Tag: early learning

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The Child’s Developing Brain

Children bring joy and laughter to our lives, there’s no doubt about it. They can also present the adults in their lives with many challenges as they grow and learn about the world around them and where they fit into it.

Whether you’re a parent of a young child or you work in early childhood, there are many strategies you can use to get the best out of children.

We’ve all heard that a child is like a sponge and when you spend time around young children you probably know just how true that is! (Even if they can be sponges with selective absorption at times!)

Research over decades has continued to make it really clear that the first five years of a child’s life are when the major wiring of the brain takes place. Meaning, those first five years can have a big impact on the next five, 15 or even 50 years.

With so much developing going on, the brain of a young child is a busy place and also a very special place. That’s why we need to take time and care to understand how children learn. This is something we will be paying close attention to at our upcoming free event for parents.

Understanding a Child’s Learning

As caretakers of young children – both parents and educators – we must educate ourselves on the developmental changes a child is experiencing at each different stage.  Often what some adults may view as naughty or bratty behaviour will actually stem from a developmental stage.

This government resource outlines some of the skills children will learn from 0-12 months, 1-3 years, 3-5 years and 5-8 years of age. It can be a useful guide to add to our knowledge bank and really can help us with seeing the world through a child’s eyes.

Approaches to Early Childhood Education

Many parents have an idea of what sort of program or approach to early childhood education they prefer… We believe a holistic approach is always the best approach when it comes to early childhood and we aim to incorporate elements of three of the most prominent early learning approaches.

At our free parent Information Night on Wednesday 16 November (open to any parents who would like to attend) we will be covering these three main approaches: Montessori, Reggio Emilia and Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory. You can read more about these at the end of this blog.

The impact on children from the empowering nature of these approaches can be quite amazing, which is why they are at the heart of our own approach.

Strategies for Tackling Challenging Behaviour

When we equip ourselves with knowledge and understanding then we have the power to think critically about a child’s behaviour.

Going back to our holistic approach, the types of strategies we employ to work through challenges with children and their behaviour involve a focus on the overall wellbeing of the child.

Our methods will often be trying some new and tackling the behaviour in a natural, gentle way focusing on neurochemicals, engagement and effective release of energy.

If you’re a parent of a child or children under 6 and you’re ready to make a plan to work through challenging behaviour and bring out the very best in your child, please feel free to join us at our hands-on, practical and informative free event from 7.30pm-9pm on Wednesday 16 November 2016 at 49 Laura Street, Aspendale, Victoria 3195. Please register for catering purposes via this link: http://bit.ly/2eGtPnK

A Quick Guide

Getting to Know Montessori, Reggio Emilia and Multiple Intelligences Theory:

Montessori is an approach that aims to support the development of the whole child. Broadly, the Montessori approach considers education as an “aid to life”, and has a lengthy track record of success – more so than any other educational approach. The Montessori goal is to inspire children to have a lifelong love of learning that follows their natural learning direction. It enables children to become confident, independent and responsible learners.

Reggio Emilia is an approach that values the child and views them as capable and curious – able to discover the world on their own as driven by their own interests. Playing, asking questions, investigating and exploring the world – these are at the heart of the Reggio Emilia approach. The adults are viewed as mentors and guides and learning experiences are born of a child’s natural curiosity, described as child-led.

Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory is based on the belief that there are seven ways people perceive the world. The predominant message to take from the Multiple Intelligences Theory is that we must deliver a range of different types of learning experiences to ensure that all children are learning no matter which learning style theirs happens to be.

 

 

 

 

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Overcoming High Staff Turnover in Centres

high staff turnover in centres

When it comes to the first five years, we know how important this time is in a child’s development.

Genetics play a role in this foundation-laying period in children’s lives, along with other influencing factors like nutrition, environment and relationships. With many children spending time in childcare centres or kindergartens during these early years, early childhood educators can have a notable impact on their lives – now and into the future.

In this blog we will focus on relationships and high staff turnover in centres. A recent survey conducted by Queensland University of Technology discovered that of 1,200 childcare workers across Australia, 1 in 5 plan to leave their job within the space of a year.

The research leader Professor Karen Thorpe spoke with the ABC, saying: “[The children] are losing people they’re attached to and that’s not good for children’s learning or emotional and social development.”

Children’s bonds with educators

Children have various bonds with different educators and can also be creatures of habit – they tend to like routine and seeing familiar faced, so when an educator they are used to seeing is no longer around it can cause distress.

Children deserve the opportunity to feel like they can trust their caregivers and when an educator who has created a positive, nurturing relationship with them is leaving, that sense of trust can be affected. Needless to say, this can disrupt a child’s learning experience and be generally upsetting for them.

The impact is felt

The impact of losing staff members – team members – is felt across every aspect of a centre. And while children are impacted most, everyone is affected.

To gain a passionate, qualified, dedicated educator is no easy feat and requires time, energy, patience and financial resources. Even more to train them, help them to understand centre’s philosophy, make them feel welcome and comfortable. For educators to then be planning to leave within a short frame of time presents many challenges for a centre.

Parents need to be informed, job advertisements need to be distributed – and of course, as we mentioned, it needs to be explained to children.

Facilitate loyalty

So how do we overcome high staff turnover and improve retention of our valued educators? It’s a complex issue and one that there is no simple answer for, but it is something we need to work to overcome together as dedicated members of this important industry.

In this recent article in Early Edition, we discuss what an exciting time it is to work in early childhood education. We also acknowledge that it’s a role that isn’t always easy but as a team we can create positive environments that are geared towards maximising the day-to-day experience for our educators.

Supporting the wellbeing of educators and maintaining an open line of communication with plenty of opportunities to express feelings can be invaluable. While we spend a lot of time doing and informing, sometimes we can benefit greatly from simply listening and understanding.

Have you experienced high staff turnover in centres? What actions do you take to improve retention of your educators?

High staff turnover in centres is an industry-wide issue in early childhood, so a team approach is the first step toward fostering a culture of long-standing teams of educators in our centres.

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How much sleep do children really need?

How much sleep do children need

How much sleep do children need to play, learn and grow? It’s often underestimated.

Most experts agree on the following:

Toddlers (aged 1 to 3 years): From 10 – 13 hours, which includes a day nap of 1 – 3 hours. Young toddlers may still take two naps but late afternoon should be avoided to avoid difficulties getting to sleep at night.

Preschoolers (aged 3 – 5 years): 10 – 12 hours per night, plus an afternoon nap of 1-2 hours.

School aged (5 years +): 10 – 12 hours each night.

Educators should remember that the National Quality Standards Quality Area 2, Element 2.1.2 specifically refers to centres making sure that “each child’s comfort is provided for and there are appropriate opportunities to meet each child’s need for sleep, rest and relaxation, which in turn directly supports Element 2.1 as a whole – promoting the health of the children. (See below from NQS Quality Areas).

Sleep (Blog Post)

The amount of sleep different children require is, as with adults, an individual thing. There should, however, still be an emphasis on ensuring that children are sleeping enough, resting enough and that these are quality sleeps and rests to maximise what your child/ren can get out of every day.

Don’t Neglect Naps

To get enough sleep, naps are a must for most children right through to age 5. As much as we tend to realise that the body needs sleep to physically rejuvenate us it also helps children to grow and assists the immune system. Our brains also rely on sleep to function properly – researchers often say that they believe the brain uses sleep to sort through information, solve problems, organise your thoughts and generally restore itself. 

Naps are important for children to enjoy happy, active days – without a nap, children can become overtired, moody and even struggle with falling asleep at night.

Spot the Sleepy Signs

It is safe to say that fulfilling the sleep and rest quota each day for children is imperative to their overall ability to function, both physically and mentally. It’s not surprising that children who don’t get enough sleep or rest time can be irritable and struggle to concentrate and perhaps feel clumsy.

Babies and younger toddlers may display the following:
Yawning
Crying
Eye rubbing
Irritated behaviour

Toddlers and young children may display:
Clumsiness
Eye rubbing
Yawning
Emotional distress
Irritated behaviour
We all know that sometimes it can be a challenge to get children to sleep even when they are obviously tired, but here are some strategies to try.

Four Tips to Promote Sleep

1. Keep up a regular routine where children can come to understand that rest or sleep time is approaching. Routine can help children mentally and physically prepare;
2. Try some relaxation exercises or reading a book in the lead up;
3. Make sure children get ample fresh air and physical activity;
4. Ensure children are comfortable and not hungry, thirsty etc before they settle down to rest/sleep.

It is so important to remember that even if children are sleeping well overnight, a day nap and/or rest is necessary right up to school age. Periods of napping, rest and relaxation are essential to maintain those high energy levels all day long.

Don’t forget to look at your own sleep patterns too – even adults can improve the way we function in our daily lives simply from ensuring we get a decent amount of sleep and that it’s quality sleep and rest. After all, you need all the energy you can muster to keep up with the kids!

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20 Must-Do’s These School Holidays

School holidays can be fun, but by all accounts, the best way to ensure the school holidays don’t drive everyone crazy by the end is to have a plan!

It can be particularly challenging for working families who can’t get time off over the holidays and may not have a support network for taking care of their child/ren, however there are many school holiday programs that offer fantastic experiences for children.

To help make these school holidays easy and enjoyable, we’ve compiled a list of 20 things to do over the break – we’ve split them into four categories to make it even easier: INSIDE, OUTSIDE, ADVENTURE and QUIET TIME. Best of all, most of our suggestions won’t break the bank.

INSIDE

  1. Make something yummy to eat – sweet cupcakes or savoury pizza
  2. Get dressed up and dance to music or role play
  3. Art and craft – paper, glue, pencils, feathers, wool etc. Self portraits can be fun!
  4. Build a fort/cubby under a table
  5. Do a room clean out and discover some forgotten toys

OUTSIDE

  1. Have a picnic (real or pretend) in the backyard or at a nearby park or beach
  2. Fly a kite (learn how to make a DIY kite here)
  3. Get gardening – weeding can be fun, or try planting some herbs
  4. Create a scavenger hunt – Kidspot has a great nature treasure hunt list
  5. Play ball

ADVENTURE

  1. Visit the zoo
  2. Head to the library (you can sign up and take books home or just check it out)
  3. Catch a train or bus (the destination can be a park, cafe, beach – anywhere!)
  4. Visit a shopping centre (do some research as many have great free activities!)
  5. Go for a nature walk and try to spot some wildlife

QUIET TIME

  1. Get comfy and do some reading
  2. Play a card game (snap or go fish with playing cards, or Uno or memory)
  3. Watch a movie – an old favourite or something new
  4. Tackle a jigsaw puzzle
  5. Play a boardgame

 

Hopefully our school holiday activities list comes in handy for a quick reference guide these school holidays! You could even write the activities down and get children to pick one out of a hat or container when the “I’m bored” begins!

If you do find that everyone needs to relax a little, we always recommend some quiet deep breathing in a quiet place – get started with basic mediation with children with our tips here.

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Get Eggcited About Easter

You’re probably thinking “Easter already?!” and it certainly feels like that with Good Friday coming up next week on 25 March.

From Easter egg hunts to chocolate bunnies, decorating eggs and Easter bonnets – there are so many different ways that we celebrate Easter. Easter traditions are unique across many different countries, religions and cultures too – this might be something to bring in to your centre’s celebrations.

If there are families or educators in your centre who celebrate Easter a particular way, it can be wonderful to have them talk about – or even show – how Easter is recognised in their lives.

Regardless of whether you take a secular approach to Easter or talk about all the different ways Easter is enjoyed over the world, it is almost always a time that children get excited about.

Incorporate it for a day or have a whole Easter-themed week – whichever way you approach it, we’ve compiled a bunch of inspiration and activities that children will love!

Activity Inspiration to Celebrate Easter

Easter Bonnets/Easter Bonnet Parade – Try some Easter hat ideas listed here or come up with some wild creations of your own.

Easter Colouring Pages – These great Easter-themed printables make for a simple but always enjoyable activity. Make it interesting by adding glitter, cotton wool and other textures.

Craft For Easter – Get inspired to decorate eggs, create Easter baskets and more.

Easter Recipes – A homemade Easter treat can be yummy, educational and fun!

Our special Bonkers Beat song ‘Easter Bunny’ is a favourite for Easter too. You can access it here!

Share more Easter ideas with us on Facebook! Bonkers Beat members, you can share your Easter celebrations with us via our My Bonkers Beat Facebook group.

Stay safe and have a happy Easter break everyone!

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Collaboration Central to Success

As early childhood educators we are continually encouraging children to work together, to be team players, to participate. From sport and games through to discussions, active participation is our goal for them. Rightly so, as working together is a fantastic way to accomplish great things. It’s about time we all took our own advice!

Collaboration Is Central To Success

As human beings at all life stages we are presented with situations where collaboration is central to success. In early childhood education, teamwork can go a long way and is something that is central to the success of centres across the country.

The importance of your centre’s ability to work as a team is reflective of their capacity to bond with one another, support one another and inspire one another. These areas will only serve to increase motivation levels in your centre, reduce staff turnover and create the most positive environment possible for children’s learning and development.

TEAM: Together Everyone Achieves More

The upcoming Bonkers Beat Wellness Summits are committed to embracing and encouraging collaboration and professional development as a team. We have invited every single one of the members of staff from centres who have embedded our innovative Bonkers Beat music and/or wellbeing programs to come along. Imagine the things that these teams of incredible individuals will be able to accomplish when they come together, learn together and are inspired together. Best of all, everyone’s attendance is included in the Bonkers Beat program membership! No need to carefully select staff members who will be best at relaying the content of the event – they can all attend!

Of course, teamwork and participation isn’t just about attending early childhood professional development events – it can be worked on from within your centre through:

-Staff meetings
-Social events/dinners
-Group projects
-Collaboration across Rooms
-Working bees
-Staff retreats

We spend our days facilitating children’s participation, so why not make sure we encourage each other and work as a team too!

 

P.S: Click here to learn more about the breakthrough Bonkers Beat programs or register for our new format program

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Facebook With Families – Social Media in Early Childhood Settings

Whether it’s to save paper or try a more interactive approach, more and more childcare centres and kinders are using online communications to keep in touch with parents.

While many in the early childhood field hold strong opinions about the use of iPads and computers for young children, this post is more interested in the use of Facebook for centre educators and management to keep in touch with families.

Facebook With Families

Plenty of early childhood educational services have Facebook business pages to publicise their centre, almost like an extension of their website. Other centres also have private ‘closed groups’ on Facebook. In these groups, only parents and immediate family members are accepted into the group to view the information posted. This information can be anything from reminders of upcoming events, to photos of children and everything in between. Parents can post questions that can then be answered by other parents or the centre’s staff. Sometimes parents may even post photos from an external occasion like a child’s birthday party, for example, to share with other families and the staff.

These closed groups can become an extension of the partnership between centres and families, and also facilitate bonding and communication between parents, and between staff and parents.

Plan It Carefully

The key is for it to be well managed. A plan or strategy can be helpful for a few reasons: make sure that there is activity in the group on a regular basis, ensure comments and questions are monitored and moderated in a timely fashion that the rules are adhered to.

What sort of rules, you may wonder? We recommend requesting that parents don’t save the images from Facebook that have other people’s children in them, but that they can make a request to have the image sent to them via email. We also advise that a consent form be signed by parents to allow images of their children to go on the Facebook group. Although it is private and can only be viewed by approved members, some parents may not want their children’s image posted for various reasons.

Pros and Cons

We are in favour of the use of Facebook Groups for centre, but here a few pros and cons we have identified in relation to private Facebook Group for you to consider:

PROS
-Increase communication between the centre and families
-Facilitate bonding between families
-Attract parent interest and increase participation
-Simple way to stay in regular contact with all families

CONS
-Potential privacy and confidentiality issues
-Takes some extra time for the educator/s and/or management to post and monitor

Does your centre use online methods to contact parents and families? What other pros and cons do you see when it comes to the use of private Facebook closed groups for centres? Have you had a particularly positive or negative experience with Facebook Groups as a parent, educator or management?

Join the discussion with us on Facebook.

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Top 4 Ways To Mark Australia Day

Barbecues, beach, kangaroos, koalas… there are many things that people think of when they think of Australia. Why not incorporate some Aussie celebration into your centre around Australia Day 2016!

There are four fantastic elements to consider exploring with children to mark the occasion as Australia Day nears. We’ve even included some ideas for activities for educators and/or parents to try.

Four Meaningful Ways to Celebrate Australia Day with Children

Diversity

Australia Day is a great day to talk about diversity and multiculturalism – ask children what they know about Australia and all its unique people. Use this opportunity to discuss the fact that despite us all being so different in so many ways, we are all Australian and there is respect and a sense of belonging for everyone.


Geography

Break out the map of Australia and talk about the different areas across this huge country. Open children’s minds to the big, wide world – or in this case, the big, wide island that is Australia! Maps can be great fun to turn into an art project as children cover the country in different colours and textures – this further represents the diversity and uniqueness of the country and all its people.


Art

Speaking of art, what better way to go about celebrating Australia Day and its people than doing some beautiful cave drawings, inspired by Indigenous Australia. Handprints, finger-painting or dot art depicting kangaroos, boomerangs and the desert landscape can be insightful activities.


Music

The national anthem isn’t the only Aussie song we can break out to mark Australia Day… Kids might prefer the fun of singing classics like Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree or Home Among the Gum Trees (maybe just the chorus as it’s a long one!).

 

As always, we love to see everyone’s creative ways of incorporating the cultural calendar into your services – please do share your ideas and photos with us on Facebook.

These links are packed with resources to help you plan your Australia Day celebrations:

http://www.kidspot.com.au/kids-activities-and-games/australia-day+54.htm

http://www.fleetcare.com.au/news-info/news/fun-facts-about-australia-day.aspx

http://www.australiaday.org.au/events/

 

P.S.
Don’t forget to incorporate some Aussie food – lamingtons are always a winner!

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A Time to Be Thankful

Another year is almost over and while much has changed, it’s very clear that the importance of wellbeing at the heart of children’s education is a focus that is here to stay.

This can only be a positive thing, as we as educators, teachers, parents and human beings strive to nurture children’s wellbeing, build their resilience and teach them through the power of music.

For Bonkers Beat, 2015 has been spectacular – we’ve grown, we’ve learned and we’ve developed. We will continue to do all of these things, just as we all should. Of course, none of our success at Bonkers Beat would be possible without the early childhood education community and everyone’s dedication to the wellbeing of young people. For your commitment and passion, we say THANK YOU. Thank you to all of the Centres committed to the Bonkers Beat program and the parents. Thank you to all the attendees of our events. Thank you to the organisers of the conferences Galina was welcomed at and the participants.

We also send our best wishes to you all for a happy Christmas and New Year! At Bonkers Beat there is plenty we love about Christmas, but you won’t be surprised to learn that we find that there is something so special about the music surrounding this time of year! Everywhere you go there are those familiar songs and carols filling the air. Some of these songs take us back to childhood or remind us of a Christmas occasion from years ago, connecting us with the past.

With the exception of singing ‘Happy Birthday’ or the national anthem, we as a society probably don’t get together and sing with our families very often, but belting out Jingle Bells with your loved ones really does bring a smile to your face. And there’s science behind that – “Researchers have worked out that singing seems to produce the perfect mix of both calming and energising based on what it does to the brain” (Wendy Sadler, Science Made Simple) thanks to endorphins – the happiness chemicals produced by our bodies, and oxytocin – known as the love drug or cuddle hormone.

Whatever you love best about this time of year, we hope you enjoy it! As we push through this busy couple of weeks, reward yourself at the end of it all with good food, some extra rest, and plenty of special time with those you love most. Don’t forget to throw in a couple of Christmas carols for good measure!

We’ve collated a year of memories from our Bonkers Beat Music Kinder in a collage, so take a look on Facebook and if you have a special memory of Bonkers Beat in 2015, share it with us.

Our next blog will be at the end of January – our goal is to provide you with valuable resources for your journey in early childhood education or as parents, so please email us or get in touch on Facebook and give us your feedback, ideas and suggestions.

We can’t wait to see what 2016 has in store for us all and we wish you and your families nothing but laughter, light and love for Christmas and the New Year.

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The Important Role of Grandparents

There can never be too many special people dedicated to being a part of a child’s life, and in many families grandparents play an important role.

Just as we celebrate mums and dads, we believe that grandparents and other important adults in children’s lives should be invited to have some level of involvement in their education, even if it is just a few days in the year where they can pop in to see where the children spend some of their time. Best of all, we love to see the joy it brings children to share their learning environment with other people in their lives.

At Bonkers Beat we always find that a great time to celebrate Grandparents Day is somewhere between Mother’s Day in May and Father’s Day in September.

We also believe it beneficial to name the day ‘Grandparents and a Special Friend Day’, so as to ensure we are inclusive of all children and families. As we all are likely aware, families come in all different shapes and sizes, and family dynamics and relationships can vary greatly. This gives families the opportunity to celebrate grandparents if they wish or celebrating someone else special in children’s lives if it’s more appropriate for them.

We revisited our Grandparents Day brainstorming from last year to provide you with some fun ideas for your celebrations:

– 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

Click here to find some great printables and other ideas for your Grandparents and a Special Friend Day.

As always, we would love you to share your tips and tricks for the perfect Grandparents and a Special Friend Day with us on Facebook.

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