Tag: early childhood

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Clean and Green for Earth Day and Beyond

Earth Day is coming up on April 22 and it has inspired us to talk about sustainability and environmental responsibility in early childhood settings; why it’s important and how we can do our bit.

Earth Day itself is intended to raise awareness and appreciation for planet earth and our beautiful natural environment. Behind the movement is the Earth Day Network, working with over 20,000 partners across 192 countries to make positive change. The great thing is, we can all contribute to positive change and it can be fun too.

Sustainability can be a complex concept, however our favourite and simple way of understanding it and explaining it to children is ensuring there’s “Enough for Everyone Forever”.

With this in mind, here are some top tips for early childhood settings to be clean and green and help children to learn respect for the environment and benefit from a connection with the natural world.

Top tips for being Clean and Green

-Grow plants at your centre for children to nurture. Children can plant, water and monitor nature firsthand. These could even be something edible!

-Encourage and facilitate recycling of materials in the centre

-Maximise natural light and minimise use of artificial light, heaters and air conditioners where possible

-Save water with hand-washing timers, collect rainwater and reuse water for gardening and playing

 

Our Bonkers Beat Music Kinder and Childcare in Aspendale is proud of its focus on sustainability – take a look at this video to see how we contribute positively:

You can never have too much advice on being environmentally friendly – what are your tips? Let us know!

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Discovering Easter Beyond the Chocolate

With chocolate bunnies and eggs taking over the supermarkets, we all know that children love an Easter egg hunt and keep their eyes peeled for the Easter bunny!

But Easter can present the chance to do some fun craft activities with children too – we love these Easter handprint card ideas on Kidspot. For a spot of cooking, these Easter biscuits are simple to do with kids with minimal ingredients and no fuss, plus they’re chocolate free! We also recommend egg decorating, creating bunny masks complete with cotton wool ‘fluff’ and there are plenty of Easter story books to choose from too. Share your ideas with us on Facebook too.

Of course, at Bonkers Beat we believe that every occasion needs to be accompanied by a song… For Easter we would like to share ‘Easter Bunny’ with you: https://musicearlychildhoodpresenter.com/useful-resources/

The cultural and religious elements of Easter may also be something you’d like to explore, including Orthodox Easter, Jewish Passover and their varied approaches to celebrating.

Whatever you do, make sure you enjoy your Easter with loved ones!

Dates to remember:

School Holidays: March 27 – April 13
International Children’s Book Day: April 2
Good Friday: April 3
Easter Sunday: April 5
Easter Monday: April 6

Have a very happy Easter break and we hope the school holidays are an enjoyable time for all.

Stay safe.

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3 Reasons Montessori Makes Sense

As many of you are aware, the creator of the Bonkers Beat programs, Galina Zenin, is an industry leader in early childhood education. She recently arrived back from the USA after presenting at the 2015 CAEYC Conference. Over the weekend of March 21 & 22, Galina was back into presenting, visiting Adelaide to speak at the Montessori ECEC Conference in Glenelg.

Many Montessori principles are incorporated within the Bonkers Beat program. With the Montessori ECEC Conference in mind, let’s explore three reasons that we believe Montessori makes sense as an educational approach in early childhood education.

INDEPENDENCE

Montessori is well-known for facilitating independence in children, not by leaving them to go it alone, but for providing children with practical learning experiences and the opportunity to learn to care for themselves, as well as the world around them. The Montessori approach differs from the traditional approach that usually involves the caretakers managing the care of the child and the environment. Montessori’s self-teaching principles give children the independence and self-motivation that comes from building confidence within.

You can read more research articles about Montessori at montessoriaustralia.org.au.

MEANINGFUL

Another aspect of Montessori that we love is that kids get to learn ‘why’. This addresses why children lose information, which is perhaps because it’s not meaningful to them. Montessori aims to show children a problem and solution – actively demonstrating cause and effect across various areas of learning. It is not surprising then that children who have learned from a Montessori perspective tend to be more responsible for their actions!

LEARNING BECOMES FUN

When children feel like they have a choice in how they learn, they are more responsive and more responsible for their own outcomes. They learn through their own actions and experiences and there’s nothing more special than seeing a child work something out for themselves – that sense of achievement can be spotted on a child’s face from a mile away!

Keep an eye on our Facebook page where we often share information about activities with a Montessori approach.

If you’re interested in learning more about how we incorporate Montessori into our programs, head to NQSRating.com.au. Galina has two exclusive events coming up, in Melbourne on April 23 and then in Sydney on May 4.

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Harmony Day – Gratitude and Thank-you

Harmony Day on March 21 is a celebration of cultural diversity and inclusiveness across Australia and last Thursday we marked the beginning of our Bonkers Beat Harmony Week at Bonkers Beat Music Kinder.

With this year’s theme ‘Gratitude and Thank-you’, we embarked on a community project together – our Gratitude Tree. Last Thursday we invited current and new families to come along to an Open Day at the kinder where they contributed to our Gratitude Tree and were able to see our centre in action. Coming together as a community is something that is truly reflective of the spirit of Harmony Day and Week, and we found it was a special way of celebrating inclusiveness and expressing gratitude for what we all bring to our Bonkers Beat family and local community.

We have been discussing many aspects of gratitude and giving thanks with children. Some of the questions that have been coming up are ‘Why do we need to say thank you?’, and ‘What are some ways we can express gratitude?’. Our display of clay ornaments depicted what each child was thankful for, and very sweet ideas flowed from the children, making it an enjoyable project for everyone.

As our Harmony Week continues this week, we anticipate more celebration of a sense of belonging for one and all through the inclusion of many parents who will be sharing their cultural diversity and traditions with our children and educators.

The Harmony Day website has some great ideas to celebrate:

-Sport, dancing and eating: play world sports together and involve everyone, learn new dances from countries across the world, or enjoy foods of different cultures.
-Arts and crafts: use your creative abilities to make something that symbolises the different cultures of your local community. You could even hold a poster or art competition.
-Music and sounds: apply your musical talents to reflect your experience of different cultures or traditions — rhyme, rap, or rock to a story about culture and experience. You could even hold a concert for everyone to enjoy.
-Listen and learn: invite an Indigenous elder or someone who has migrated to Australia to come and share their story and culture with your class. You could even research more information about their story or write about your own.

We’ve shared some great images on our Facebook page and hope they inspire you. We would love to hear how you will be celebrating Harmony Day in either your centre or your homes. Join our celebration and use social media to share with us!

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Encouraging Gender Equality

Gender equality is frequently discussed in the media and is an important issue in society that deserves the attention. While boys and girls do have some inherent differences, learning that both genders are free to achieve whatever they choose regardless of whether they are male or female is something crucial for society moving forward.

Coming up on March 8 is International Women’s Day (IWD) and the theme for 2015 is ‘Make It Happen’, which we think offers a great message not only to young girls and women across the world but to all of us. That is, that all children can ‘make it happen’ and that anything is possible regardless of gender.

International Women’s Day aims to celebrate achievements of women from the past, present and future in various areas including politically and socially and is even a national holiday in some countries. It’s a fantastic opportunity to get children talking about things they might like to achieve as they grow up, and to empower them to know that in our great country they really can believe that anything is possible.

Gender equality is an ongoing issue that is strongly linked to women’s rights and it’s one that needs societal change. Through our work helping to guide young people in these crucial years, we must be encouraging them to strive to achieve their goals and support one another no matter whether they are boys or girls.

As the Human Education blog says, exploring gender identity, gender roles, stereotypes, and healthy views of gender and self can begin early. Their blog recommends talking about ‘When I Grow Up’ and allowing children to identify what jobs boys and girls might like to do, then discussing why both genders can do any job. This other activity ‘Boys Like, Girls Like, Kids Like’ opens the communication up about gender stereotypes too.

Keep it light, keep it fun, but let’s make sure that we do our best to make little girls believe they can join the police force if they want to and little boys are free to be nurses – or vice versa, of course! If you can dream it, you can make it happen.

 

P.S. Let us know your experiences with perceived gender roles in your Centre and how you encourage gender equality in children. Join the discussion by sharing with us on Facebook.

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Participation for Sense of Community and Belonging

As educators and/or as parents of children, we regularly encourage these young people to participate and ideally to be an active participant where possible. Why? Because this is of course a fantastic way to learn and to work towards the goal of belonging, being and becoming. We are, after all, not solitary beings and frequently as both children and adults life presents collaborative situations with others.

The Bonkers Beat team believes in participation and community involvement and that’s why we were so excited to hold our recent working bee at Bonkers Beat Music Kinder in Aspendale, Victoria. Families, educators and friends came together striving towards the common goal of improving the Centre’s outdoor spaces and we were blown away by the commitment and passion shown by our community. Not only do events like working bees bring us all together and bring about great achievements, but what an important example to set for the children in our community, allowing them to see firsthand the adults they look up to working together.

Creating a sense of belonging and connectedness in your Centre’s community is in line with Outcome 2 of the Learning Outcomes for Children from Birth to 5 Years, and that is: Children are connected with and contribute to their world. Belonging is also an area that assessors will consider during the NQS rating process, paying extra attention to Quality Area 6 – Collaborative Partnerships with Families and Communities.

We have found that working bees, our Harmony Nights and various other special events in the calendar for Centres can have incredible and immeasurable benefits – we’d love to know what ways you encourage participation to facilitate belonging and a sense of community in your Centre’s families, so please share with us on our Facebook page or here on the blog by commenting.

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Mental Health Week 2014

Mental Health Week takes place in Australia from Sunday 5 October until Sunday 12 October, 2014 (give or take depending on your state), coinciding with World Mental Health day which is marked each year on October 10.

The goal?
To activate, educate and engage one and all on the subject of mental health through a range of events across Australia!

You may already be aware that around one in five adult Australians will experience mental health issues in their lives, but it isn’t as well-known that mental health issues are frequently experienced by children. “The Child and Adolescent Component of the National Survey on Mental Health and Wellbeing recorded that 14% of Australian children and adolescents aged 4–17 experience mental health problems” (Source: https://www.chf.org.au/pdfs/hvo/hvo-2009-4-children-with-mental-illness-disorder.pdf).

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says “There is no health without mental health”, which really makes you think about how important a healthy mental state is for playing, learning and growing.

Wondering what sort of mental health issues could affect children? Kids Matter talks about two categories of children’s mental health issues: internalising and externalising. The features associated with each are listed below as per the Kids Matter website.

Features associated with children’s ‘internalising’ difficulties include:

  • nervous/anxious temperament
  • excessive worrying
  • pessimistic thinking
  • withdrawn behaviour
  • peer relationship difficulties (eg can be isolated).

Features associated with children’s ‘externalising’ difficulties include:

  • challenging temperament
  • reduced problem-solving skills
  • attention difficulties, hyperactivity
  • oppositional behaviour (eg doesn’t like to be told what to do; won’t follow rules)
  • aggressive behaviour.

 

We believe in the power of music and the mind and as such, our Bonkers Beat program focuses on incorporating music, yoga and meditation, among many other areas, to help children to learn to experience and deal with feelings effectively. The results speak for themselves and we are continually blown away by the sense of control children are able to achieve over their own emotions when the right approach is taken consistently and they are given the support they need.

You can find out about Mental Health Week events in your area by clicking on your state below:

Western Australia

Victoria

South Australia

ACT

NSW

Tasmania

Northern Territory

Queensland
If you’re interested in finding out more about how the Bonkers Beat focus on music and wellbeing in early childhood education, there are some special events taking place in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth in October and November. You can register for those by clicking here or visit nqsrating.com.au.

As always, you can stay up to date and share your views with Bonkers Beat on our Facebook page.

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How You Can Incorporate Mindfulness into Every Day

In early childhood education many approaches come and go when it comes to teaching children to handle their feelings, many of which they may be experiencing for the first time. One such approach that is prevalent at the moment is mindfulness.

You may have heard of mindfulness, but if you haven’t or you’re not sure what it means, this definition explains it quite well: “a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.”

On Reachout.com it is described as being “about training yourself to pay attention in a specific way. When a person is mindful, they:
-focus on the present moment
-try not to think about anything that went on in the past or that might be coming up in future
-purposefully concentrate on what’s happening around them
-try not to be judgemental about anything they notice, or label things as ‘good’ or ‘bad.’”

It is safe to say that practicing mindfulness is something that just about anyone will benefit from, no matter the age. One way that is frequently recommended is through one of our favourite things at Bonkers Beat and that is meditation.

We have talked about meditation previously on our blog, and often parents and other educators query how on earth it is possible to get very young children to sit still and partake in the act of meditating but it truly is possible through some gentle guidance. It only takes mere minutes of deep breathing and some thoughtful reflection each day for your children (and adults) to feel happier, more relaxed and more in control of feelings and life in general.

Practicing mindfulness works towards combating stress, dealing with all the obstacles life throws at us and ultimately (and crucially), building resilience.

Here’s three additional tips from ParentsCanada.com that are easy and fun ways of incorporate mindfulness into every day:

Mindful listening: Tell your child you are going to ring a bell or a tone bar. Ask them to listen carefully to the sound of the bell and raise their hands when they can no longer hear it.

Breath awareness: Have your child lie down on a mat on the floor, or on their bed, and place their favourite stuffed animal on their belly. Have them rock the stuffed animal to sleep with the movement of their belly as they breathe in and out. This is how they can begin to pay attention to their breathing.

Mindful eating: This is a time when playing with your food is OK. Give your child a piece of fruit and ask them to pretend they are from another planet and have never seen this piece of fruit before. Ask them to describe their experience using all five senses. What does it look like? Smell like? Feel like? Taste like? Does it make a sound when you bite it?

What can you share with us about mindfulness? If you have some mindfulness techniques that you have seen results from, we’d love if you would share them with our Bonkers Beat community here or on our Facebook page.

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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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