We were able to start our weekend bopping and grooving with the Apples Fundraiser Disco for the Copeland Family in Silverdale this past weekend. Lots of families turned up to show support for the Copelands, who’s little boy is fighting a heart disease.

We had a great time getting everyone reved up and ready to party, and loved being able to to something small to support the Copelands also. We wish the Copelands all the best and want to say thank you to all thank you to all those who pulled the even together from Apples!

WEEK 1

So week 1 of the Body Bop Challenge EduConcerts are done! And we had a blast doing it! We were able to visit 4 different primary schools, all of which had some of their neigbouring kindergartens or pre-schools come and join them to see the Body Bop EduConcert!

It was a real buzz for us when we were able to look out into the audience and see all of the children, teachers and parents dancing along with us doing all of the Body Bop moves! That just made us want to dance even more.

You may ask… what is the ‘Body Bop Challenge’? or what is an ‘EduConcert’?. . .  Well we wanted to help encourage children and their families to do more to become fit and healthy in their day to day activities, and we wanted to be able to share this message (and challenge) with as many children as possible. So we went out and found companies who had the same message to share to sponsor us into the schools so that no one would have to pay for it! Having these companies sponsor us also means that every child who attends the EduConcerts receives a FREE Body Bop Challenge DVD, complete with a challenge booklet and stickers!

The Challenge booklet has lots of different activities in it, presented in the form of a challenge, that encourages and educates children all about the different ways they can keep fit and stay healthy in their day to day activities. Every time they complete part of the challenge they collect a sticker.

The EduConcert has been designed to teach children in a fun and interactive way about everything they need to know to complete the Challenge and understand the basic fundamentals of healthy living… all done in the form of dance, music, and stories!

We still have 3 more weeks of EduConcerts to go and we can’t wait to go and make lots more Polkadotty friends along the way! Check out our EduConcert schedule on our FaceBook Events page to see if we will be coming to your school!

Kauri Park Primary School

One of our friends from Kauri Park Primary

Kauri Park Primary School

Campbells Bay Primary

Takapuna Primary School

Dez taking the children through their animal stretches

Mr Bop and Sarah in action for our "Sam the Sailor" story!

Mr Bop full of energy after he refuels with this healthy snack!

Mr Bop, Dez and Sarah having some Sporty Fun with the Basket Balls!

With our Polkadotty Friends from Silverdale Kindergarten!

The Polkadots have been having a great time over the last few weeks convincing hundreds of North Shore children to get ‘Travelwise’!

Following on from the Booster Rooster project, the North Shore City Council TravelWise team asked us to write and perform some fun workshops and a mini-musical to help get the ‘Road Safety’ message across to the children and families. They also wanted to encourage ‘eco-friendly’ ways of travelling to school, like walking, and riding bikes.

We had a great time writing new songs like ‘Travelwise Star!’ and ‘Before you cross the street!” and working out the dance routines, but the best part was the reaction from the children. In every school, the response was fantastic as we had all of the children marching through the school chanting and singing “Beat Ya Feet!” and even the teachers were getting into the spirit of it.

Children might not always go home talking about what they did at school, but they often go home singing. Now they can walk home and sing and do the occasional crazy, monster, cowboy or cat walk as well. It’s got to be a great way to teach such an important message!

We recently had the opportunity to spend an evening with Home Based Educators, sharing with them the Polkadots story, and how Polkadots Podules can be used in their day to day work. We were able to practice a bit of what we preach by taking the ladies through a lesson from the Rhythmical Roots Podule, learning and playing with the Italian musical terms. Everyone broke out their best singing voices and sang a beautiful rendition of ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ while changing up the tempo when instructed with the Tempo Cards.

We had lots of fun singing and sharing a few of our songs from each of our albums, Science Seekers, Body Bop and Rhythmical Roots.It was a really fun evening and we got to meet lots of great ladies with a similar passion for teaching children and bringing learning to life for the children in their care.

Thanks to Amanda from Amanda’s Home Based Educators for organising the evening. For more information about Polkadots Podules and how they can help you make every moment a teaching moment with your child go to www.polkadots.co.nz.