harmony day Archives - Early Learning Childhood Education

07/03/201907/03/2019

Everyone Belongs – Harmony Day 2019 in Early Childhood

The message that ‘Everyone Belongs’ is so very true and important, and while any time is a good time to celebrate and share that message, Harmony Day is one in particular… We’re so excited to remind you that Harmony Day is coming up on 21 March 2019, accompanied by Harmony Week from 17 – 23 March. Let’s celebrate Australia’s cultural diversity in a way that reinforces the message that Everyone Belongs!

With almost 50 per cent of the people of Australia born in another country or with a parent who was born overseas, Australia is an incredibly diverse nation – a fact that should make us all very proud! We are so lucky to have the chance to share in the cultures of the world right here in our island country!

Here are just a few things you could try while celebrating Harmony Day along with diversity, inclusivity and belonging in your childcare centre or kindergarten

Sing, sing, sing!

We are BONKERS about singing (of course!), and we know just how engaging this approach is for children. Singing can also be a wonderful way to celebrate other cultures and include or bring joy to others along the way. Does anyone in your centre – families or staff – have a song from their own cultural background they can share? If not, there are many to be found online. We have our very own Bonkers Beat song that is perfect: Let’s Celebrate. Take a look at how you can get children singing and moving (and even doing sign language) here:

Move your body!

Dance is a worldwide form of expression, and many cultures will have their own unique dances or movements for a range of occasions. Ask around your centre’s families and staff and see what everyone has to share. If dancing doesn’t pan out, sports can be another area to explore or even cultural dress – this link shows cultural dress from all over the world.

Get cooking!

There’s something lovely about sharing a meal with others and connecting over a feast, so why not extend that sense of belonging during mealtime by getting multicultural with it. Throughout Harmony Week you could have a new international dish each day for children to enjoy and talk about where it comes from.

For more resources and information about Harmony Day, take a look at their official website here: www.harmony.gov.au.

However you choose to celebrate Harmony Day or Harmony Week, it’s all about celebrating our differences and the things that we have in common too. Sharing and learning, exploring and belonging together as human beings.

21/03/201821/03/2018

Inclusiveness and respect this Harmony Day and beyond

Harmony Day is one of our favourite days of the year. A day that is dedicated to celebrating cultural diversity, inclusiveness, respect for others and ensuring everyone feels they belong.

For many special days throughout the year we plan activities in advance, and while there are certainly many wonderful things you can do in centres in honour of Harmony Day, sometimes the simplest acts can mean the most. This Harmony Day let’s focus on meaningful conversations with children. The Harmony Day website offers a range of discussion topics that are suitable for early childhood. Consider these:

What is diversity? What are some of the ways that people can be different from each other?
All the same: What things make us the same?
What is Harmony Day? What does harmony mean? What are some examples of harmony in nature/in the world?
Family diversity: Who is in your family? Talk about how families are the same and different.
My groups: Talk about all the groups to which you belong eg team, family, friendship group, hobby. What things help you to feel you belong?

Carrying the message of Harmony Day through your centre’s culture

This Harmony Day feels especially timely for us this year, given the news that ACECQA has recognised Bonkers Beat Music Kinder with an Excellence Rating under the National Quality Framework.

ACECQA specifically recognised Bonkers Beat’s “commitment to children that respects, reflects and celebrates culture and diversity, including place of origin, inclusive partnerships with children and families, and its practice and environments that enhance children’s learning and growth”.

Not only can your Harmony Day efforts contribute towards shaping inclusive, respectful and kind attitudes in young people — you can even transform the way your centre approaches early childhood education!

If you’re ready to see how Bonkers Beat’s culture is inspired by the values of Harmony Day, why not come and see for yourself?! We are hosting an Open Day this Saturday 24 March from 10 am until 12 pm at Bonkers Beat Music Kinder. Activities for children at this free event include music, yoga and a jungle treasure hunt plus lots more!

Event: Open Day – Music Show and Yoga with Bonkers the Monkey
Where: Bonkers Beat Music Kinder, 49 Laura Street, Aspendale, Victoria
When: 10am – 12pm

To discover why Bonkers Beat Music Kinder is different, click to watch the video submission to ACECQA.

02/03/201703/03/2017

Everyone Belongs – Celebrating Harmony Day

Harmony Day 2017 takes place on March 21, celebrating cultural diversity throughout Australia and the world.

Nearly half of Australians were born overseas or they have a parent who was born overseas. In fact, in Australia we identify with roughly 300 ancestries! Now that’s cultural diversity!

Today’s young children are the key to embracing and nurturing a culturally diverse future – with so many different cultures between all of us Australians, there’s so much to celebrate!

Encourage family engagement

Families at your centre no doubt have many cultural backgrounds – so encourage them to share a bit about where they came from.

Harmony Day is perfect for exploring the special things that make us all different while acknowledging that we are all so alike as well.

Try getting families, children and even staff to share a bit about themselves including:

Different languages that may be spoken at home
Foods that are unique to certain cultural backgrounds
Special customs that are recognised in different cultures

Harmony Day art and craft

The Harmony Day official website has some simple yet meaningful craft activities to help you bring Harmony Day celebrations and discussions into your centre.

Harmony Day colouring in sheet

Paper Doll Chain

A Harmony Day hand tree is always a beautiful piece of art to create: simply trace around each child’s hand on a piece of paper or card and cut it out. Children can decorate their hand cut out to represent them and all hands can then be attached to the top of a painting or cut out of a tree trunk, making a tree top out of hand prints. Here’s a great example – you can make it as simple as you like though:

Everyone belongs

While we explore our differences, the key message to share with children as we celebrate Harmony Day is that EVERYONE BELONGS.

We are different in many ways, but we are also the same in many ways too – and it is great to celebrate all these things and to share and learn with each other.

Have fun with this special day and we would love to see how you celebrate Harmony Day – share with us on Facebook!

10/03/2016

Strength Through Diversity – Celebrating Harmony Day 2016

In music the definition of ‘harmony’ is: the combination of different musical notes played or sung at the same time to produce a pleasing sound; a pleasing combination or arrangement of different things (Merriam Webster dictionary 2016).

When we think about Harmony Day these very same musical principles come in to play. It’s about different people and different lives coming together and being embraced. It’s about finding a sense of belonging. And like all different musical instruments and singing, when we come together we can do beautiful things!

Harmony Day 2016 is Monday 21 March and this year’s official theme is: our diversity is our strength. Encourage children to talk about their differences, what they have in common and what makes them special as individuals. Help them to understand that it is because they are different that they can each bring something unique and awesome to the table.

At Bonkers Beat we have chosen our own theme for Harmony Day that is closely related: Harmony Every Day. We want to celebrate our diverse and wonderful Bonkers Beat community.

If you’re thinking of celebrating Harmony Day this year in your centre, education is the key in an early childhood setting. Here are some things you could incorporate, as found on the Harmony Day website:

-Explore Harmony Day stories via the Harmony Day app

-Create some DIY Harmony Day materials via the official templates here

– Painting to music: Listen to a diversity of music styles and paint what you hear with different colours and brushstrokes.

-All the same: What things make us the same?

-Diverse mates: Find out the many ways in which your classmates are diverse eg hobbies, favourite colour/food/music/TV program, things they dislike.

Here are some of our own provocations for thinking and possibilities for learning:

-Share educators’ ethnic backgrounds and by using a pin or string connect to countries on a map

-Identify children families’ backgrounds and by using a pin or string connect to countries on a map

-Invite families to share their traditions and culture

-Introduce a variety of songs and dances from around the world

-Engage children in multicultural cooking experiences

-Use multicultural dolls and gender diverse dolls for dramatic play

Have you registered your Harmony Day event yet? It can be anything from a morning tea to a massive community event! Register and you’ll get some great free promotional products to help you celebrate: harmony.gov.au/celebrate/register

One last thing: click here for a special gift for you centred around belonging and togetherness from Bonkers the Monkey.

16/03/201516/03/2015

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!