As one of Telethon’s earliest and most long-standing beneficiaries, we are incredibly proud to be taking part in the Telethon Weekend again this year.
We love meeting kids and families and are excited to have a chance to show you how hard our researchers are working to make a difference to children’s lives. Just as importantly, we treasure the opportunity to encourage and inspire a new generation of scientists and are thrilled to invite you, and them, to take part in some of our real-life research.
Head to the The Kids booth at the Perth Convention Centre from 10am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday, where you can meet a few of our researchers and help us out with some of our most important projects.
Skin Superheroes
Have you ever dreamed of being a superhero who fights evil and makes things better for others? A lot of our researchers are living exactly that dream. They might wear lab coats instead of capes, but everything they do is about fighting evil bugs, diseases and environments and making things better for kids and their families.
This year over the Telethon Weekend we’re giving kids the chance to be superheroes, too – in particular, Skin Superheroes who can help save the lives of premature babies.
Because premature babies are born so early, they don’t have time to develop the protective skin coating that usually helps babies guard against bacteria. This puts them at risk of life-threatening infections like pneumonia and/or septicaemia.
Researchers from the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines & Infectious Diseases, based at The Kids, are looking at ways to create that protective barrier for premmie babies – and they think a squad of real-life researchers – aka mini Skin Superheroes – can help.
The Skin Superheroes’ job this weekend will be to take skin swabs from their own forearms to discover how much and what kinds of bacteria live on skin.
This will give researchers valuable information that will help give tiny babies a better chance of fighting off deadly infections.
Cybersafety
Does your child use a digital device? How confident do you feel about your ability to help them have a positive and safe experience in the digital world?
Children’s use of digital technology can have enormous educational and social benefits, such as new opportunities for learning and ways to share social experiences. However, this use is not without risk. Many parents – and schools – report they want more support in teaching and fostering safer and more skilled use of digital technology.
Despite growing research on children’s use of digital technology little work has been done directly with parents to find out what they need to help guide their children’s digital behaviour.
This Telethon Weekend we’re inviting parents to become co-researchers, by answering two short questions addressing what challenges you face and the help you need to support your children with digital technology.
Your answers will help to shape the cyber education projects currently being developed by our researchers, enabling them to provide information about the issues you want to know about.
We’ll also have some cyber tips to give you immediate support in your interactions with your children.
CoLab
Ever wondered how much goes on in a baby’s brain? A lot more than you might think.
A child’s early years are marked by a period of rapid brain development, with the brain forming more than a million neural connections every second. This is the fastest a person’s brain will ever develop.
Children are born with the capacity to learn, and development is a highly interactive process. The experiences children have in their early years lay the foundations for their future health, learning, and wellbeing.
Our team at CoLab has developed an advertising campaign to help parents understand just how active their baby’s brain really is and how they can support brain development through simple interactions.
The campaign features a cute blue critter who represents a baby’s brain and shows how much is going on in it at any one time.
Baby’s Brain will be joining us at the The Kids booth this Telethon weekend – come on down to meet the critter and learn more about how you can help build babies’ brains as a parent, relative, carer or friend. Kids’ colouring in activities will also be available.
ORIGINS
There’ll be a separate stand showcasing the ORIGINS Project – a joint collaboration between The Kids and the Joondalup Health Campus. ORIGINS, which is following the progress of 10,000 babies and their families over the next decade, is the largest study of its kind in Australia.
Can the food a mother eats while pregnant and breastfeeding improve her baby’s health? Can the food a baby eats play a role to improve their growth and development?
The ORIGINS Project is researching these questions and more by looking at all aspects of nutrition to help improve child and adult health.
This Telethon Weekend we want kids to focus on the simple ways they can make a difference to their own nutrition. We’re inviting them to use stamps representing a selection of healthy foods to stamp on a plate and create their idea of a delicious and healthy meal.
For parents, how would you like a week off cooking? We’ve also got a fun colouring-in competition with a fantastic prize: a $200 Coles voucher plus a personal chef to come into your house and cook your meals for the week. Kim Gherardi, personal chef from ‘I Hate Cooking’, will work with you to design a healthy meal plan for the week and will visit your home to prepare everything for you.*
Just pick up one of the nutrition-themed colouring sheets we’ll have at the The Kids booth – kids can take them home to complete, and then email a photo of their completed sheet to originsproject@telethonkids.org.au to be eligible for the prize.
*For full terms and conditions visit www.telethonkids.org.au/origins-comp-tcs