Kangaroos Hop - Australian Wildfires at Mad Hatter’s

By now, most people have heard about the devastating bushfires that have been destroying parts of Australia since September 2019 and considering that 500 million animals species – mammals, birds and reptiles – have already died, along with 25 people at the last count and 2,000 homes (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/50986293, I wanted to run a very gentle workshop on this with nursery children so that they know a little as to what is happening in the world currently.With one little boy on my back and a number of children surrounding the easel eager to start the new term, we began drawing kangaroos, koalas and chatting about wildfires and what they do. I asked the children why it’s important for us to think about bushfires and I heard a few little voices say almost in unison that it’s because 500 million animals have died. Wow, that is not an easy number to remember and repeat at three years old, so it’s evident that they really were listening! I then went on to ask some of the children individually about this subject and they said they wanted to help the animals as they’re getting too hot because the world is getting too hot. In a nutshell that’s exactly right.It was a very encouraging and energising start to January and I’ve been told that some of the toddlers were overheard discussing Australia and it’s bushfires amongst themselves after I left last week, so much so that when a teacher was talking about animals that hop, rather than the usual answer from the children being rabbits, they were saying kangaroos and then going on to talk about the wildfires. For more information visit www.doodleswithmydaughter.co.uk