For parents who want to give their children some screen-free entertainment, here's a solution. A couple of years ago, former Canberrans Mim Rizvi and Laura Dawson teamed up in Sydney with friend Michael Yore, originally from Newcastle, to form children's entertainment group The Beanies.
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Rizvi and Dawson have known each other for at least a decade, since they acted together in a Free-Rain Theatre Company production of Grease. Rizvi says in Sydney they auditioned for various children's groups and got close but never quite made it.
"So we decided to make our own."
As part of this, they've created a podcast, Imagination Station, a series of 10 15-to-20-minute audio episodes available free from Kinderling Kids' Radio that "Mim Beanie" (Rizvi) says "came from the idea of creating screen-free entertainment for children".
The episodes are aimed at children aged three to eight and can be listened to during car trips, at bed time, and Rizvi says some parents let their kids listen to them during meals.
"There are jokes for parents as well."
Dawson says each episode contains a story, a song that is developed throughout the episode and a lesson based on the episode's theme delivered by recurring character Professor Know-It-All. He's played by Yore whom Dawson says is very good at doing voices and imitations although with only three members in the group they all have to pitch in and contribute.
In one episode, a talking pair of shoes goes on an adventure with an accompanying song, Pair of Shoes, and the Professor's lesson is about how to tie up shoelaces. Another episode is about the first day of school with a song and a lesson about being brave even if you don't feel it, for example by striking power poses like a superhero.
The song lyrics were written by the members of The Beanies with music by another former Canberran, composer James Court.
"We call him the Music Wizard," Dawson says.
"The three of us write the lyrics and come up with the concept and he comes up with great ideas."
Although their backgrounds are in musicals and theatre, The Beanies are accustomed to the needs of teeny tiny audiences.
Dawson says, "We've had, collectively, 25 years' experience working with children."
They also did test runs of the show with early childhood teachers and their classes to see what worked well and where the kids' attention started flagging.
Rivzi says, "We've had 13,000 downloads [of Imagination Station] since December 7."
Although all the members of The Beanies have other jobs, they are regularly collaborating on writing and will soon be recording more episodes. They will be available to download in the near future. In the meantime the current batch is ready for more people to discover The Beanies.
The Beanies' podcast Imagination Station can be downloaded free from Kinderling Kids' Radio using podcast apps.
