my journey
How and why I developed Eardrop's Journeys - Liz Donnelly
Eardrop’s Journeys took me over three years to create. It was one of those ideas that just wouldn't go away. Once I’d made up my mind to do it, I worked on it every night after my young son Tommy fell asleep. Like so many other single parents out there, I worked pretty much fulltime to bring in an income to run my house and raise my son. Challenging and exhausting – but in the end worth it.
The concept popped into my head one day while I was stuck in traffic. Tommy was suffering from terrible glue ear at the time. Despite some associated hearing loss, he kept asking me to make the noises of some of the animals he had in his book. I was doing a particularly enthusiastic monkey impression and happened to glance out the window only to find lots of people were listening to me, not just my son! I was grateful when the traffic started moving - but it got me thinking.
Why were there no CDs full of real world sounds for preschoolers? Not only would my child love something that played the sounds his favourite animals made; it would help him clarify these sounds and learn specific ones when they were separated out from the rest of the background mix (animals, the construction site, the hum of the city). I knew other parents would probably appreciate this resource too - especially if it was New Zealand sounds and accents for our kids.
So I started the research. After six months I knew there really was nothing like this on the market – despite the many great children’s products available these days. There were none that had auditory learning as their foundation – even though auditory learning is one of our main avenues to take in information.
Listening is an essential life skill, and having the ability to listen effectively prepares a person for kindergarten and the school classroom - not to mention a lifetime of better communication, understanding and relationships.
With this in mind, I set out to make a fun learning tool that would kick start our Kiwi kids’ listening skills. I had the background in research and children’s media and I assembled a fantastic creative team (including four educational specialists - a Speech Language Therapist, Early Childhood Teacher, Early Intervention Teacher and Senior Special Needs Teacher). I believe one strength of a leader is to collaborate with others who you believe are the best in their field. I found people from all around New Zealand whose genius could easily compete with any overseas talent.
It was a lot of fun recording the sounds. We did Sounds of the Country first. My sound engineer and I travelled to a farm in Northland and spent many hours trying to get close enough to cows, sheep, hens, goats, horses, birds, dogs, cats, ducks, frogs, and anything else we could find that was making noise. Similarly with Sounds of the City we wandered up and down Queen St in Auckland until our feet were dropping off.
Every child I tested the early drafts on was entralled, and surprisingly the older ones enjoyed it too, often helping younger siblings learn the sounds. My educational advisory team was really positive and I knew then I was creating something of great value for our New Zealand preschoolers.
When I launched Eardrop's Journeys at the New Zealand Parent & Child Show, children racing towards the stage literally stopped in their tracks, listening to the sounds coming from the Eardrops stall. Parents were incredibly enthusiastic and positive about this new New Zealand made product. It was a great beginning for Eardrop’s Journeys.
The journey continues, and the positive energy continues to grow as more people discover the CDs. I have become aware of a ‘parenthood’ network – where parents write to me telling me where they think I should journey Eardrop to next. It’s great when people take the time to write and let me know which sounds their child loves and suggest products for the future.
I really hope you enjoy Eardrop’s Journeys with your child and would love to hear your feedback. Eardrop’s Journeys is all about sharing specialist expertise and collaborating each and every one of our experiences for the better of our children (and the sanity of adults!)
Thankyou for taking the time to read. I hope you find the information and resources on this site useful in your parenting or teaching journey. Feel free to contact me anytime.
Best wishes,
Liz
