We must not spoil children's experience of music by expecting too much of them for their stage of development. Activities should be enjoyable and allow the children to move to rhythms, make sounds with toys and instruments, sing, chant and listen to a variety of forms of music.
Singing with children is a good way to develop their language skills and vocabulary. Often children in this age group will sing spontaneously as they go about their day-to-day play activities.
Children enjoy experimenting with instruments and the sounds they create, so make sure that there are ample opportunities available for two- and three-year-olds to do this. Live music performances are also a source of interest for children, so encourage parents, carers or other community members who play instruments to come and share their talents in the nursery.
PLAY TIPS
- Use songs that rhyme to help develop the children's aural awareness - an important aspect of pre-reading skills.
- Make routines more interesting by making up songs to go along with the actions, for example, 'This is the way we wash our hands/brush our teeth' to the tune of 'Here we go round the mulberry bush'.
- Help develop children's early maths skills through songs such as 'Five little speckled frogs' and 'Ten green bottles'.
- Starting to play a tape or a CD is a useful way to let children know it is time to tidy up or to gather for storytime.
Music corner
- Set up an area in the nursery where children can experiment with different musical instruments.
- Place the instruments in storage boxes where the children can access them easily.
- Label the boxes with pictures of the instruments so that the children can return them to the correct box.
- Allow the children to experiment freely with the instruments.
- Tape the sounds that the children create and play them back. Get the children to point to the instruments as they hear them being played on the tape.
Old Macdonald's band
After the children have been introduced to a wide range of musical instruments and have become familiar with their names, you can adapt the popular 'Old Macdonald had a farm' to 'Old Macdonald had a band'. In that band he had some: drums, bells, guitars, tambourines, triangles, violins, recorders and so on. Get the children to mime the actions of someone playing the instrument or to make the appropriate sound while singing the song.
Matching shakers
Collect containers such as film roll canisters or margarine tubs. Fill two of each container with materials that create a noise when shaken - for example, rice, sand, glitter and pennies. Use these as percussion instruments to accompany songs.
Sound story
When songs and stories have become more familiar to the children, they can be made more interactive by adding sounds. For example, for the story of 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears':
- One child can be given wooden blocks or a pair of shoes to tap on the floor for Goldilocks' feet.
- An empty bowl and spoon can be used to signify trying the porridge.
- When the beds are being tried, one child could pat a pillow or cushion.
- When the bears come back, three instruments can be used to represent each bear - for example, a drum for daddy bear, a tambourine for mummy and maracas for baby.
Breaking the story into parts and listening to the sounds helps develop their ability to listen and awareness of the sounds instruments make.
Flying scarves
Make a collection of old silk or cotton neck scarves in the nursery (ask parents to donate, or buy them from second-hand shops). Select a piece of taped music. Take the children to a large clear space indoors or outdoors. Play the music and get the children to dance to the music with a scarf in each hand. Give children instructions - for example, wave your scarves up in the air, wave them really quickly, wave them behind your back.
Alice Sharp is managing director of training centre Experiential Play (www.experientialplay.com) and director of resource company Wonderbox, specialising in interactive products for use with children under three (www.wonderbox.co.uk; e-mail: info@wonderbox.co.uk).
