Music in early childhood is no different to any other area - children learn best through active hands-on play, whether that is self-directed play or guided play. But first comes free, self-directed play; guided play and intentional teaching activities can be introduced to extend the children’s play but only once the children have had a chance to explore. Children need to own their music and free play is what gives them mastery.
Children naturally love music! Whether it’s soft and soothing or a lively tune, children feel it both physically and emotionally.
WHY PLAY MUSIC?
- Why would we want children to play music? Firstly, because it’s fun! But playing and learning music has other important benefits:
- Enhances fine and gross motor skill acquisition.
- Increases pattern recognition and spatial awareness.
- Enhances social and emotional development.
- Music is a form of communication – it gives children another way to communicate moods, emotions and ideas.
- Children who learn music tend to improve in subjects such as maths, science and English.
YOU CAN DO IT!
The first and most important thing to know is that you already possess all the musical skills and abilities necessary to implement within your daily activities! It’s not your musical skills that will make your activities wonderful – it’s your knowledge of children and child development and your enthusiasm for trying new ideas.
SETTING UP THE ENVIRONMENT FOR MUSIC PLAY
To facilitate music play it’s vital that children have access to instruments on a child-choice basis. It’s about setting up the environment so that children can choose to play with music. Set up a music area just as you would set up a block area for construction play or a home corner for imaginative play.
So, where’s the best place to set up your music area? Since music play tends to be loud and exuberant outside is often the best place. For an indoor music area, choose instruments that are quieter.
What instruments can you have in your music area? First: choose instruments that are rugged and almost unbreakable – you don’t want to be worrying about breakages or having to tell the children “be careful!” Children need to be able to explore the instruments freely in self-directed play. So, if you have delicate instruments keep them for more structured activities.
Set up a music station – it’s easy to make a PVC pipe framework to hang instruments on or homemade noise makers. You can also do this on a fence or from the branches of a tree. Nylon blind cord, thin rope or strong nylon fishing line works well for hanging things. Keep it short for health and safety! It’s a great project to do with the children – for the music station to be most valuable, don’t just build it yourself.
Some ideas of items to use:
- Pot lids
- Pots
- Empty cans
- Metal mixing bowls
- Metal and plastic buckets
- Tin trays or plates
- Lengths of wood or bamboo
- Short lengths of aluminium pipe, steel rods and long bolts (when suspending these or wood/bamboo try to suspend them at 1/4 of the total length of the item - this will make them vibrate best)
- Old spanners and other tools
- Plastic bottle shakers – filled with sand, rice, beans, pasta etc
- Cloth or strong plastic bags filled with bark or leaves
- Anything that makes a sound when struck, and which won’t break easily.
- You can also hang your small bought instruments like triangles, cymbals, maracas, wind chimes and so on…
Music plays a powerful role in the lives of young children. Through music, babies and toddlers can come to better understand themselves and their feelings, learn to decipher patterns and solve problems, and discover the world around them in rich, complex ways. Most important, sharing music experiences with the people they love makes very young children feel cherished and important
