Voices of Children

about the Voices of Children project

In 2019, Hands Up Mallee and the Mildura Rural City Council (MRCC) Early Years Planning Team, with the help of Early Years Educators and friends, set out to ask children aged 3-8, who live in the Northern Mallee, what they did and didn’t like, and what they wanted for their future. The project aimed to hear from at least 375 children aged 3-8 Years, who live in the Mildura LGA. The project reached over 450 children, with 375 giving us their consent to use their thoughts and creative works to help shape our community into a better place for everyone.

The work has been used to create: The Voices of Mallee Children - a storybook based on what the children have told us, Deep Dives, Listening - A parent’s guide to the voices of children, to inform systems mapping for Best Start to Life, and will inform the MRCC Municipal Early Years Plan, and be shared back to children and the broader community.

the voices of mallee children storybook

This storybook has been produced using the thoughts and illustrations of children who participated and gave us permission to share their creativity with you. It takes a layered approach to tell the diverse perspectives of Mallee children through: the narrative, word-art, combining children’s illustrations with backgrounds of local places and spaces, data.

deep dives

Deep Dives, (for the purpose of gathering community knowledge, preferences and aspirations) are the result of the collation and theming of the data gathered. Theming groups the responses (in this case of local children aged 3-8 years) into like or thematic areas to assist in identifying patterns in what children do or don’t like to do, where they do or don’t like to go and where they would like to go in the future, and their aspirations for the future.

Click on the cover to download or here for more detail

data snapshot

This Findings Snapshot is a brief summary of what the information children gave their permission to share with you.

For more detail on what children said you can read the Deep Dives.

listening: a parent/carer’s guide

Listening is a guide book created with parents/carers of young children in mind. It may also be useful to Educators and other people in our community who work in areas of childhood development or who make decisions that affect children.

project resources

project guidebook

This guide was prepared as an invitation to Early Childhood Educators to join the Hearing the Voices of Children project and as a support to those planning consultations with children.