ASSITEJ South Africa, part of an international organization that brings theatre to children, has invited CBN to bring ten teenagers from Red Hill informal settlement to attend a workshop on the play and then a performance at the Artscape Theatre in Cape Town on 5th December at 2.00 pm. This very exciting opportunity will be […]
Red Hill Teenagers to see War Horse! Read More »
The Saturday Stories children have discussed and approved a new – very extensive – project that has already begun but which will get under full steam in October, November and during 2015. We began quite simply with the topic of Clanwilliam on a Saturday. We talked in advance about whether the children would work as
Group writing: A New CBN Project Read More »
I dreamed of a lion that talked. And what did he tell you? What did he say? He spoke of flat, wide plains, where porcupines dug holes under the moon, where people told their stories while stars burned bright. I dreamed of a zebra, who ran through my dreams while I slept And where did
I dreamed of a lion that talked Read More »
Since the rather intriguing looking rock gongs have been installed just inside the gate of Clanwilliam Living Landscape Project, they have attracted a lot of attention – and made a lot of music. Never by younger musicians – these ones aged four and five. It is interesting to watch the concentration of young people playing
Clanwilliam’s youngest musicians Read More »
Pre-school visit to CBN & CLLP Q: When a play school comes for a workshop, is it a play-shop? A: Definitely. Twenty-five children from Lemoenland pre-school visited Clanwilliam Living Landscape Project and CBN for a books and stories experience as part of their Heritage Day celebrations. The children and their teachers, plus two librarians from
Heritage Day with CBN Read More »
IBBY Announces the Winners of the 2014 IBBY-Asahi Reading Promotion Award The IBBY-Asahi Reading Promotion Award, initiated by the International Board on Books for Young People and sponsored by the Japanese newspaper company the Asahi Shimbun, is presented to projects that are judged to be making a lasting contribution to reading promotion for young people.
IBBY-Asahi 2014 Winners Read More »
Developed by the people who gave us Sesame Street, this resource for early Child Development invited CBN to contribute to their blog. For a link to the blog, and to see more about what Takakani Sesame does, please go to: http://www.earlychildhood-takalanisesame.co.za/latest-posts/children-books-books-children-lesley-beake http://www.earlychildhood-takalanisesame.co.za/
Three sessions of Saturday Stories are planned for the rest of September and beginning October. These informal sessions begin at 10.00 with the ringing of the rock gongs (sometimes well in advance of that, in fact!) and end about noon. Reading, stories, artwork, writing and fun are had by all. Saturday 20th September Saturday 27
Saturday Stories in Clanwilliam Read More »
Both begin with C and both are totally absorbed in the topic of books – and reading. What’s your favourite book? It’s one of the security questions asked when you want to log on to a secure website and it gives me so much trouble that I had to write the answer down somewhere (safe)
Those who work in the field of children’s literature do so because they know, deep down, that they are doing that is right. We are bringing children and books together. These are occasions when the various skilled people create a magic which cannot be easily described. The children who gathered happily in Simon’s Town Library
Dianne Hofmeyr presents The Name of the Tree is Bojabi Read More »
Richard Parsons, Champion of Children’s Book Network and friend, died last week after a courageous struggle with cancer. CBN owes him a tremendous debt of gratitude for his enormous support and encouragement since our beginning. We will miss him. Many, many people all over South Africa and beyond are pausing to reflect, with sadness, on
CBN loses a fine friend Read More »
As part of the rock gong project, we began the idea of clapping patterns in music with games that included clapping in different ways and with various actions. Clanwilliam children took to this with great enthusiasm. Red Hill children needed a bit more encouragement. It requires quite a bit of energy to get things going
Clapping games and chords Read More »
Children’s Book Network (CBN) has been working on a project with UCT Department of Archaeology, Clanwilliam Living Landscape Project and others to create music using rock gongs (ringing rocks) from the Karoo. We have brought some of the rocks to Clanwilliam and some smaller gongs were taken to the winter workshop given for children from
Rock Gong Music Project – a call for a commissioned musical work Read More »
If there could be a measurement of success after workshops, we feel it would be measured by the amount of laughing (as opposed to giggling) that goes on. Especially on long workshops – like the four-day one we had in July 2014 in the Cederberg – the children relax into a state of mind where
CBN and children – and having fun Read More »
We work with children of ten, eleven and twelve (for the most part) and most of them speak English as their second, or even third, language. To compound the problem any group – whether in Red Hill or Clanwilliam – will consist of children who speak either Afrikaans or Xhosa as their home language, so
CBN and language issues Read More »
For whatever reason it seemed difficult to engage the children in writing their own story/poem/ideas. They always responded more to the activity of writing a collective song…usually a daunting task for any group of musos! Anele and I evolved a technique where each child picked one word. These words were pooled onto one card from
Writing songs with children in Cederberg and Red Hill Read More »
Sometimes, in all the pictures of children at workshops, the facilitators, friends and helpers who make it all possible are left out. So here is a thank you to them. Champions: Firstly Richard Parsons, who continues to help and support us and who is always interested to hear what the children are up to. Two
Who are we? The CBN team revealed: The Champions and the friends Read More »
This lovely short clip from a film directed by Guy Spiller follows the journey of a sixteen year old who discovers the richness of experience around him in the Karoo, ranging from the South African Large Telescope (SALT) to the paintings on the rocks made by earlier people. It links the sciences of archaeology and
My room at the centre of the universe Read More »
Rosemary has been with CBN almost since the beginning, doing design work, volunteering at workshops – and gradually being drawn in to more and more activities until she is now an essential part of every workshop and has taken on the critical position of Administration Manager as well as working on the website. Rosemary was
Who are we? The CBN team revealed: Rosemary Bangham Read More »
The shadow puppet activity (initially suggested by Sandy Rudd, theatre director in Namibia) has proved wildly successful. For this activity the children make their own puppets using templates created by Emily Hallinan (CBN friend and archaeologist), sometimes even editing the templates with their own creativity. They then masterfully enact stories using the puppets, stories often
Shadow Puppets for Story Telling Read More »
