Background Information

Content information:

The activities in this unit will help you to explore key aspects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures. Exploring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives with your children will benefit both First Nations and non-Indigenous children.

For any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in your centre, exploring their culture plays a key role in their development, identity and self-esteem, and contributes to the overall well-being of the child.

For non-Indigenous children, embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in their early education experiences is fundamental in creating inclusive and accepting attitudes, and positive race relations. These perspectives are also about celebrating different cultures and the uniqueness of individuals. It is enriching for children to experience the different perspectives and diverse human experiences other cultures can bring to the melting pot (source).

For more information about why you should aim to embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives at your centre - including terms of reference and cultural protocols - visit Caring for Country – Learning for Educators.
To access more activities to support you in exploring and embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and histories in your centre and activities, click here.

Before beginning this activity, it is strongly recommended that you complete the Tuning In Introductory Lessons. These activities will guide you to find out more about the Traditional Owners of your area. Having this information will support you in authentically embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in your room and centre as well as guiding you to build genuine relationships with the Traditional Owners of your area.

Part A: Discussion

Step 1.

Begin this activity by having a discussion with children around the seasons. Consider the following questions in your discussion:

I wonder what seasons we have here? (If you have completed this activity children will be familiar with the idea that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders peoples may recognise more than the four seasons we often think of)
I wonder what season we are in at the moment?
I wonder if the weather today feels like it fits with the season? (i.e. is it a warm day in summer? Or is it a sparkly spring day?)
I wonder how the weather in this season makes you feel?

For more information about how to support oral language development in children, click here.

Part B: Activity

Step 1.

Like many other traditional cultures around the world, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples may use dance and movement to tell the stories of their Country, including the weather and seasons, and the people, plants, animals and spirits that live there.

Children can now use their own bodies to explore how they associate moods with the weather by participating in a role-play activity. For each of the following scenarios, invite children to act out how the weather makes them feel, for example:

Scenario	Suggested emotion/feeling	Suggested body movements
A sparkly spring day	Feeling happy	Smiling, standing upright, hands and arms outstretched greeting the world
A cold, rainy winters day	Feeling glum	Body curled over and arms huddled around the body, eyes not wanting to look upwards

Allow children to choose the emotion and movements that suit them and encourage them to talk about how and why they feel these ways.

Scenarios:

a sparkly Spring day where the sky is blue and it is not hot or windy
a cold, rainy day where everything becomes slippery and sloshy
a loud thunderstorm
a windy day with the wind zooming in every direction
hail crashing onto the roof
a really hot day where it even feels hot in the shade
a crisp frosty morning where everything is glittery
a beautiful sunset where the sky is bright with pinks and oranges.

Step 2. Optional

You can also use the Zones of Emotional Regulation chart to talk about their emotions in more detail - what colour would they attribute to the types of weather they are role-playing? Would ‘wind’ be yellow? Or would a thunderstorm be ‘red’?

You could also talk with children well about what they can do to get your mood back to the ‘green’ zone when they are unhappily in another zone.

Part C: Possible Lines of Development

Children may have their own ideas about how to extend this activity, or you could consider the following:

Invite children to pick their favourite scenario and to create an artwork based on this scenario - they could even show themselves in the picture
Explore other Caring for Country Themed Activities.

Evaluation

Complete an analysis of learning, listing evidence about:

Belonging	Finding something of interest
Communication	Expressing an idea or feeling
Exploration	Engaging with challenge and persisting when difficulty arises
Wellbeing	Being involved

Caring for Country: Wind/Seasons Stories

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Summary

Activity guides and printables

In this activity