Interesting Books For Girls & Boys

I came across these two interesting books the other day; The Dangerous Book for Boys, written by Conn Iggulden and Hal Iggulden, and The Daring Book for Girls, written by Andrea J. Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz.

The Dangerous Book for Boys is packed fill with interesting facts and topics. You can learn about navigation, the moon, how to make a go-cart or learn to juggle. This book has everything; even basic first aid is covered. They suggest this book is perfect for every kiwi boy from eight to 80 years old. Some reviewers have criticised this book for encouraging the young reader to injure themselves; others have praised its contents.

The Daring Book for Girls has an excellent range of topics too. Public speaking, words to impress, bandana tying, building a camp fire, learn how to play a Didgeridoo. This book even teaches you how to skateboard and how to change a tyre. It is full of possibilities and ideas for filling a day with adventure, imagination and fun.

Amanda

Crazy Facts For Your Holiday Programme

There’s nothing like some stunning snippets of CRAZY facts to slip into conversation to WOW the kids and challenge them to come up with other true but WACKY facts or dream up experiments to find your own.

• The strongest muscle in your body is your tongue
• Women blink twice as often as men
• Around 1 in ten people are left handed
• It’s impossible to sneeze with your eyes open
• Your finger nails grow four times as fast as your toe nails
• A kangaroo can’t jump unless its tail is on the ground
• An ant has a larger sized brain for its weight than any other animal
• Koala fingerprints are almost the same as human fingerprints
• Cats can’t taste sweet flavours
• Cows can walk up stairs but not down stairs
• Ants can carry 100 times their own weight
• Every day the Earth travels 2.4 million kilometers a day around the sun!

Have fun in the holidays.

Odette

The Season of Autumn

RAIN!! Yes, we’ve had some. The Waikato, Bay of Plenty and many other parts of the country have been very dry for a long time. We got real rain and ongoing drizzle over a couple of days late last week which was desperately needed. Not just for my vege garden but especially for our farmers.

It’s also lovely to have cooler mornings and evenings, the birds are singing and we seem to have a spring in our steps again. This is a good time of year to be outdoors with our children, there’s a lot of colour around and plenty of natural resources to see and collect.

I remember going on group walks, collecting seed pods, leaves and cicada husks and bringing these back to create wonderful collages and crafts. The enjoyment and freedom of being outside in large spaces, excitement of discoveries, questions and chatter this encouraged was highly valuable and gave everyone a ‘feel good’ factor to their day.

Our wonderful country has a lot to offer us, you can make use of a number of local natural resources in your area; outdoor tracks, cycle ways, mountains, beaches, rivers, reserves and playgrounds. If the sun is smiling, a breeze is blowing and leaves are fluttering do try to get out and about and enjoy the wonderful season of Autumn.

Sally

Looking Around For Transport Options

I found out an interesting fact the other day about transporting children around during the school holiday periods. The bus charges are escalating and will no doubt go up with the increase to GST, petrol and any other charges passed on to consumers.

If this has impacted on your programme getting out and about during the holidays, my suggestion is to get in touch with your local sports clubs, Te Kohanga Reo’s, Cosmopolitan Club's and Senior Citizen Club's etc. Many of these groups have vans and happily hire them out to other organisations when they aren’t using them. Some of these groups just ask for petrol to be replaced and/or a koha towards the upkeep of the vans, buses etc.

It is worth looking around for transport options. Who knows, if enough programmes get on board to support their local clubs by hiring their vans and stop using the buses, the bus companies may have to lower their prices.

Tania

The Humble Banana Box Storage Solution

Turn the humble banana box into a colourful and affordable storage solution. I painted these Banana boxes with some left over paint I had lying around my home. My OXFAM team and I are using them to store race gear in the 100k OXFAM race.

I took this picture and thought... gee this would be a great storage idea for OSCAR programmes.
The only thing it will cost you is a bit of extra time at the supermarket.

Anastasia

What’s Cooking?

I’m a busy mum and my husband works nights so he is very rarely home for dinner. This is where it falls on me to cook dinner for my two fussy children.

One of my children’s favourite meals is Cowboy Casserole with a base of mince, baked beans, macaroni and some vegetables. I usually use peas, carrots, mushroom and corn, however you can use whatever vegetables you have on hand. Left overs can be wrapped in pastry for pasties or pies.

My children also love macaroni cheese but after a long day at work and my limited skills at creating cheese sauce, my secret hint is to add a tablespoon of sour cream to hot macaroni, stir it in and then add a cup of grated cheese, some sliced ham and any cooked vegetables you have handy.

For drinks we often have iced tea. I always use fruit tea's, mainly with a berry base to them by making one cup with four tea bags add three big spoonfuls of honey and top with ice and water to taste. The more water added the more diluted the iced tea becomes. We also have popped them into ice block mould and frozen them for delicious summer treats.

With rugby season coming up, we have to bring a plate to all home games to share after the game. One of my favourites is Rugby Slice. I change it regularly depending on what I have in the cupboard. I have added apricots, chocolate chips, raspberry essence or sultanas. Here is the basic recipe:

Rugby Slice
4 crushed weetbix
1 C Sugar
2 C Flour
2tsp baking powder
4tsp Cocoa
250g melted butter
¼ C Milk
Place flour, weetbix, sugar, baking powder and cocoa into a bowl and mix. Add any extras, then add melted butter. Mix together then add milk. Put into a sandwich tin or roll into biscuits. Bake for 15mins at 180⁰C. Take out, allow to cool, and ice.

I often sprinkle a handful of chocolate chips whilst it is still hot or some hundreds and thousands. Hope this has given you some ideas for either at home or at your OSCAR programme.

Ariana

Webwatch - but not as you may first think it to be

Ever since I can remember I have always had a curious and enquiring mind and real interest in all the sciences. As a child this often got me in trouble for asking too many questions at the tea table or creating strange and lingering smells with my concoctions and lotions. Think, good old stink bombs and you may understand. One specific area of biology I love is spider web catching and webwatch.

Spider web catching of course happens best in the early morning hours, as the neighbour’s rooster is crowing and the birds have begun their morning choir practice. On these dewy and misty mornings in our pyjamas and with bare feet, for that cool smooth massage for our toes on the grass, out to the garden we would go with our brown paper bags or remnants of black tar roofing paper and some talcum powder. So many webs everywhere when you start to look.

Catching is a process of gently sliding the paper up behind a web, without touching it, then gently pressing it against the web and lifting the paper up in a slow scooping motion. At first it may look like you have nothing and then with a gentle talc snow sprinkled on top and a gentle blow to remove the excess ,you have appear before your eyes a beautiful and unique web.

We tried this sprinkling with some golden and silver icing powder used for cake decorating or powder paints of our favourite colours, a sealing with hairspray creates beautiful art pieces as well.

Did you know that the design, shape and completeness or incompleteness of a spider’s web can tell you a lot about the health of the air and the environment around them. Some sprays and airborne chemicals or spores can change the strength of a spider’s silk milk? And often webs are not complete or a bit like my knitting when I was learning, had dropped stitches and holes that could be easily seen.

So in your garden at your OSCAR programme or at home, choose a wee corner of the garden and put webwatching in to action, if your plants seem less healthy or you just want to keep your eye out for your environment and develop a lifelong skill that will make you a great gardener, then webwatching is for you and your children.

Julie

Feedback From Children

In the past few weeks I have been working away on the Te Korowai Kounga/Cloak of Quality pilot project. Part of this emphasises consulting with and gaining feedback from children and it has been very interesting seeing the different ways that programmes have gone about doing this.

Often it is informal - a quick chat with a small group of children about what they enjoy at the programme and what they would like to do today. Some programmes use more formal methods of gaining feedback, such as a child-friendly survey at the end of the term or holidays.

Observation is also a great tool to see which activities and resources are popular. Take a step back and see which activities the children gravitate towards, listen to them discuss what the latest craze is and see if you can incorporate this into your programme.

If you have some space try putting up a sheet of paper and giving the children a chance to write or draw their ideas about what they would like to do at the programme. You'll be surprised at what they come up with! Here's an example from OSCAR @ Fenwick in Oamaru.

Children love feeling like they are being listened to and that their opinion matters. Giving them opportunities to contribute to programme planning will increase their sense of belonging and onwership in their OSCAR programme.

Marnie

Look Up & Out!

I am blessed to be able to catch a ferry to work every day. During this half hour journey I usually read a book or chat with friends; paying little or no attention to what is going on outside the window.

This morning I decided to do something a little different. I decided to look up and out! I now realise what I have been missing all this time; I would not have seen the delightful scene of changing colours in the sky as the sun rose up from behind the low lying clouds on the horizon, the darkened silhouette of Rangitoto or the glistening reflection of the sun in the windows of the cities skyscrapers.

These are all simple things, however, I now feel that my day is better because I did not get caught up in the monotony of the daily commute and instead chose to look up and out. It did get me thinking though, what else are we missing in life because we do not take time to look up and out?

Susannah

Children

Thousands of youngsters ran in the kids triathlon in Whangarei last weekend. As I watched, clapped, cheered and yahooed I was enthralled by the faces of other parents around me.

Their emotions were intense as they willed their little ones towards the finish. There was elation as they emerged from the water, excitement as they re-appeared from the bike ride and anxiety when children struggled to find their stride in the run. Parents glanced at one another and exchanged smiles as they proudly cuddled their successful young athletes.

I marveled at the children’s independence in the company of their peers and with the belief that they could and would succeed. I was reminded again of how very precious our children are to their parents and of the immense trust, responsibility and privilege to be part of their lives.

Odette

Listening To Children

While trying to cook tea, do the dishes and jot down notes for work, my sons tone seemed to get the better of me, as I turned to look at him he said “what do you think I should do” it was then I realised although I was making all the right yes I’m listening noises I had not heard a word he had just said to me.

With the hectic lives we tend to live now there seems to be a slip back to the old age expectation that children are “to be seen and not heard”. Listening to children is important for their development and growth. One of the easiest ways to empower children is to listen to them: listening boosts their self-esteem.

Listening to each other in a family improves the quality of family life and everyone feels cherished. The best time for a family to listen to each other is during meals. While television may have its benefits in certain regards it has not only destroyed the art of reading but also the art of conversations within families.
I remember seeing on Super Nanny (one of those beneficial TV moments) she recommended a family try “5 minutes of darkness” each night with each child. This involves getting the child into bed ready for sleep, turning off the light then just listening, if they have nothing to say then it is silence but within this silence the child will learn that you are there to listen and they can talk about whatever is important to them. If they do talk the darkness may help them talk about things they may be embarrassed about or feel afraid to discuss. What a great way to make an effort to build on our listening skills.

There are some great listening and trust games we can play with our children also to improve our communication. They will love guiding you around the house and yard blindfolded while you listen carefully for every instruction they give you. I think you will be surprised in this game as to who the best listener is.

Kelly

The Girls Project

Doctor Donna Swift, a Social Anthropologist from Nelson, is researching the use of violent and anti-social behaviours of (aged 13 – 17 years old) girls and young women among each other as well as towards males and adults, and the impact it has on society.

The study is called “The Girls Project”, approximately 3000 girls from the top of the South Island and the West Coast of New Zealand are able to take part. Participation is voluntary and confidential. Participants are asked a series of questions and they are asked to be honest. Questions range from Parts A to E asking things like,

• Has someone does this to me?
• Does this happen?
• Have YOU done this to another person in the last year? etc.

They want to hear about what teenage girls have to say about girls fighting, why it happens, what makes it get vicious, what would make it stop and who gets involved.

The project is still in the development stage, but if you want to follow the process visit www.thegirlsproject.org.nz

Amanda

Worthy Causes

I have recently been volunteering a few hours of my time at the local Salvation Army store, this has been a great opportunity for me to meet new friends, learn some new skills and feel like I’m making a difference – albeit a small one! I have also started donating blood on a regular basis.

This has led me to think about the very small sacrifices we can make to our time and lives to really help others and the benefits of role modelling this to our children. My children have asked a number of questions about this wee change to my lifestyle, wondering why I am suddenly doing things I’ve never done before. Perhaps now that they are growing up (all teenagers – JOY, but that’s another story!) and are far more independent and self sufficient I am feeling less needed than I used to and have more personal time on my hands, or maybe it’s an age thing? I’m not sure of the answer myself but do know I now feel there’s a bit more to life than I’ve experienced in the past.

I now actively read events and charity information in the newspaper each week and have been talking about this topic to others in my life. I was interested to hear some of our OSCAR programmes participate, lead and host events in their communities. One participated in a Breast Cancer Awareness sponsored walk and through the children’s investigation and interest in a local newspaper article on food bank shortages, challenged other OSCAR programmes to donate, raising awareness on a wider scale.

OSCAR programmes also hosted Children’s Day galas and celebrations. I am so proud of the discussions occurring within OSCAR programmes, the thought processes this gives to our children and their interest and passion to help make a difference in other people’s lives.

So if you’re looking for something worthwhile to fill extra time and contribute your excellent skills to get out in your community and see what’s available…RSPCA, Cancer Society, Salvation Army, Barnardo's, NZ Blood Donors and much more. You can find information in your local newspaper, online or contact your district council.

There is something fun and worthwhile for everyone from tree planting to story telling at your local library, I promise the outcome is of great personal benefit to others and yourselves.

Sally

Food to Fuel

I’m currently training for the OXFAM 100km walk this April 10 with my team, Team Supercool, with three other team members.

Teams are given 36 hours to complete the race in, walking through the night going from dawn to dawn with no sleep. It’s a huge challenge, one that I’ve been training for since December last year - it will probably be the hardest thing I’ve ever done!

We’ve been trail blazing over Auckland’s Waitakere and Hanua ranges, learning a lot about how our bodies work over long distant hikes which can range from as short as 8km to as long as 42+km in distance.When you are hiking such long distances fuel is obviously important. We’re always trying new and natural energy foods that steer away from preservatives and from what I call false energy sources such as caffeine and high amounts of processed sugar.

Below is an easy recipe for incredibly tasty banana oat treats, we have been eaten these on our hikes, they are so yummy, have no added sugar or solid fats. Plus it’s a great way to use up your ripe bananas and it’s so much easier to make than a banana cake. I’m sure the children in your OSCAR Programme will love them !

Banana oat treats
3 bananas
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup chopped dates, or sultanas etc
1/3 cup vege oil – can be reduced by adding a bit more banana
1 tsp vanilla extract
Mash bananas first then combine the other ingredients, let sit for 10 mins then roll into truffle sized balls on oven tray and bake on 180 for 20minutes.

Get creative! If allergies aren’t an issue, to increase the protein content, think about combining a few seeds or nuts with the oats to give you those complete amino acids, perfect for us vegetarians.

Anastasia

Questions to reflect on in our programmes

I hope you all had fun at the Children’s Day events held last Sunday. While Children’s Day is only once a year it brings to mind a few questions that we should be asking ourselves on a daily basis.

Are we offering the children at our programme enriched experiences?
Are we listening to what the children want or how they feel about the programme?
Are we engaging our parents and wider community to find out if our programmes are making a difference to the lives of the children who attend?
Do we let our staff know they are truly appreciated for the hard work they put in to running the programme?
Are we making use of the network meetings for face to face discussion with our peers?
And the workshops that are on offer - do we attend and upskill ourselves with the tools needed to help make the programme run smoothly?
And most important does our programme reflect our philosophy?

Tania

The Humble Button

Yesterday I found a button out by my letterbox, tangled in a wee bird’s nest that had blown down from a mighty magnolia tree in my neighbour’s garden.

It reminded me of two things. One my great love of snooping through my grandmother’s button collection when I was young and each button I picked out would have a story to be shared. It would tell me a tale of where it came from and how it came to live in her button box. Secondly, of a time when I used to read with a group of boys in foster care. One of them told me “I was just like a button” and when I asked "if it’s because of my roundish shape?" he laughed and replied “Nah, its cos you hold things together.”

These memories got me thinking about the humble button or more importantly how it created a magical connection between a grandmother and her granddaughter. It ensured some important family memories were passed in to the future.

Could a button collection or any type of collection somewhere in a programme, create a curiosity and opportunity to have this important sharing and connecting happening between children and adults in your programme? I think it could and I would love to hear all about your experiences and wonderful collections, anytime.

Following this, I asked my two youngest children for ideas about how could buttons be used in a programme and here are some of their ideas: Button bracelets, puppet eyes, board game counters, paper flower centres, fishing rod floaters, robot controls, shaking snakes, castanets, shakers for maracas, brooches and hair ties, a button award for staff, managers or children for when they hold things together.

That was less than a minute brainstorming with 2 children, so if you multiplied that by the number of children in your programme today and the number of staff, give them a few minutes to brainstorm, there instantly is a great art and craft resource using a recycled and potentially cost free resource.

Finally by pushing a few buttons on a computer in less than 10 seconds whilst on the internet – and voila – open door to 14,400,000 possibilities for arts and crafts ideas using buttons.

Enjoy - Julie.

Friends and Friendships

My son has recently turn four and we had his very first “birthday” party with children from his preschool. When I went to write the invitations out, I realised that I didn’t really know many of his friends; children that he spends his days with building mountains of sand and zooming cars around a make believe track. My son’s friends come from such a variety of backgrounds and this made me think about friends and friendship.

I spent a lot of time travelling as a child and moved to a lot of new schools as a result of this I spent a lot of time making new friends. It is a great skill to be able to make friends quickly and in a way it often comes down to the adults to facilitate social interactions, encouraging participation and know each child. Whether it is an experience of building volcanoes in the sandpit or playing a game of soccer, childhood is full of friends and friendship.

Some children find it difficult to make friends and need support to approach children or become involved with groups of children. Some children even find it difficult to talk to others, including staff. It may help to have something familiar to them maybe a toy from home and item of clothing or something that helps them be comfortable at the programme.

One thing I have seen a lot of lately is a “getting to know you” booklet one that the children can fill out themselves or with a little help from staff or a parent. The children can use this to get to know each other as well as getting to know themselves a little too.

Giving children the opportunities to become acquainted with each other means that those, who find it difficult to make friends, can become socially engaged with others. Involving children in activities where they have to meet others as a part of a game or something similar will expand their opportunity to have social interactions including activities in pairs or small groups.

Some children have a huge amount of friends and get included in everything whilst others may only make one or two really great friends. The best approach is the one the meets the needs of the individual child at the time.

So take the time to make a new friend and support others to do the same.

Ariana

The Best Things In Life Sometimes Comes In Boxes!

I have many fond memories from my childhood, but one in particular stands out.

During my second year at primary school, my teacher brought an empty fridge box to school. She took the entire class down to the playing field and together we gathered up all the fallen leaves up off the ground. We filled the box up to the top and took it back to the classroom and deposited it outside in the cloak bay. The teacher then used the box as a good behaviour reward, whenever we were found to be doing something exceptionally well with our schoolwork she would send us outside for 5 minutes with a buddy and we could jump into the box of leaves! It was such a simple (and free) activity but we all had so much fun!

There are so many other things that you can do with boxes too. Pop down to your local Bond and Bond or Noel Leeming store and ask for all of their empty fridge, washing machine or television boxes. They are generally more than happy to offload them. Back at your programme simply give the children some sellotape and the boxes and watch as their imaginations take over! By the end of the day you will most likely have a box village spilling through the room and the sound of delighted children as they set up houses and shops.

Have a box-car derby. Split the children into small groups and they can design, make and decorate a box-car to race around the racetrack.

Try making robots out of boxes. In groups, the children could build a robots out of boxes and other craft materials. They can come up with a name for their robot and what it is capable of doing.

Find a couple of square boxes, paint and put dots on them and you have some dice for giant games session.

The possibilities with cardboard boxes are endless and the child’s imagination is brilliant, so grab some boxes today and have hours of fun at virtually no cost!

Susannah

Fresh perspectives

Driving to school this morning, the kids and I were tossing around ideas for names for a new after school programme…. And our favourite today…. NUMBER FOUR…. because it’s after three!

I’ve been out this week at programmes around and about and have been thinking about how very different childhood can be. The values of our families, schools, and people around us shape the way that children interact with the world around them, what they strive for and how they present themselves. Often we’re tempted to look at children from our own perspective, reflecting on our own childhood experiences and our extra years on the planet. It’s very hard to see things from a perspective that we’ve never experienced. I look at the expectations that children have of their after school programmes and the expectations that after school “adults” have of the children in their care.

Let your imagination take a walk in someone else’s shoes every now and then look at the world with a fresh perspective. Take it easy on each other and treasure the good times and laughs you have together.

Odette

Inclusive eating

I have recently become a prescatarian (a semi-vegetarian who eats fish, but no meat or poultry). It's something that I had been meaning to do for a while and after an initial adjustment period where I felt hungry all the time I am not finding it too difficult. I’ve even improved my cooking skills, as it is not so easy to just grab something quick on the way home from work!

The main difficulty that I have had has been eating in restaurants. If I don’t want fish ‘n’ chips (albeit a gourmet version) the menu often contains two or three vegetarian choices at the most, generally pasta and risotto.

This has made me much more aware of the struggles of people who have food allergies or non-mainstream diets. To be honest I was never very aware of this before, despite previously working in an OSCAR programme that included several children with allergies.

Allergies to peanuts seem to be increasingly common, as does intolerance to gluten. Our multi-cultural society has also seen an increase in the number of children who do not eat certain foods for religious or cultural reasons.

If you have any of these children in your programme, have a think about how to be inclusive to their needs. We had a child who was allergic to dairy and I’m now realising that although we made an effort to offer suitable afternoon tea choices, she often couldn’t try the products that we made during baking activities. It would have been relatively easy to make a few small adjustments to make the activity more fun and inclusive for her.

So as a newly minted fussy eater, I’m asking on behalf of others – please put some thought into how you could include us!

Marnie

Barn and animals

I was driving down south to visit a programme and noticed how many farms there were. Now don’t laugh because I did know there were a lot of farms around but I guess I never really thought about them until now.

What a wonderful resource we have just sitting, waiting to be used. Imagine taking a holiday programme to a farm, there are so many possibilities, here are just a few I thought of.

• Where does milk come from? See a milking shed and learn how milk goes from the cow all the way to the supermarket.
• Animals. How many of the children in your programme have been up close to
  cows, calves, sheep, lambs, farm dogs, chickens etc? Imagine if they could
  actually pet them or maybe even feed them.
• Machinery (the boys will love you for this one), how does it all work and what is it for? You could look at milking sheds, vats, diggers, quad bikes, combine harvesters, tractors etc.

I am sure you can think of many other ways we could utilise local farms. "Oh no" I hear you crying, how can we take a group of children somewhere so dangerous? With just a little bit of planning, parental consent and RAM forms it’s not such a scary concept and imagine the experiences you are providing for the children in your programme, something some have never but also will never experience without you taking the risk of being different… go on I challenge you to think outside the square.

What else do you have within your area that you haven’t really noticed before?

Kelly

Tsunami Risk to NZ

Once again we have seen a very high magnitude - 8.8 scale - earthquake hit, devastating Chile over the weekend. One of the roll out effects of this is the risk of tsunami. This had a small impact some of our friends over the weekend with a planned fishing trip in Waihi being cancelled as civil defence turned boaters away and the evacuation of many Whangamata residents and holiday makers.

What is a Tsunami?
Tsunami are large sea waves caused by earthquakes, undersea landslides, volcanic eruptions or even large objects, such as meteorites, falling into the sea. They can travel at about 600 km an hour across deep oceans (as fast as some jet planes), and can be 10-30 metres high when they reach land.

In Hawaii the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre detects and warns countries about tsunami that may affect them. However, a tsunami generated close to New Zealand’s coast could arrive so quickly that there is little or no time to warn people. The risk to New Zealanders is higher than it used to be because more people live near the sea. Previously bare coastline now has houses built close to the water’s edge.

What should you do if a Tsunami hits?

• Turn on your radio and follow all instructions.
• Take your Getaway Kit with you if you are told to evacuate.
• Leave the area immediately if you are on the beach or near a river when a strong earthquake occurs.
• Go at least one kilometre inland or 35 metres above sea level.
• Don’t go to a river or beach to watch the waves come in.

Visit the EQ-IQ website to assist you in being as best prepared for any emergency as possible. The website includes all the information you need to ensure your survival, plus detailed Emergency Survival Kit, Emergency Plan, First Aide Kit and Getaway Kit lists.

A little time and research now will make all the difference to the safety of you, our children and loved ones.

BE PREPARED - Sally