Tag: kinder australia

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Soothing Separation Anxiety in Children (and Parents!)

separation anxiety

Many children have just started in new centres, new schools or perhaps new rooms with an existing care provider.

For some families and educators it will be all smiles and a smooth transition. For others it can be very upsetting as children can be distressed, particularly at drop off time. Sometimes we see parents feeling separation anxiety around this time too. This is nothing to be concerned about.

Separation anxiety is not unusual – in fact, it’s quite common. With a few tried and tested strategies, educators and centres can help families to overcome separation anxiety and make drop off time easier for everyone.

What causes separation anxiety?

To understand it best we need to know what brings on bouts of separation anxiety.

Two of the most common causes of separation anxiety we tend to see in early childhood education are directly related to:

-Change in surroundings eg moving house, changing schools/care providers

-Manifestation of parental separation anxiety.

Strategies to soothe separation anxiety

As educators, there are things we can do to help parents and children feel less anxious at drop off time and keep separation anxiety under control.

1. Get ready

A good orientation process can be really effective at reducing the onset of separation anxiety.

Whether it’s a new room, new educators or a new centre, we should guide parents and children to prepare for the impending change in advance.

2. Create a routine

It’s not just children who love routines – adults benefit from them too! Parents and children should be encouraged to create a regular, reliable routine for childcare/kinder days. This helps everyone understand what to expect.

On arrival, knowing what will be happening in the centre will assist children to be even more confident and settle into the day better. (This will help parents to relax too!)

3. Focus on relationships

We believe that collaboration with families is essential for the best outcomes for children in early childhood.

Communicate with parents and reassure them. Parents need to know that educators are capable of identifying signs of discomfort or distress in their child and that their wellbeing is your priority.

4. Incorporate transitional songs

The Bonkers Beat Music Program harnesses the power of music in many ways for centres and children – one such way is through the use of transitional songs.

A transitional song is a great way to facilitate a smooth transition between activities in childcare settings. This same approach could be applied to the drop off period for parents and children. A simple song to be sung by families on the way into the centre each time could be a valuable addition to the routine to help everyone to adapt to the approaching shift in environment.

Your support counts

Separation anxiety isn’t enjoyable for anyone, however your support as an educator can go a long way to help families through it.

Calm voices, reassuring words and body language and a positive attitude paired with our strategies will help guide you through as children settle in to 2017.

If you feel you would like more tips, this ACECQA resource is very handy and full of information to help.

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Top Tactics for More Centre Enrolments

As centre owners, directors, managers and educators, we take pride in our centres. So when our beloved childcare and/or kindergarten service isn’t getting as many enrolments as we would hope, it can be disheartening.

Increasing your centre’s occupancy can be challenging. More established centres feel they struggle to compete with brand new centres offering impressive centre design and newer facilities. On the other hand, some new centres are starting from scratch and face the challenge of establishing a good reputation in the community.

Never fear – with many years of experience guiding centres to success, we have compiled some top tactics for you to get more enrolments at your centre.

1. Get your centre out there

Whether you’re an established centre or brand new, there’s a chance that you’re experiencing lower than desired occupancy rates simply because you’re not putting your centre out there for the public.

You don’t have to spend thousands on marketing to get noticed. Try hosting an Open Day – simply open your centre on a Saturday or Sunday and let families explore it for themselves. A sausage sizzle or craft for children can attract more people.

Facebook is full of opportunities to help familiarise your community with your centre. You can post in community groups and/or create a company page for your centre. Investing as little as $10 on Facebook ads can help spread the word about your centre to a selected demographic.

2. Motivate your team

One of my favourite acronyms: TEAM: Together Everyone Achieves More. When your educators work together and are a united team, you will have the best chance of success.

Centres old and new struggle to find passionate, committed staff. Regular professional development can help motivate your team – take a look at the staff development curriculum day at Bonkers Beat Music Kinder we arranged this week to get inspired. We did lots of bonding and brainstorming.

Try brainstorming with your educators about how you can increase occupancy. If families are leaving after one year, discuss why you think that might be and what you could be doing differently.

3. Enhance your point of difference

What makes your centre special? What do you do differently? Find your point of difference and make it stand out.

Centres who have our Bonkers Beat Music Program embedded are given plenty of resources and guidance. This includes how to highlight their centre’s unique, powerful and effective approach to early childhood education. Parents love to learn about the incredible results and with their enhanced knowledge, they are more inclined to rave to others and spread the word for you!

We’ve even seen centres that run the Bonkers Beat program covered in the local papers across various states because of the exceptional outcomes for children in the community.

If you can identify what makes you different to the other centres in the area, you have a better chance of attracting families who will be committed to your centre. The idea is that these families’ values and goals for their children will align with your centre’s outcomes.

SPECIAL OFFER EXTENDED!

To help you with improving your centre occupancy and get 2017 off to a fantastic start for you, we have extended our Bonkers Beat special offer.

Join the Bonkers Beat Music Program before Monday 6 February , you’ll get your first month membership FREE.

Learn more and sign up here.

Our award-winning program is simple to embed into your existing curriculum and will:

  • Stimulate Children’s Brain Development
  • Increase occupancy at your centre
  • Attract, Motivate and Retain Quality Educators
  • Increase Your Centre’s NQS Ratings
  • Enhance Family Engagement
  • Make Educators’ Programming and Documentation Easier
  • Give Your Centre a Key Point of Difference

Best of luck with improving your centre’s occupancy – we know that with a few tweaks and some dedication, you’ll have more enrolments in no time!

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Exceeding NQS Rating again

We’ve done it again! Bonkers Beat Music Kinder & Childcare has received an outstanding rating of Exceeding National Quality Standard from the Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority (ACECQA)! This is the second time we have received an Exceeding NQS rating, having been assessed in 2012 and 2016.

This result is one that the Bonkers Beat Music Kinder & Childcare team at Aspendale worked hard for, and it’s important to let you know you aren’t alone in your challenges in your centre – we all need support, guidance and teamwork along the path to achieving our goals, whether that’s an Exceeding NQS rating or something else.

While the Bonkers Beat programs offer exceptional value, support, practical tools and proven benefits for all, we also invite you all to visit our Aspendale centre yourself to get a feel for the Bonkers Beat experience. If you’d like to arrange a time to visit, please send us an email (info@bonkersbeat.com) or give us a call (1300 022 328).

You can have a taste of the Bonkers Beat experience in this video tour of our Aspendale centre. The video also features an insight into Galina’s passion and vision for the future of early childhood education.

We truly believe that a team effort is required for success, strengthened by effective leadership and a passionate approach to early childhood education.

Happy singing and stretching,

Galina and the Bonkers Beat Team

P.S Take a look at the video to enjoy a virtual tour of our Aspendale centre and hear about the things that are most important to Bonkers Beat and the future of early childhood education.

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How a Child’s First Five Years Can Change Everything

first five years

The research is pretty conclusive – the first five years of a child’s life are the most important. This means early childhood education could be one of the most significant factors in life when it comes to determining a child’s future.

As National Youth Week approaches where we celebrate Australia’s youth aged 12-25 for a week-long initiative (April 8-17, 2016), it seems like a good time to consider the impact of those earlier years on how children will develop, and who they will become.

Laying Life’s Foundations

According to Goodstart Institute of Early Learning, 80 per cent of a child’s brain develops before they reach age 5, and the experiences they have during this time will shape the rest of their lives. With a child’s brain developing more rapidly from birth to 5-years old than any other time in their life, it is not surprising that, as Raising Children explains, this is when foundations for learning, health and behaviour throughout life are laid down.

During these first five years of life, various factors will influence a child’s development. Genetic factors, relationships, environmental elements… The latter two can both be impacted significantly by early childhood education, including both the educators themselves, the approach to learning and the facilities provided.

Holistic Approach – Teaching the Whole Child

With so many areas of a child’s development for parents and educators to nurture and optimise, it can seem almost impossible to support every area of learning for a child – let alone every day for those first five years! This is where music steps in. Countless studies show that partaking in musical activity in childhood helps to develop the whole brain – with amazing emotional, social and academic results (not to mention physical, through movement and dance!).

Music Every Day Made Simple

While many of the studies on the impact of creating music on the brain are based on learning an instrument in one or two lessons per week, it is clear that creating music with our voices and bodies via singing, clapping, clicking and stomping is closely related. I am dedicated to delivering a way that children can experience music activities from age two not only for 30 minutes twice a week, but every day.

The result of children’s involvement in making music is evident in their academic ability, behaviour and wellbeing. I see these outcomes on a daily basis, as do the educators at other centres implementing the Bonkers Beat music program across the country.

Find the Time to Enhance the First Five Years

Many educators feel that their days are just too busy to incorporate music into their daily routines, but these are just a few ideas of when you might use music. Here are some times when music can be slipped into the day with little to no effort to enhance children’s brains and learning:

-Smooth classical music – on arrival during family grouping time
-Transitional songs – during transition times
-Nursery songs and musical games – throughout the day
-Relaxation music – during rest time
-Classical music including Mozart – during art/craft sessions to stimulate creativity
-Yoga music – during stretching or yoga sessions
-Meditation music – during meditation, relaxation and breathing time
-Smooth classical music – on departure during family grouping time
-Multicultural and folk music – to encourage spontaneous dancing and bonding during family grouping time or community events

Make the Most of the First Five Years; Make Music

Incorporating music into early childhood can affect almost every aspect of children’s learning, from literacy and numeracy to coordination, wellbeing and everything in between. These benefits can last a lifetime. With the knowledge of just how incredibly important those first five years are, introducing singing and musical experiences designed to enhance children’s development is essential and will change a children’s lives for the better.

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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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Go Purple for Epilepsy Awareness

March is Epilepsy Awareness Month, so we are all encouraged to show our support by wearing the international epilepsy awareness colour: purple.

The idea is to break down the stigma around epilepsy and talk about it. Learn what it is, what it means and show understanding to those who live with seizures.

The official Purple Day is March 26. This date falls on the Saturday during the Easter break this year, but you can get behind Epilepsy Awareness Month by encouraging children to wear purple any time throughout March.

It’s a good time to talk about the different health issues people live with. Discuss how we might not be able to see those health issues at a glance, but how they can affect people’s lives. Promote sensitivity and understanding, and highlight the importance of supporting one another.

Here’s a little bit of info about epilepsy to help us understand the nature of it and its prevalence:

“Epilepsy is a common brain disorder which takes the form of recurring seizures. It can develop at any age, regardless of gender or ethnicity. An estimated 65 million worldwide currently live with epilepsy – in Australia alone approximately 250,000 people live with epilepsy and one in 25 people will have epilepsy at some point in their life.” (Epilepsy Australia)

So pick a day, to GO PURPLE this month! You’ll be helping to raise awareness for epilepsy and support those affected by it. It’s really simple to host a Purple Day fundraiser at your centre too, so click here to find out more.

Together we can help shape the way a generation understands health issues like epilepsy and create networks of knowledge and support.

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Sustainability in 3 Steps to Help Clean Up Australia

We are all striving towards creating the ultimate learning environment for young children. But what about the bigger picture? Making sure we take care of the environment in a broader sense is crucial, as is teaching the next generation about the importance of keeping the planet healthy.

Sustainability isn’t a buzzword – it’s the key to a happy, healthy future for us all. So how do educators and children make a difference? Our environmental sustainability program is a big part of the Bonkers Beat philosophy and practice. We understand the importance of looking after our planet and work together to raise awareness of the environment and a sense of connection to the natural world. Clean Up Australia Day is coming up on 6 March (Schools Clean Up Day, 4 March) and this is a good starting point to open up a discussion with children about the environment.

Encourage Sustainability in Three Steps

We’ve identified a three step pathway to showing children how they can make a different to the planet and the future:

  • Respect

If we can first encourage children to respect the environment and nature, we have made a good start. One of the easiest ways of doing this is through growing, cooking and eating. Once children see firsthand that nature is providing yummy food for them with just a little bit of care, they tend to look at a garden from a new perspective.
Practical Tip: Children should be taught care for plants and nature through activities like planting, watering plants, pruning, harvesting/picking and cooking.

  • Responsibility

Working from a basis of respect for the environment, children and staff can demonstrate their respect for their environment by becoming socially responsible. Promote awareness of wastage when it comes to water, electricity, paper and recyclable materials.
Practical Tip: Time handwashing, use compost bins, grow vegetables, fruit and herbs, maximise the use of natural light, minimise the use of heating and cooling.

  • The three R’s – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

These three R’s are practical reminders that we can apply to almost anything in life. If children have some paper we want them to think: can it be reused or recycled? They deserve to know that off-cuts of used scrap paper can be turned into tissues, newspapers, kitty litter and moulded cartons for eggs and fruit. We want them to opt for a reusable snack box rather than plastic wrappings, and to understand the impact of littering on animals and the world.
Practical Tip: Read more about how to action the three R’s – Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle – here.

Explaining sustainability to children can be tricky. The simple explanation we always use: it is just ‘Enough for Everyone for Ever’.

At Bonkers Beat we believe it is our responsibility to be role models and teach children to:

-learn about the environment
-develop skills to investigate and solve issues in the environment
-acquire attitudes of care and concern for the environment
-adopt behaviours and practices which protect the environment
-understand the principles of ecologically sustainable development

Remember, the upcoming annual event Clean Up Australia Day is on 6 March (Schools Clean Up Day 4 March)! Centres, you can register your Clean Up Day by clicking here. Alternatively, you might like to register to join an existing site clean up.

Here’s a sneak peak at our environmental sustainability program at the Bonkers Beat Music Kinder in Aspendale:

Inspire us by showing off images from your centre on our Facebook page, or Bonkers Beat members can share in the private My Bonkers Beat group.

P.S. As a loyal Bonkers Beat supporter, please enjoy this gift from Bonkers the Monkey – click here for your exclusive access to our song ‘Bonkers Rap’. A fun resource for talking about looking after the planet!

 

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When 3 million Australians are living with depression or anxiety, wellbeing matters

You hear about wellbeing all the time and you know that it’s important, but if you’re wondering “what is wellbeing?”, you’re not alone!

Research indicates that wellbeing is “a state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy”. Collins English Dictionary defines wellbeing as “the condition of being contented, healthy, or successful; welfare“. According to the Macmillan Dictionary, wellbeing is “the satisfactory state that someone or something should be in, that involves such things as being happy, healthy, and safe”.

When we think of wellbeing we need to remember that it comprises all elements of wellness – that is good physical health and good mental health. These contribute to the bigger picture that is our overall state of wellbeing, which affects our day-to-day enjoyment and comfort.

The Bonkers Beat programs highlight music as a means to enhance learning but also to provide a pathway to improving the wellbeing of children and educators.

How Music Improves Wellbeing

PHYSICAL WELLBEING: Encourages physical activity; reduces muscle tension; stimulates feel-good hormones; boosts immunity
EMOTIONAL WELLBEING: Calming effect; reduces negative emotions; lyrics can function as positive affirmations; uplifts the spirit
SOCIAL WELLBEING: Facilitates teamwork; increases self-esteem; builds confidence; can embed social skills

 

Wellbeing Practices for Life

In addition to music and these amazing benefits noted above, the Bonkers Beat programs also focus on incorporating wellbeing practices every day. Wellbeing practices include: yoga, stretching, breathing exercises and meditation.

The positive results from these activities can often be noted immediately – and once again, they benefit educators as well children! The impact is both physical and emotional, from lowering cortisol (stress hormone) levels to increasing mobility and so much more.

 

Wellbeing Matters

These figures from beyondblue indicate why wellbeing matters for all of us, young and old:

  • 3 million Australians are living with depression or anxiety
  • One in four young Australians currently has a mental health condition
  • One in 16 young Australians is currently experiencing depression
  • One in six young Australians is currently experiencing an anxiety condition
  • Suicide is the biggest killer of young Australians and accounts for the deaths of more young people than car accidents

Furthermore, 6-38% of family day care educators met criteria for depression according to the findings from the research project ‘Work and wellbeing in family day care’, by the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, Deakin University, RMIT and The Jack Brockhoff Child Health & Wellbeing Program.

Enhanced Wellbeing for Children and Educators

While our role and passion is to enhance the wellbeing of children in our care, at Bonkers Beat we feel it’s important to make note of the importance of educator’s wellbeing too.

If we are not feeling good within ourselves in an emotional, physical or social sense, then we need to be supported by our team to improve our wellbeing.

By bonding and enhancing that sense of teamwork in your centre, as well as incorporating music and wellbeing practices each day, educators will have the tools they need to do what they do best, and be the best they can beWhile our role and passion is to enhance the wellbeing of children in our care, at Bonkers Beat we feel it’s important to make note of the importance of educator’s wellbeing too.

If we are not feeling good within ourselves in an emotional, physical or social sense, then we need to be supported by our team to improve our wellbeing.

By bonding and enhancing that sense of teamwork in your centre, as well as incorporating music and wellbeing practices each day, educators will have the tools they need to do what they do best, and be the best they can be. And that’s why wellbeing is so important, not only to children but to early childhood education.

 

The upcoming Bonkers Beat Wellness Summits are committed to the wellbeing of educators and children. We aim to ensure each educator has the tools and support within their centre to do the best job possible with children in their care and enjoy each day with a sense of enhanced wellbeing. The exclusive Bonkers Beat Wellness Summits are run in Australian capital cities and are included for all educators from centres who are members of Bonkers Beat Music and/or Wellbeing programs. If you’d like to learn more, click here.

 

 

 

 

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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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