Inclusive Family-Friendly Learning

Meet Bear and Rabbit, friends of our Early Childhood Education (ECE) teachers, students and parents! These characters help teach important lessons in an adorable family-friendly way.

“Bear and Rabbit are child-friendly, which is important as the theory behind our ECE family resources is to include both the parent and the child in the topic, encouraging their relationship and shared learning,” says Riette Fourie, one of ISANS ECE instructors. “They help to deliver important messages to parents while being presented in a way that the child and parent could have a conversation about the characters and what they are doing – for example reinforcing nutrition or safe play messages.”

Bear and Rabbit were chosen because they are familiar to people around the world, although they may have particular significance to certain places or peoples. Canada is a natural habitat for many species of bears and rabbits as well.

Most importantly, Bear and Rabbit are inclusive characters. Bear, as a caregiver figure, could be Mom, Dad, a grandparent, aunt or legal guardian, so it is inclusive of all family forms and types. Rabbit as a child figure does not have a clear age or gender either, and can be applied by children to represent what makes sense for them.

Look for Bear and Rabbit to appear in future posts from our ECE Centres!