Happy Australia Day! - Australia Part 5

Australia Day Fun

Australians Celebrate Australia Day on January 26th. The above news clip about last years Australia Day celebrations was a perfect way to introduce my kids to the official national day of Australia. You can find out more about the history of Australia Day here.

Here are a few good resources on Australia Day activities for Children:

• Ways to Celebrate Australia Day with Children at Kidspot (Australian Parenting site) I've been following Kidspot since my daughter was born. It is full of great ideas on things to do, recipes and insights into Australian ways to raise children. 
• Top 10 Games to Play on Australia Day by Brisbane Kids (This site makes Brisbane perfect for kids.) Some of these games sound really fun! We'll try a few on Australia Day!
• Australia Day at Activity Village (A UK based site about international celebrations) On this site you can find games, coloring pages, crafts, etc...
• Australia Day and General Australia Crafts at DLTK (A mom shares craft ideas from all over the world.)
• Australia Day Recipes with a Twist Cool looking dishes to try!
• Australia Day Recipes More traditional looking recipes.

Since we have so many Australian friends, we've tried to have a bit of Aussie fun on Australia Days in the recent years. One year I decided to surprise one of my closest friends, who is second generation Australian, with an Australian themed play date at the park. I made damper bread dough (Australian bread traditionally cooked in the embers of a fire pit in the outback), brought wood for the BBQ grill, put together a plan for a boat regatta craft and game and asked my friend to bring her Australian children's books. We headed out to a park to celebrate.

When my friend realized that I had brought fire wood and bread dough, she though that I was crazy... And as crazy as it was, we had a blast trying to cook damper bread dough on sticks like we do in Finland with our tikkupulla. The traditional way of burying damper bread into the fire pit would not have worked as the kids can only wait for so long. So we ended up eating partially burned and partially uncooked bread and laughing our heads out. 

I had read about boat regatta competitions that happen in the Sydney harbor during Australia Day. So I thought that it would be so much fun to craft a wearable boat for each child and then make the kids do some running races while wearing their boats. The crafting part was fun, but the kids refused to wear their boats after they had finished decorating them. Oh well, we still had fun!

Last but not least, my friend read a few great Australian children's books and that is when my children and I first discovered Pete the Sheep by Jackie French and Koala Lou by Mem Fox. We talked about Australian animals and shared stories that connected us to Australia. It indeed end up up being a relaxing day, just like the Australians like it!

This year I will keep things simple. We'll look into Australian art, play a few games and do some of the activities from the above links. I hope that you have a bit of Aussie fun on Monday as well! I'll end this post on a high note in honor of Australia! Enjoy the following songs, Gum Tree by Justine Clarke, Waltzing Matilda and Advanced Australia Fair by The Wiggles.

Happy Australia Day! Sending much love to all of our Australian friends!