Waabiny Time is the first indigenous language program made for an early childhood audience... and for good reason; it’s these kids who will learn the most.
“If you can hold the attention of children, you can educate them”, is the mantra used by iconic programs like Sesame Street and Play School. And education is certainly an important element of Waabiny Time...
Early childhood educators and Noongar language specialists have taken part in every stage of the project, from concept development to script writing. Each episode, each segment, and each sentence has been crafted to hold our audiences attention, while at the same time familiarising them with Noongar language.
Waabiny Time has a further goal; to encourage pride and participation in Noongar culture. Waabiny Time merges traditional and contemporary Noongar culture to create a world that the young audience can relate to, and one that they feel comfortable participating in.
Waabiny Time takes children from the ages of 3 to 6 on an educational and entertaining adventure, guiding them through 13 half-hour episodes of stories, songs and activities that are authentically indigenous and encourage participation.
With 28 original songs, animation, traditional ‘sand stories’, crafts and excursions into Noongar country, classrooms, and family gatherings, Waabiny Time certainly earns it’s ‘variety show’ label. But there are more goals than simply creating a program that appeals to our young audience.
The goals of Waabiny Time are much the same as the goals of our broadcaster, NITV:
