Relationships with children Archives - Page 8 of 9 - Early Learning Childhood Education

22/06/201723/06/2017

What Positive Thoughts Can Do For Children (and YOU)

Our thoughts and beliefs can change the way we see the world. And even the way we think we are seen within the world. Imagine if we surrounded ourselves with positive thoughts each day…

We know how much we can be impacted by words that are negative and so most of us aim to avoid those damaging attitudes. After all, if you are surrounded by negativity it can really program the way you think.

So what if we put in the effort each day to reprogram the minds of young people and yourself with positive thinking? We think this is an excellent way of enhancing wellbeing and contributing to making the world a better place.

To make it easy, we’ve created the Bonkers Beat Calendar of Positive Thoughts! Each day can have its own positive thought to make sure you never miss an opportunity to share the magic of positive thinking in your centre or home.

Let’s look more specifically at the powerful impact positive thinking can have on children’s lives (and yours!).

What Positive Thoughts Can Do

There are many benefits to positive thinking that are backed by science. Here are just a couple of effects you will see from using positive thoughts with children:

Boost self-esteem: Sometimes we don’t feel great about ourselves or feel like we are happy with who we are. Same goes for children. Rewire a child’s subconscious by embedding positive thoughts about themselves.

Counteract mental health issues: Children have many similar issues to face in their lives just as adults do – anxiety, low self-esteem, depression. Let’s work together to tackle them with fresh, positive perspectives on life and ourselves.

Instil values: A positive voice inside a child’s head can help guide them in understanding the right and wrong way to approach issues and other people.

Use positive thoughts each day and incorporate them as a mantra in meditation time with children to get a noticeable outcome faster. Practising positive thinking in a mindful way like meditation can help it to stick.

Incorporating positive thoughts into children’s lives (and our own) can only produce a beneficial outcome – so why not give it a try?!

You will be able to get your own Calendar of Positive Thoughts here. We also share some positive thoughts and affirmations on our social media pages. Make sure you’re following us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!

08/06/201708/06/2017

Support and strategies for inclusion in centres

Every child is special and deserves to be included. The Victorian Inclusion Agency is currently hosting a range of inclusion workshops and expos around Victoria which will help you build your understanding of inclusion strategies.

Bonkers and Galina were invited to take part in expos and will be sharing their techniques and resources to support the inclusion of all children.

The Victorian Inclusion Agency works towards the vision that all Victorian children can meaningfully and actively participate in an education and care service of their family’s choice in their community.

What makes a service ‘inclusive’?

To run an inclusive service means you have the equipment, programs and knowledge required to ensure children with a range of special needs – special rights – can be taken care of effectively and included with all children.

In some cases, centres may need specialist equipment like ramps, communication charts, posture aids, among other items.

Sometimes it can be difficult to realise that your centre needs some tweaks or additions to improve its inclusiveness, but that’s what these expos are for.

How Bonkers Beat delivers inclusion support

The Bonkers Beat Music and Wellbeing programs have a strong focus on wellbeing and the celebration of each child.

Our programs have had exceptional results for families with ASD, ADHD and many other behavioural conditions. You can specifically read about our approach to autism here.

We believe that every child is different in one way or another and it’s our differences that make us special. Our differences also give us a unique perspective that we can share with others who may not be privy to that perspective.

Some of us do things differently, sound different or behave in different ways. However, there are still things we all have in common and can share with one another. Inclusion in centres means everyone understands this.

Some helpful resources to support inclusion practices in your centre

Gaining a thorough understanding of why children might behave in some ways is a good first step. This resource is a worthwhile read.

Enrolling children with special rights and additional needs? There are a few extra considerations. This guide will help you get on top of them.

Get your visual supports up to scratch in your centre with this guide.

Bonkers is excited to share the power of music and wellbeing for the purpose of inclusion in centres with you.

Bonkers Beat will be attending these Inclusion Expo dates:

Tuesday 13 June – Bundoora
Wednesday 14 June – Geelong
Mon 19 June – Dandenong

Hope to see you at the Inclusion Expo next week!

To attend your nearest VIA Inclusion Expo, click here.

If you’ll see Bonkers and Galina, make sure you come and say ‘Hi’!

17/05/201718/05/2017

Understanding Children’s Developmental Milestones

When did little Sarah start reading? Can Danny write his name yet? How many children are toilet trained by age 2? Children’s developmental milestones can be exciting, but they can also bring about needless stress.

As educators, we can play a big role in guiding children toward achieving milestones. We also support parents as their children continue on their developmental journeys in our care in addition to their families.

If you’re a parent who can be a little stressed about your child hitting milestones “on time”, this article has some useful information for you to relax and enjoy your child developing in their own time.

There’s no such thing as normal

Spending every day immersed in the early childhood industry, it becomes quite clear to most educators that there is a wide range of “normal” development timing.

There does tend to be a range that we can use to determine if any particular area needs special attention for individual children. However, if your child doesn’t stand on one leg by 30 months old, there’s probably nothing to worry about.

“Normal” doesn’t take into account your child’s unique strengths, preferences, past experiences and the countless other things that can have an effect on when they achieve certain milestones.

Watching children reach milestones can be exciting! However we all need to remember that children will achieve different things at different times – and most of the time this is all just part of their own developmental journeys.

Knowledge is power

While there really is a huge range of timing for various developmental milestones, it is worthwhile knowing what is expected at various ages and stages. This is so that if there is a legitimate development delay that requires special attention or even professional guidance, you can act fast and help children to overcome any challenges they may have on their developmental journey.

Some things will be grown out of; others may need therapies or medical support. If you’re really concerned, there’s no harm in getting a professional opinion from a children’s development specialist.

Literacy and numeracy are important, but there’s more to it

At pre-school age, the top developmental concerns we see from parents tend to relate to reading, writing and counting. And while these are all really important life skills, they are also skills that children take on at different times and at various speeds.

They’re also easy to work on through reading books and making mindful observations with children about their surroundings. Incorporate counting into the drive or walk to kinder by counting letterboxes. Read the signs around the streets: STOP, school, no dogs allowed. Make the connection between reading, counting and life and create an environment of incidental learning.

Your child’s ability to play with other children, kick a ball, dance and bang a beat on a drum are wonderful skills they have developed that should be celebrated too. Take the time to focus on their strengths.

Keep parents in the know

At the end of this month, Bonkers Beat Music Kinder is having a Children’s Progress Night. This is an evening for parents to come along and find out more about what their child is learning, how they are developing, what their strengths are and where extra attention could be useful.

These evenings are a wonderful tool for educators and parents to have some dedicated discussion time to go over their child’s development. We are passionate about creating collaborative partnerships with families at centres to give their children the best start.

Of course, always maintain an open line of communication between educators and parents to ensure the best outcomes for all children.

Enjoy your children’s individual journeys – it’s not a competition

By all means, take an interest in the development of all the children in your life. Don’t get sucked into making comparisons though. Enjoy the beautiful journey as children grow and flourish from babies to toddlers to young children and eventually teenagers and adults!

For more information on milestones as clues to what to expect around certain ages and how you can help you child’s development, try this resource.

27/04/201702/05/2017

Say it with a poem this Mother’s Day

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

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

Mother’s Day Poetry – The benefits

The benefits of poetry for children are many and varied.

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

In Reading Magic, fantastic Australian author Mem Fox says:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Image designed by Freepik

09/02/201709/02/2017

Soothing Separation Anxiety in Children (and Parents!)

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.

30/11/201622/09/2017

School Holiday Activities Guide: Indoors, Outdoors, Adventures and Quiet Time

December is here and that means school holidays are around the corner. Our guide to school holiday activities means you’ll have a go-to activity for children over summer for rain, hail or shine.

School holidays are fun but they can also be a little hectic at times. Having a bit of a plan in place can go a long way to making the summer break more enjoyable for everyone.

Working families who can’t take time off over the holidays can rest assured that there are some excellent school holiday programs available. Many of these offer a range of fun experiences for your children while giving you the support you need to get to work. After all, we all know life doesn’t stop for the school holidays!

You might like to print out our guide and stick it on the fridge, or even print and cut some activities into strips and allow children to take a lucky dip to allocate them an activity.

You’ll find most of our suggestions are cheap or free, because financial pressure is the last thing you need this time of year.

Indoors

1. Make something yummy to eat – sweet cupcakes or savoury pizza
2. Get dressed up and dance to music or role play
3. Create a self portrait
4. Create a portrait of someone else
5. Get artsy with a craft project using paper, glue, pencils, feathers, wool etc
6. Build a fort/cubby under a table
7. Do a room clean out and discover some forgotten toys

Outdoors

8. Have a picnic in the backyard or at a park or beach (even a pretend picnic)
9. Fly a kite (make your own!)
10. Do some gardening – get all the weeds out or even plant something like herbs
11. Go on a treasure hunt! Try this nature hunt list.
12. Get out a ball and work on your throwing, catching or kicking

Adventure

13. Head to the library (sign up is free and there are often community activities too)
14. Catch a train or bus somewhere
15. Plan a visit to the zoo
16. Visit your local shopping centre – they might have some school holiday activities too
17. Plan a day at a museum
18. Take a nature walk

Quiet Time

19. Find a nice space to do some reading (books from the library perhaps?)
20. Watch a movie
21. Tackle a jigsaw puzzle
22. Play a boardgame
23. Play cards (snap, go fish, memory or pairs)
24. Try meditation to unwind after a busy day – here are some tips

There you have it – our guide to the school holiday activities gives you 24 boredom-proof activities for children of various ages. We want the list to grow, so share your best ideas with us on Facebook!

09/09/201609/09/2016

The Purpose of Play in Early Childhood

When we try to think of something happy, children playing is often one of the first things that comes to mind. The simple idea of children playing and laughing epitomises joy. That’s pretty powerful. Even more than just happiness, play and play-based learning are essential to any early childhood pedagogy. Let’s go back to basics and explore.

What is ‘play’?

To get us started with our discussion on the topic, let’s look at the meaning of the word play.

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines play as: recreational activity; especially the spontaneous activity of children.

Look up play in the Oxford Dictionary and is says: Engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose.

Adding to the above, there are several definitions that expand on the above. Early Childhood Australia (ECA) outlines some of these various meanings for us:

-pleasurable-play is an enjoyable and pleasurable activity. Play sometimes includes frustrations, challenges and fears; however enjoyment is a key feature

-symbolic-play is often pretend, it has a ‘what if?’ quality. The play has meaning to the player that is often not evident to the educator

-active-play requires action, either physical, verbal or mental engagement with materials, people, ideas or the environment

-voluntary-play is freely chosen. However, players can also be invited or prompted to play

-process oriented-play is a means unto itself and players may not have an end or goal in sight

What is play-based learning?

Play-based learning is just that – learning that is based in play. But let’s not oversimplify it as it is a research-based approach that has a lot of thought behind it.

The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia describes play-based learning as “a context for learning through which children organise and make sense of their social worlds, as they engage actively with people, objects and representations”.

The benefits of play-based learning

We love that play-based learning works with children’s interests while opening children up to a range of learning experiences.

These learning experiences can be related to so many areas of importance, including:

-Wellbeing

-Relationships with others

-Negotiation and conflict resolution

-Problem solving

-Curiosity

-Creativity

The benefits of play-based learning have been studied extensively, with many researchers finding that children learn best in child-directed settings accompanied by adults.

Of course, it’s up to educators to gently direct children’s play by providing stimuli and activities that will bring about the intended learning. This is where intentional teaching is so important. That is, educators being purposeful and thoughtful about how a centre’s program and learning outcomes are approached.

Let’s not forget about documentation either. Documentation is a vital element of play-based learning and in fact all learning within an early childhood setting if we are to have any chance of meaningful reflection about our curriculum and learning outcomes.

Creating positive early childhood programs

-A play-based approach is best for optimal learning

-Your play program should be child-led by educator-guided and well planned

-Provide children with an early childhood program that takes a holistic approach

-Focus on the learning outcomes and intentional teaching in all that you do as an educator

-Learning – and especially play-based learning – should always be fun so keep it light and enjoyable

-Don’t forget about documentation and following each child’s unique learning journey through play

People photograph designed by Pressfoto – Freepik.com

24/08/201601/09/2016

A Special Day for Dads – Celebrating Father’s Day in Early Childhood

There’s no doubt that fathers play a special role in children’s lives. In fact, today’s dads are more involved with bringing up their children and children have stronger bonds with their fathers than in previous generations.

With more dads making the time to have quality engagement with their children, celebrating fathers in early childhood education, from childcare centres through to school, is a must.

While many children will be overjoyed to invite dad along to a Father’s Day celebration, there are many other children who don’t have their father present in their life. This can be for a variety of reasons, and with over 740,000 families in Australia headed up by solo mums, it’s something most early childhood educators will have to address.

Father’s Day is coming up on 4 September, so make sure you create an inclusive Father’s Day celebration that can be enjoyed by all children. This could be by inviting fathers as well as special male friends or role models. These can be family members like an uncle, grandfather or step-dad, or perhaps a sports coach or friend of the family.

When you’re organising craft and other fun activities to mark the occasion, try to leave it open for children to design for their chosen person rather than specifying ‘To Dad’ by default.

Father’s Day also gives educators a chance to have a conversation with children about family diversity – there are plenty of books on the subject that may be worth looking at to help you explore this topic.

Enjoy your centre’s Father’s Day celebrations and of course, we think every celebration is a good time for a song, so feel free to incorporate this poem, ‘My Daddy’.

If you’ve got some great ideas to share and help all of us celebrating Father’s Day in early childhood, please post them on our Facebook page!

14/07/201614/07/2016

Grandparents and their impact on children’s wellness

Did you know that involving parents in children’s pre-school and school life is linked to closer bonds with children, increased resilience and overall family wellbeing? Involving grandparents is beneficial to strengthening family bonds too and further improving the wellbeing of young children. This is why each year we encourage all providers of early childhood education to fit in a day dedicated to celebrating grandparents.

In the Seven Stone Philosophy, a stone is dedicated to relationships and their impact on wellbeing: “Healthy relationships lead to better lives. They are important and have an enormous impact on our physical and mental health.” Mums and dads should of course be celebrated, but we also believe that grandparents unique role in children’s lives should be celebrated too. This is why we always include a Grandparents Day each year!

Relationships can vary

As we all know, families come in all different shapes and sizes, and family dynamics and relationships can vary greatly.

Each child has a different relationship with their grandparents, while some may not have grandparents. It can be a good idea to invite children to celebrate grandparents and special friends, so that an aunty, uncle, godparent or family friend can attend too.

Grandparents and Special Friends Day presents an opportunity for children to share their learning environment – it’s always a treat to watch children give the tour and point out their artwork along the way!

July is the month we choose and recommend for celebrating Grandparents and Special Friends Day at Bonkers Beat – with Mothers Day in May and Father’s Day in September, it fits nicely in between.

Get creative for Grandparents and Special Friends Day

Here are some creative ideas to include in your celebration of Grandparents and Special Friends Day:

Create a photo frame as a gift
Children can simply draw/paint their grandparents/special friends
Children enjoy cooking up a storm to share some special treats with grandparents/special friends
Get out the glue to create a collage that represents their relationship
Sing some special songs together
Put on a special show for grandparents/special friends
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

Bonkers Beat members, share your ideas to celebrate grandparents and special friends on our closed group. Parents, let us know what you thought of our celebration on the closed group for the centre. Everyone else, feel free to share yours on our Facebook Page.

29/03/201629/03/2016

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

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

OUTSIDE

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

ADVENTURE

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

QUIET TIME

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