Teaching 4 yr olds about Anzac Day

[JNP]

Hi everyone,
Does anyone have any ideas/activities for teaching 4 year olds about Anzac Day? I was thinking of baking Anzac Biscuits and I have a book called My Grandpa Marches on Anzac Day. I really want to be able to share with the children what the ANZACS did for our wonderful country. Any ideas will be much appreciated as I believe it is so important to teach children about Australian identity, mateship and that sort of thing.

Thanks
JNP

[Lorina]

For early childhood educators I found a site which teaches and helps young children (especially preschoolers) about ANZAC Day. The information it provides is detailed and easy to understand and also help you to explain Anzac Day to the children in simple terms. It also provides resources which you can download and use. Here is the link:

http://www.anzacday.org.au/education/ch ... nation.htm

Hope this helps,

,
L.A

[JNP]

Thanks L.A that's a great website. Sorry about posting in the wrong spot. I realised as soon as I pressed the submit button. Thanks again for your help, I appreciate it very much.

[JNP]

Hi L.A,
I really respect your thought and ideas. I was wondering what you think about colouring templates for kinder children. I have read comments from other people on the site but have noticed that you did not comment.
I was thinking of downloading a picture of the Australian Flag for the children to colour and cut out.
What do you think, is this acceptable in this day and age? I think as long as you provide plain paper along with the templates it is acceptable. I am a kindergarten assistant and the teacher that I work with has told me that under no circumstances are templates allowed in our program.
I was just interested in your thoughts on the matter.

Thanks
Jules.

[catchmeifucan]

Anzac Day is a very important part of Australian history and it should be celebrated and commemorated in early childhood settings. Here are some activity ideas:

- Poppy Potato Prints (cut potato in half, cut poppy shape from potato half, using red paint child prints pattern onto paper).
- Army Hats (using newspaper fold to make a hat shape, sponge paint with brown paint).
- Cooking Ideas: Anzac Slice, Aussie Damper, Aussie Meat Pies etc.
- Making Australian Flags

[JNP]

Thanks catchmeifucan,
I think it is so important to teach future generations about Australian history, I totally agree, Anzac Day should be celebrated and commemorated in early childhood settings
Thanks for sharing your activity ideas, I really like the idea of making an Australian Flag. I think I will do it as a group activity, make one big flag.


Jules.

[Lorina]

Jules,

How did your Anzac Day celebrations go? What did you end up doing with your group of children?

[JNP]

Anzac Day celebrations went really well. We made Anzac biscuits and had a discussion about the how wives and mothers sent the biscuits to the soldiers and used golden syrup instead of eggs because eggs were scarce. The children loved the book "My Grandpa Marches On Anzac Day" and one of the children told me that her great grandpa had medals like the ones in the book. We also made Australian flags, we used templates as well as plain paper for those chn who wanted to have a go at making their own (thanks L.A.) It was lovely to see the children leaving the session proudly waving their flags. I really enjoyed exploring Australian identity and may extend on this learning next week by introducing Australian stories and songs. But I will have to discuss this with the teacher first.
Did you have your baby L.A?

[Lorina]

What a great day it sounds like you had with your group of children! It's fantastic that the children enjoyed it so much! Doesn't it make you feel proud! Hopefully you took plenty of photos etc as this would be a great opportunity for you to document (in a learning story) and add it to each child's portfolio...

Your extension ideas of introducing Australian songs and stories is a great idea... You can start a whole other topic on this as I have a few ideas on what to include if you do end up doing it!

Bub is due today however nothing happening as yet... Except I have very painful constant cramping...

Argh, trying to be patient is very hard!

,
L.A

[JNP]

Thanks L.A, it was a great day, we did take photos for the children's portfolios. I felt really proud that it worked out so well.
Good luck with the baby, hang in there!
Jules

[Lorina]

For Educators wanting to teach children about the importance of ANZAC Day here are some ideas which are simple and will help children to understand.

Teaching Children About ANZAC Day

ANZAC Day For Children

ANZAC Day Story Books

ANZAC Day Colouring Pages

Hope these help!

,
Lorina

[Nandy84]

For our children, it opens their eyes and they can see how people work together. It shows that even though something horrible was happening, by working together, they were able to get through. To build a strong future, it is invariable to learn about the past. Knowing about ANZAC day, children will learn and will understand the life and times of Australia and its people had in the past. How they fought to achieve the success. That will definitely motivate children in a positive way.

Anzac Day draws large crowds of people to the dawn services, and marches are held around the country.

Any organisation can arrange a morning merch session, followed by a meeting and conversation with families whose members died during WWI.

Local children should participate in this program to spread more awareness of ANZAC day.

Thanks
Nandita