Raindance Learning Story
Overview
Towards the end of 2012, Organisation Mondiale pour l’Education Prescoliare (OMEP)
Australia offered to fund the development of an Early Years Education Program series called
Raindance. The programs, based on a book of the same name by Cathy Applegate(now out
of print) aim to demonstrate the importance of water to people, plants and the environment in
a fun and age-appropriate manner. The $4000 of initial funding for this arrived in June 2013
and a second payment of $4000 arrived in September 2013.
Raindance is an engaging and interactive 1 hour 45 minute program designed for preschool
groups, prep and grades1 and 2 at primary school level and was piloted in September 2013.
Two other programs were developed as school holiday events at the botanic gardens for 3-5
and 6-12 year olds, with associated craft activities. A detailed multi-grade teacher resource
kit on water and the water cycle in Australia was developed and national curriculum mapping
has been used to link the programs to the state educational requirements. This progress
report on the project is presented in a leaning story format.
Purpose
OMEP is an international organisation supporting education for children in their early
development.
They were looking for a funding opportunity to encourage and engage
children with water conservation skills, knowledge, attitudes and behaviours. Water, its
importance and absence, is one of the key themes in the recently completed Australian
Garden at the Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne, thus an early years program on water
conservation is highly complementary. The program needed to be fun to engage young
students and promote positive feeling towards conservation ideas with a strong sensory
approach to exploring and discovery about water which is especially appropriate for early
years teaching. The Cathy Applegate book ‘Raindance’ was selected to provide a focus for
the program, ithas an aesthetic that matches the Red Sand Garden, a prominent feature at
the Australian Garden. The story, provides scope for dance and understanding water and its
absence. .
City of Casey has a number of metrics derived from Australian Bureau of Statistics that
suggest it is a very good area for Early Years Programs. It has one of the highest ratios of
people below the age of 4 in Australia and the surrounding region is well known in
Melbourne as an area for young families.
This is the first year of the collaboration between OMEP and RBG Cranbourne and we hope
that it can continue for some time.
RBG Cranbourne has embarked on a number of
programs designed for concerning early years children, including Koorie Kids Bush
Playgroup, a rapidly growing Bush Kinder program and a leading role in the promotion of
‘Nature Play’.
Learning Outcomes
Water issues are of global significance and Australia’s citizens, living in the driest inhabited
continent, need to be particularly aware of them, especially so against a backdrop of climate
change and its anticipated consequences for us in the future. Our young children will be
exposed to the consequences of climate change more than any others in our population.
The first Raindance program developed was designed for preschool through to grade 2 and
introduces concepts such as basic water cycle ideas, evaporation and precipitation. It does
this through sensory exploration and discovery with activities such as water painting, puddle
play, simple nursery rhymes, paddling, splashing and of course ‘raindancing’.
The other two hour-long holiday programs developed were targeted at children aged 3-5
and 6-12. Both also focussed on the importance of water to all living things, and the water
cycle, with activities located around the garden, concluding with energetic water play.
A curriculum-linked teacher’s resource kit supporting education outcomes relating to water
issues is also under development.
This spans early years right, through to the end of
compulsory education and includes pre- and post-excursion classroom activities that will
help teachers get the best value for their experience at RBG Cranbourne. Outcomes have
been mapped against the Australian curriculum to help teachers with planning their students’
education.
Learning Story
The full length Raindance program was piloted on 13th September in 2013 with Cooinda
Preschool. The program begins with a reading of Cathy Applegate’s book, ‘Raindance’
This set the scene and was of a length that did not tax our young audience’s attention spans.
We then splashed in puddles and made rain sounds while sitting in shell grit with clap sticks
and indeed the shell grit in which we were sitting. We visited the Dry Riverbed Garden and
measured ourselves against the flood marker (see picture above). We smelt the plants and
pressed our faces into the cool smooth gum bark of the gum trees and listened to the wind in
the trees while watching the clouds. We danced through the garden with our own version of
a raindance but today there would be no rain.
In the Weird and Wonderful Garden we painted with water on the slate rocks only to see our
drawings disappear into thin air, certainly to fall as rain again but not here, not today. We
gathered fragments of a rainbow that had shattered when we touched it and matched them
to the plants where we were sitting. Finally we paddled in the Rockpool Waterway and
splashed each other.
Raindance is still in its developmental stages and has not yet settled into a regular format.
The full program has been run 3 times with groups including apilot run. It has run with a
preschool group, a prep group and a special school; three quite different audiences.
However, it is quite clear from the level of engagement and the degree of animation
displayed that the children enjoy the experience. We have had reports back from the pilot
group that they were still talking about the excursion after the summer holidays and 4
months later.
Advance bookings for the program in 2014 are very encouraging, all early years bookings
taken for first term (3) are for Raindance. Such bookings clearly demonstrate its appeal as
as most classes are getting used to operating as a group so first term is not often the term of
choice for early years bookings..
Challenges
Education programs usually evolve over time and especially in their early stages.
Raindance will be especially subject to this because of the nature of the audiences that the
program is intended to serve, as three year olds and eight year olds differ substantially in
terms of their education needs and preferred learning styles. The shorter holiday version
developed also has different requirements, to engage a non-captive audience with water
issues, and providing self-directed activities to allow for new arrivals.
The longer school
sessions allow for a more sustained narrative, so the approach and the activities will vary.
Work on the programs will continue for some time yet to maximise their utility and benefit to
the groups they serve.
At this stage there are two staff that can run the program, both with limited availability. The
indications are that the program will be popular with Early Childhood group, both from
preschools and schools, so more of the garden’s sessional teachers need to be trained to
run the program.
The teacher resource kit development is under way, but this is a large body of work and
further work is required. Additionally the maintenance of this will see ongoing work.
Other projects in Early Childhood
The Royal Botanic Gardens have been a leader in education at early childhood for many
years.
Probably the best known example has been the development of the Ian Potter
Children’s Garden in RBG Melbourne which enjoys an international reputation and
celebrates its 10 year anniversary this year, The gardens have developed any programs
over the years, not just for children but also for early childhood professionals
(http://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/learn/professional-development).
Phase II of the Australian
Garden at RBG Cranbourne was completed towards the end of 2012;it represents a very
different experience to the traditional European landscape of the Melbourne
site.
Cranbourne is a contemporary land sculpture representing Australian landscapes, plants
and culture and it is set in natural bush land of high conservation value.
RBG is currently focussed on improving and increasing children and nature interactions
through a campaign to encourage more children into the outdoors, and away from sedentary
occupations. On April 1st we are heavily involved in the launch of Nature Play Week that will
hopefully become an annual and national event over the next few years (see appendix 1).
Consistent with the campaign RBG is encouraging the establishment of Bush Kinders, an
Australian version of the forest schools that are now becoming widespread in Europe and
North America. There are currently two running on site at Cranbourne with two more early
years groups set to join the program this year. Currently RBG, in partnership with Best Start,
Casey Council, Casey/ Cardinia Library and Windermere family services, is preparing to
launch a Koorie Kids Bush Playgroup with the first meeting of this group is planned for May
this year. This will be an important opportunity to engage with new partners and reach new
target audiences.
RBG Cranbourne is also involved in discussions with Sydney TAFE and Chisholm Institute
of TAFE
regarding potential development of a course for training early childhood
professionals in bush or outdoor play in Victoria.
In conclusion
The Royal Botanic Gardens would welcome further support from OMEP In developing
programs in the early childhood area.
There is also enormous scope for developing
infrastructure within the Australian Garden at Cranbourne to support a rapidly developing
program that is already having impact on early childhood education provision in this part of
Melbourne, an area with some of the highest proportions of children in the early childhood
sections of our population. We look forward to a continuing and productive partnership with
OMEP, now and into the future.
Appendix 1.
Nature Play Week
Do you remember playing outside as a child?
Nature Play Week is an initiative that brings together initiatives of all shapes and sizes that
re-connect children to nature and the outdoors. It is a new signature event for child-nature
connectors in Australia and those who are interested in the child-nature connection benefits
from a health, community and/or environmental perspective. Partner organisations are
invited to host an event that gives children a meaningful, unforgettable experience in nature
and
the
outdoors
throughout
the
duration
of
the
week.
Through Nature Play Week, the organisers aim to reach out to a diverse and broad audience
and give many more children in Australia the opportunity to meaningfully connect with nature
and create some unforgettable memories. Event themes during the week include the bush,
the river, the beach, the park, the back yard, the street, wildlife and connecting to country.
The goals of the Nature Play Week are:
1) To provide a central, annual opportunity to showcase the amazing work that is being done
in the Australian children-nature movement
2) To connect Nature Play/Experience providers with new audiences, giving more children
the opportunity to participate in nature focussed activities
3) To act as a catalyst and launching platform for collaboration
4) To enable joint publicity for partner organisations in which the wellbeing, community and
environmental benefits of nature play are highlighted both to target groups and the general
public.
Why?
Most children in Australia are raised in an urban environment. Children are playing less and
less outside in nature. Our society’s outdoor experiences have changed significantly over the
past 30 years and as we have moved indoors, screen spaces have replaced green places.
Use of television, computers, the internet and smartphones, increased parental fear, poor
urban planning and more highly structured play and supervision keep children from playing
outside.
This change in the experience of and exposure to nature has led to a gradual distancing
between our children and the natural world and has profound implications for the mental,
physical, emotional and spiritual health of future generations – and for the health of nature
itself. As Richard Louv, founder of the international Children and Nature Network says:
“Young people need opportunities to experience and learn from nature during their growing
years in order to become citizens and future decision-makers who will take responsibility for
the stewardship of the earth.”
Over the past two years, the VCNC has built relationships with many organisations and
initiatives, primarily in Victoria, that are working to reconnect children with nature. We have
shared experiences, ideas and knowledge through meetings and a series of successful
seminars and workshops. We have now reached a stage where we would like to consolidate
this work by kick-starting a new, exciting collaboration across sectors. We aim to
disseminate key messages about the many diverse benefits of nature play to much larger
audiences. In Australia, the value and benefits of Nature Play and its variations is recognised
by a number of initiatives, publications and organisations. However, to date, there has been
no central initiative to showcase, celebrate and connect the inspiring work that is being done.
Nature Play Week is proposing to do this.
The launch event – Tuesday 1 April 10am-12 pm
The launch of Nature Play week will take place on Tuesday 1 April from 10am-12pm.
The launch features 2-3 celebrity keynote speakers who will highlight some of the work
being done in Australia and what is needed for the future. The launch event will be an
opportunity for partner organisations, supporters and sponsors to meet and mingle with key
people
active
in
this
field.
National
media
will
be
invited.
It is anticipated that we will receive state government support for this launch event and the
promotions of the week, possibly the minister will speak at it. We are hoping to engage some
high-profile celebs, e.g. Richard Louv or David Suzuki and Australia-based celebs.