How do Bartja and Mayila Fly?

The Wattle Room children are currently exploring and responding to the Indigenous Australian story of ‘Bartja and Mayila’ within their imaginative play. The story features fairies, which connects to Ella recently sharing her ‘fairy garden’ from her home.

The children’s interest and imagination was sparked by the question, “Do you believe in fairies?” The children also considered how fairies differ from birds, which led to the query, “How do they fly?” Ella shared her belief that they learn to fly like the astronauts do, as learned from the NASA Space Camp Experts in Term 2. Lewis articulated his belief that fairies are much like birds and use their wings.

The children will be invited to learn a new song to support their emerging interest in yet another connection to the broader concept of ‘flight’, this time with plenty of imagination and a little bit of magic.

The children are now engrossed in recreating their understandings and interpretations of the Indigenous story through their imaginative ‘small world’ play. The premise of the story is that when Bartja’s best friend Mayila plans to leave their forest to visit the ocean, Bartja wants to find her the perfect parting gift. With some advice from Uncle Ambrose and the forest animals, Bartja creates a gift that Mayila will treasure. Such a learning experience ensures that the children engage with a range of texts and gain meaning and connection from those texts.