celebrating NAIDOC Week

It’s a special time around July each year when we celebrate NAIDOC Week around Australia – NAIDOC originally stood for ‘National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee’, who would organise the events for this week of celebration but has since become the name of the week itself.

From July 6-13, 2014 all Australians come together to take part in activities to celebrate and support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

The NAIDOC website offers a range of suggestions to help you come up with ideas to join in the celebration of Australia’s Indigenous culture. Here are a few of our favourites:

  • Display Indigenous posters around your class room
  • Invite local Indigenous elders to speak at your school or workplace.
  • Listen to Indigenous music.
  • Research the traditional Indigenous owners of your area.
  • Study Aboriginal arts and crafts.
  • Read a Dreamtime story.
  • Create your own Aboriginal art.
  • Visit local Indigenous sites of significance or interest.
  • Learn the meanings of local or national Aboriginal place names.
  • Invite Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander dancers to perform.

The discussion of NAIDOC and Aboriginal culture fits well with our previous blog about music and its benefits, as song, music and dance are at the heart of Indigenous culture. Song is seen as a means of expression, along with the art of performance and dance to tell a story. They are so important to Aboriginal people and often are at the core of special ceremonies, often adding very special significance to the music itself.

It is interesting to note that while we often see music, art, performance, dance and storytelling as separate things, the Aboriginal viewpoint sees them as a whole. And what a wonderful perspective that is to have! In some instances, Aboriginal elders may sing and paint the story as they sing about it. The stories and music will often focus on community, culture and their relationship with the land.

Read more about Australia’s Indigenous ceremonies, Indigenous performers and NAIDOC Week via these useful links:

http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/austn-indigenous-ceremony
http://australianmuseum.net.au/Indigenous-Australia/

http://aboriginalart.com.au/culture/trade.html

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