6 surprising benefits of music for children’s development

We all know music is enjoyable to listen to and create, but there’s more to music than just having fun. The benefits of music for children’s development are impressive and even a little surprising.

While there are countless benefits to exposing children to music on a daily basis, let’s look at just six of the surprising and important benefits of music for the development and wellbeing of young children.

1. Build children’s confidence

Learning to sing all the words of a song or learning to play an instrument – either way, the act of learning music is a sure fire way to help children to gain confidence in their ability to take on new skills.

2. Enhance children’s communication

As the saying goes ‘Where words fail, music speaks’. As we all know, children can often have trouble with finding the words to express themselves but by being in touch with music and song children are able to explore feelings on a deeper level that they may not otherwise understand.

Music often tells a story in a way that we can all understand. To reference another adage, music is a universal language and so it makes sense that children of all ages can bond through music and the shared joy it brings.

3. Improve concentration

To sing a song, we must first learn the words, then keep practising to get it right. Listening to music to know when to start singing, or even playing along on a drum and trying to keep the beat can be challenging. Music helps children to learn to focus which can help them in many other areas of their development.

4. Work on motor skills and coordination

Where there’s music, there’s movement and while learning an instrument is fantastic for hand-eye coordination, there’s a lot to be said for the combination of singing and movement to go with the song. Many songs tell stories not only through lyrics but through actions too.

5. Enhance memory

Ever had a song stuck in your head? Most of us have. Music has a habit of helping us remember concepts and facts. You can add a highly effective learning technique to any subject matter by incorporating it into a song. In fact, many of our Bonkers Beat songs do just that!

6. Tap into creativity

It’s an obvious and yet important element of listening to and creating music, but encouraging creativity allows children to embrace self-expression and experiment with their own unique approach to singing and playing music.

There are plenty of reasons to incorporate music into every day for children — at Bonkers Beat we make it simple for centres to do just that with our tried and tested songs that children love.

If you want to know more about the Bonkers Beat Music Program that is successfully incorporated into curriculums in childcare settings Australia-wide, get in touch with us today by emailing info@bonkersbeat.com.

To learn or read more about Bonkers Beat Programs, click here.

Engaging Easter experiences to try with children

easter-in-early-childhood

Easter is around the corner and many centres are getting ready to celebrate this much-loved holiday in early childhood settings!

Colouring in images of Easter bunnies is fun, but why not fire up children’s creativity this year and do something different? There are so many learning experiences for children around the subject of Easter – let’s look at a few of them.

Talking about religion at Easter

As we know, Easter is traditionally a religious acknowledgement. Perhaps your centre would like to explore the religious aspects of Easter this year.

While many Australians will celebrate Easter over the long weekend from Friday 30 to Monday 2 April, it’s worth noting that these dates are based on the Catholic Easter dates. Other families may celebrate Orthodox Easter on Sunday 8 April in 2018.

A simple way to share the traditional Christian story of Easter with children is through books. Easter Story and Tiny Tots Easter are suitable for children as young as 2 and can help start the discussion.

Perhaps other children and families could share their religious or cultural views on Easter and how they celebrate.

Engaging Easter experiences for children

There are plenty more creative, hands-on Easter activities to try when incorporating Easter in early childhood.

Get hatching

A big part of the meaning of Easter is around new beginnings, and what better way to learn about new beginnings that with new life?! At Bonkers Beat Music Kinder the Henny Penny Hatching Program is currently an exciting and engaging experience for children (and educators!).

Traditional eggs decorating

Egg decorating is a traditional Easter activity that is lots of fun. Any egg-shaped object is fine, but why not use natural resources by hard-boiling eggs for decorating and making your own natural dyes. This means fewer chemicals and an additional learning element.

The Easter Bunny song

There is a song and music for every occasion as far as we are concerned! Easter is no exception. As a Bonkers Beat follower, we invite you to access our special Easter song ‘Easter Bunny’. Watch the video for our simple movements and print the words if needed. Children always love this song! Access ‘Easter Bunny’ here.

Share your Easter celebrations and educational ideas with us on Facebook!

Thinking about having an Open Day at your centre? Here’s why you should

We know that the first five years of a child’s life are absolutely crucial when it comes to physical, intellectual, social and emotional development. It’s not surprising that selecting a child care centre or kindergarten is a big decision for families. If you’re thinking about having an open day at your centre, but keep putting it off or think it’s too much effort, think again.

Reading about a centre or hearing about a centre is great, but nothing is quite like visiting a centre. Families often speak about “the vibe” they got from a child care centre. They love to see the centre, meet the educators and director – even the owner! This is a place that they are trusting with their children during one of the most vital times of their development and it has to be perfect.

Why having an open day is a must

While tours for families are great and should be encouraged, holding an open day is proactive and encourages families to have a fun day out while at the same time getting a feel for your centre.

Dedicated time: An open day, especially on a weekend, gives families uninterrupted time at your centre to explore, chat with educators and ask questions.

A showcase of your offering: You get to plan the day from start to finish, so design something special that really shows families what you’re about and why you’re the best choice for their child’s early childhood education.

A fun day out: It’s certainly a drawcard for families when you plan a day of activities and perhaps throw in some refreshments. Even families who attend other centres could stop by and fall in love with your centre.

Show the local community and families what you have to offer. Planning an open day allows you to put your best foot forward and demonstrate to families why they should choose your centre for their child or children.

The next Bonkers Beat Open Day is coming up on Saturday, 24 March. Feel free to come along to Bonkers Beat Music Kinder at 49 Laura street, Aspendale for a day of family fun and enjoy an interactive tour and music show with Bonkers the Monkey!

We look forward to seeing you there!

A Merry Bonkers Christmas (And thank you)!

As each year goes by we feel more and more grateful to work with passionate, dedicated early childhood education professionals and parents. I can say without a doubt that 2017 was no exception – and I’ve got a good feeling about 2018 too!

This year we have all worked together to the same very important and honourable goal: to deliver the best education to young children. The children we care for each day are the reason we keep working so hard, striving to improve and find the most effective ways to build their resilience, enhance their wellbeing and empower them to explore, learn and grow.

I think we all did a great job! And next year we will continue on this journey together as educators and parents, doing all we can for young children and their futures.

To our wonderful readers and supporters, from the bottom of my heart and from all of us at Bonkers Beat, we say thank you and Merry Christmas!

Enjoy our special Bonkers Beat Christmas song ‘Ring The Bells’ and spread Christmas cheer to all your loved ones including animals too.

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and a New Year that is fulfilling, empowering, inspiring and full of happiness.

I hope you will have a well-deserved break.

Keep singing and stretching,

Galina

and the Bonkers Beat Team

New ways to get festive this Christmas

christmas in childcare

In the lead up to Christmas, we are often all looking for new ways to celebrate.

Christmas in childcare is an exciting time – after all, no one anticipates the arrival of Christmas morning quite like young children! As early childhood educators, we get to contribute to that excitement and can help them create something special to share with their families.

If you’re looking for some fresh activities and craft ideas, look no further! We’ve done the research for you and gathered a bunch of resources to keep your centre Christmassy right through until December 25!

Ideas for Christmas fun

Handprint Christmas cards: A gorgeous, personalised Christmas card that doubles as a keepsake so parents don’t forget how little those hands once were.

Dancing Santa: Using these printables, cut them out and children can create a dancing Santa! Use your choice of paint, crayons, pencils or markers to create Santa’s iconic red suit. A bit of glitter is always fun too!

Tree decorations: There are a million tree decorations children can make, so let your imagination take charge here. Styrofoam balls can be a good starting point or try cardboard shapes, or even icy pole sticks.

Paper plate angels: A paper plate, folded in on each side, a card circle for a face and two card handprints cut out as wings. Perfect for the top of the Christmas tree!

Christmas colouring in: There’s nothing wrong with some quiet colouring in time, but why not make it Christmas themed this time of year.

As always, when celebrating the festive season in your centre, be mindful of individual children and their families’ varying beliefs and traditions. In some centres, it may be necessary to provide variations on your Christmas celebrations to ensure you are culturally inclusive.

Christmas songs: Christmas wouldn’t be complete without singing Christmas songs! This special song is a gift from Bonkers to you to help you celebrate the magic of Christmas with children. Click here to access ‘Ring the Bells’.

If you have some special ideas to share for celebrating Christmas in childcare centres, share with us on Facebook!

Music and art make all the difference

music program

We’ve said it before and we will continue to tell the world: the more we share music with children, the better off they will be!

A primary school in Bradford, England was in the news last month because of the incredible turnaround in their children’s results — the key to success? All children get up to six hours of music each week.

Not only did this school find that incorporating more music along with drama and art improved their students’ overall academic outcomes, but it also gave them another outlet and means of discovering a talent or passion. Even school attendance has increased!

The Kodaly Approach

The school said that its methods are based on the Kodaly approach. The Bonkers Beat programs incorporate this same approach. Kodaly is all about using music as a tool for children to learn subconsciously at first.

Musical games and songs about anything and everything can help children to familiarise themselves with themes and ideas in a warm, enjoyable way. Through rhythm and movement, they improve their fine and gross motor skills, literacy and numeracy as well as a range of life skills.

Results that sing for themselves

This primary school in Bradford is just one outstanding example of the power of music for children’s lives and outcomes.

As many of you know, the Bonkers Beat Music Program takes a musically-driven approach to early childhood education. Our results also sing for themselves!

The head teacher of the primary school in Bradford who says music changed everything for them, also said this:

“We had low staff morale, parents not happy with the school, results were poor and nobody wanted to come here, we had budget issues. It’s a downward spiral when you’re there.”

But now he believes that music can transform other schools who are struggling.

Choose success and results

As the end of the year approaches, it is a great time to reflect on what has worked in your centre and what has not worked so well. If you’re ready to get results like this primary school in Bradford has experienced, we can help.

Enquire about the Bonkers Beat Music Program today. This program was carefully created with the goal of helping centres like yours to reach their full potential. And, most importantly, enabling children to become the very best versions of themselves possible.

Click here to discover the magic of music through the Bonkers Beat Music Program.

Wellbeing and Engagement – A Valuable Relationship

engaged educators

Engaged educators are inspired, motivated, productive and happy in the workplace. These are qualities that are vital to creating a learning and care environment for children to flourish.

These qualities of an engaged educator enable them to do the best job possible at enhancing children’s wellbeing too. So how do you engage educators? Start with educators wellbeing.

The Essential Links Between Engagement and Wellbeing 

Working on wellbeing requires a holistic approach. To really reap the rewards over time, your approach to enhancing wellbeing needs to be sustainable, not a quick fix.

It’s incredible what can be achieved for centres, educators, families and most importantly children when we shift our focus to wellbeing. Engagement is a crucial area that benefits from wellbeing practices, but it doesn’t end there!

Engaged educators lead to better outcomes for children, engaged children and educators lead to better mental health and wellness. In turn, wellbeing practices for children can help them to become better learners and all round happier children.

See engaged educators and children in action

It’s one thing to read about what you can achieve with a focus on wellbeing and subsequently high levels of educator and child engagement – it’s another thing to see it!

That’s why we are inviting owners and directors of centres to visit our flagship Bonkers Beat centre in Aspendale, Victoria. Join us at Music Kinder in Action!

We are ready to give away strategies and knowledge to centre owners and directors – with absolutely no expectations on getting anything back in return.

Our goal is simply to show owners and directors across Australia what is possible for your educators, children and centres. See how you can engage educators and the benefits of doing so.

There are only 6 spots remaining PLUS everyone who attends will receive a complimentary gift and a guide ‘How to Implement a World Class Music Program in Your Centre’.

Hope to see you there! Click here to secure your free ticket!

 

Happy Birthday, Bonkers! – How Far We’ve Come

early childhood education

This month Bonkers the Monkey – the star of Bonkers Beat – is celebrating his birthday.

There’s nothing quite like a birthday to reflect on life… What you’ve achieved and the goals you have for the future. Same goes for Bonkers the Monkey!

Here’s a look at what Bonkers has achieved over the years, why he loves early childhood education so passionately and what he hopes to achieve over the years to come.

Reflecting on a journey and achievements of Bonkers Beat

Bonkers was born of a dream to share the power of learning through music and a focus on the wellbeing of children to enhance their development.

“Music is powerful. Through the power of music we can stimulate children’s brain development and enhance their life skills, we can further nurture and develop every child’s potential. I believe that music is not just an extra activity, but a language, which needs to be used every day.” – Galina Zenin

Since 2006, Bonkers and the Bonkers Beat Music and Wellbeing Programs have inspired and trained more than 10,157 educators to embed music and yoga into their curriculum. Their passion and daily practices ensured that more than 13,000+ children improve their overall wellness, sing and stretch every day.

Each day is so special – especially in early childhood

Bonkers loves spending his days with babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers. Each day represents something new, something exciting and something to learn.

Every day Bonkers the Monkey gets the great pleasure of guiding children on their journeys through these amazing early years of life. They are some of the most important years of life too, where we lay the foundation for children’s futures. In fact, it’s quite possible that early childhood education – including childcare and kinder – could be an influential factor in determining a child’s future.

With Bonkers and his passion for sharing music and wellbeing with children, children are given the tools they need to succeed in life and fulfil their potential.

So much more to accomplish to give all children the best start

Bonkers birthday wish is always the same… He wants to share the tools and knowledge needed to enhance the development of every child, every day with centres and educators all over Australia and beyond.

He is already doing so well with the Bonkers Beat programs helping children and centres (and educators) to thrive across Australia. Here’s a look at the magic Bonkers and his programs bring to Bonkers Beat Music Kinder in Aspendale:

Parents and families: If you’re interested in having your child/ren join childcare or kinder at the Bonkers Beat Music Kinder in Aspendale, Victoria, you can email aspendale@bonkersbeat.com.au.

Centre Educators and Directors: If your centre is ready to take a holistic approach and introduce the magic of Bonkers Beat to your children, email info@bonkersbeat.com or call 1300 B BEAT (1300 022 328).

 

Happy birthday Bonkers the Monkey! You’re amazing and we can’t wait to see what the future has in store for you!

Say it with a poem this Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day poems can be one of the most treasured, meaningful gifts a mum can receive from her child.

Mother’s Day art, craft and morning/afternoon tea are all wonderful inclusions in Mother’s Day celebrations, but this year we’re focusing on poetry for the occasion.

Mother’s Day Poetry – The benefits

The benefits of poetry for children are many and varied.

We recently wrote about how poetry can benefit children’s development, including their memory, emotional comprehension and physical coordination.

In Reading Magic, fantastic Australian author Mem Fox says:

“Rhymers will be readers: it’s that simple. Experts in literacy and child development have discovered that if children know eight nursery rhymes by heart by the time they’re four years old, they’re usually among the best readers by the time they’re eight.”

There is a huge amount of research to support that poetry makes learning language easier and much more enjoyable for children.

Poetry is fun to learn and reading it aloud can help children to build confidence and self-esteem (along with memorisation and rhythm).

Roses are red, violets are blue, here’s a Mother’s Day poem for you

Use poem writing as an exercise in vocabulary development and self-expression with the children in your centre (or at home).

An acrostic Mother’s Day poem is a great one to try with young children. It is simple and places the emphasis on letter recognition, spelling and increasing vocabulary. Here’s an example from Kidspot:

Adapt this approach to suit whichever name children use to call their mother, including other languages or for relatives who fulfill the maternal role in children’s lives.

As always we remind centres to stay inclusive and open Mother’s Day celebrations to the special women in children’s lives, whether they are grandmothers, aunties, step mums and the like. Every family is unique.

Any child can read a poem to their mother. With a help of an adult, young children can say only some of the words or do actions to accompany the poem.

We would love to share the Bonkers Beat poem ‘My Mum’ with you all to use for this Mother’s Day.

Gain exclusive access to this Mother’s Day poem here.

If you have a special Mothers’ Day poem of your own to share, we’d love to see it on Facebook!

 

 

 

Image designed by Freepik

Getting screen time right for young children in 2017

Sometimes it feels as though screens are all around us. From iPads and tablets to phones, television screens to computers. Children in particular are drawn to the glow of a screen – some children can become very attached to them.

While technology like these various devices can have some benefits, like facilitating certain learning experiences, the fact is we really don’t know what long term effects screen time will have on us.

What we’re seeing from screen time

What we do know is that screen time can get in the way of children going outside and playing in the real world. With 1 in 4 Australian children overweight or obese, movement needs to be a priority and screen time is usually not the best approach to getting active. On top of that, screen time while eating has been connected to mindless overeating, especially in children.

Researchers are seeing a link between screens and rest too, resulting in irritability and disrupted sleep. A sleep researcher from the University of Wollongong puts this down to three things:

-Content that is causing a hormonal and emotional responses e.g. releasing adrenalin;

-Time taken up by screen time delaying children’s rest time (and adults!);

-Light from screens disrupting circadian rhythms, causing too much alertness and suppressing the sleep hormone melatonin.

Guidelines to screen time for children

Recommendations made by scientists from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in 2015 advised that screens should be avoided for any children under 2.

The AAP created this handy infographic to visually explain the guidelines to screen time for children:

screen-time-guide

Consider adult screen time too

Another focus area to look at is the screen time children see adults partaking in. We can often become engrossed in our phones or computers and this results in similar negative behaviours as exhibited by children on devices. That is, ignoring the company around you, irritability, disrupted circadian rhythms and therefore sleep patterns.

Of course we lead busy lives but think about how urgent it is to read that email right now or check that Facebook notification. Lead by example by turning off the screens and picking up a book or heading outside for some fresh air and exercise. You’ll feel better for it and your notifications will still be on your device when you get back to it.

Get your screen time right

While there are high quality apps and media we can utilise to help children build skills and learn and give adults a break now and again, spending countless hours in front of screens is not doing anyone any good.

The first five years are a crucial period of brain development and no app is a substitute for the real world. Show children that there’s no on and off switch for life and that not everything will happen instantly at a swipe of their fingers. Minimise screen time and there’s no doubt that you’ll see the benefits for yourself and your children.

 

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