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Child Care Industry News
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March 17, 2015
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Welcome, this week a range of craft ideas to help you celebrate Harmony Day (March 21) and your opportunity to participate in research on body image in very young children.
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| Important study on body image in preschoolers
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"Is my bum too big in this?"
"I've been so bad today, tomorrow I'll be living on lettuce."
"That girl is so pretty - look how skinny she is."
"I can't eat that… I don't eat carbs."
Magazines, music videos, TV advertising, TV weight loss shows, mums, dads… Early Years Educators?… On and on it goes…
Does any of this sound familiar? 'Fat talk', 'fat shaming' and idealising the thin body for women and the muscular body for men is so common in Western culture we might not even be aware we are doing it. In fact, studies have shown that even children as young of three years of age are not immune - they prefer thin playmates over larger ones and believe they can't live up to the beauty ideals set by Disney Princesses. We used to think that body image concerns began around puberty, but increasingly, research with younger children has shown that body image worries are beginning much earlier than this ¹.
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| Harmony Day
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| craft ideas and activities
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Harmony Day (21 March) celebrates Australia's rich and amazing cultural diversity. It's about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone.
This year marks the 15-year anniversary of Harmony Day so it's an extra special occasion! In addition to dressing in red and orange, the colours of Harmony Day, this week we also offer you a range of craft ideas which will really help you get into the spirit of the occasion.
Colour and make printables - colour and create figures and Australian scenes which show that everyone belongs.
Musical moods - use music from different cultural groups as the inspiration for a piece of art.
Hats - this activity introduces children to the diversity of headwear and the purpose and significance of these in a multicultural society.
This is me - use this printable as the basis for a self portrait. When all the children have finished these self-portraits make an amazing mural for the walls of the service.
Harmony Day People Chain - a multi-cultural paper chain.
Go orange ask everyone to bring in orange streamers, ribbons and fabric and spend an hour or two decorating one of the rooms in your service. Use this as the backdrop for a morning of stories and activities such as trying food from different multi-cultural groups of listening to music.
A box of crayons - a self-portrait activity which relies on team work for the final outcome.
Handprint wreath - a quick and easy activity which offers an effective graphic representation of the range of cultural backgrounds present here in Australia.
These craft ideas were originally sourced on www.harmony.gov.au, www.forteachersforstudents.com.au, www.cleverpatch.com.au, www.kinderart.com and www.dltk-kids.com.
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