In the first part of this project children can explore the sounds of musical instruments, use their own bodies to create rhythm and develop role play in a music shop. Sound also provides opportunities to introduce children to music computer software and they will be keen to take the lead in trying electronic keyboards and karaoke machines.
Adult-led activities
Body sounds
Start your project by exploring some of the sounds that can be made with our bodies.
Key learning intentions
Initiate new combinations of movement and gesture in order to express and respond to feelings, ideas and experiences
Manage body to create intended movements
Recognise and explore how sounds can be changed
Adult:child ratio 1:up to 10
Resources
* Large floor area with a non slippery surface Preparation
* Make a risk assessment and prepare the area you intend to take the session in, to ensure children's safety throughout.
Activity content
* Sit the children in a circle so that they can all see you clearly.
* Sing a 'body' warm-up song together, such as 'If you're happy and you know it'.
* Talk about the sounds the children made with their bodies during the song.
* Ask the children to think about how they could use their bodies to make other sounds. Perhaps they could work with a friend.
* Move around the group to support children's efforts. If children are struggling, suggest they consider thinking about how they could use their feet, hands, fingers, lips or tongue.
* Try focusing on one area in detail, for example, feet. Invite the children to demonstrate sounds they have explored in their pairs. What about stamping, tapping and jumping up and down?
* Talk about how body sounds can be altered; clapping loudly and quietly, jumping and landing heavily and lightly, comparing the noises made by walking and running feet. Model the actions for the children.
* Sing 'If you're happy and you know it' again, but this time make up some verses of your own that reflect the children's explorations - clicking fingers, tapping feet and whispering voices.
Extending learning
Key vocabulary
Sound, body, hands, feet, mouths, lips, tongues, voice, clap, stamp, tap, jump, click, noisy, quiet, whisper, shout, loud
Questions to ask
* What sounds can you make with your hands/feet/fingers/mouths/tongues?
* Who can whisper/shout very loud? (Model the sound level as you say the words).
* How could you make that sound different? Quieter? Louder?
* How many claps was that?
* Can you do it like this?
Extension activities
* Sing action songs which include body parts and/or body sounds with the children, such as 'Heads, shoulders, knees and toes', 'One finger, one thumb' and 'We all clap hands together'.
* Encourage children to clap along to the rhythm of songs you sing or listen to together.
* Think about the sound that shoes make on different surfaces in the outdoors area, such as concrete and grass.
* Photograph the children singing action songs together and moving outdoors. Make a collection of body sound words with them and create a display in your setting.
* Read Isabel's Noisy Tummy by David McKee (4.99, Random House Children's Books).
Music sounds
Explore the sounds of musical instruments and create your own orchestra.
Key learning intentions
Respond to simple instructions
Investigate objects and materials using all their senses as appropriate Persevere in repeating some actions/attempts when developing a new skill
Explore the different sounds of percussion instruments
Adult:child ratio 1:up to 10
Resources
* A good selection of musical instruments such as triangles, rhythm sticks, shakers, castanets, tambourines, bells * Include a selection of multicultural instruments such as rainsticks, square pieces of felt or 'music mats'
Preparation
* Gather the musical instruments together in a basket or box.
* Make sure you have enough music mats, one for each child.
Activity content
* Sit the children together in a circle.
* Invite the children to choose an instrument each.
* Give each child a music mat as they choose. The idea is that when they need to keep their instruments quiet so that they can listen either to you or to others, they place them on the mat in front of them.
* Ask each child in turn to tell the rest of the group which instrument they have chosen and to demonstrate its sound.
* Talk about and model how the instruments can be played in a variety of ways. Begin by playing the instruments softly and gradually getting louder.
Extending learning
Key vocabulary
Instrument, music, names of the instruments, quiet(ly), soft(ly), loud(ly), gentle, gently, listen, hear, see, touch, hit, shake, tap, bang, orchestra, percussion
Questions to ask
* What is your instrument called?
* What sound does it make?
* How do you think you could make a softer/louder sound?
Extension activities
* Always leave a selection of the instruments out for the children to access independently. Alternatively, choose a type of instrument a week such as shakers, those with bells, or instruments that must be hit such as rhythm sticks and triangles for the children to explore.
* Use the instruments in group sessions regularly, for example, during singing sessions.
* Tie some everyday metal objects such as pots and pans, metal spoons, metal lids or bunches of keys to either the low branch of a tree in the nursery garden or to a free-standing clothes airer. The children can make music by hitting the items with a wooden spoon or a metal spoon. If you tie the items fairly close together they will act like a wind chime when the breeze stirs them.
* Invite parents and carers to donate metal items they no longer use at home.
* Read All Join In by Quentin Blake (5.99, Random House Children's Books), a book of funny poems about noise. It includes poems about making noise with instruments, with voices and with kitchen pots and pans, as well as poems about ducks quacking and cats meowing.
Child-initiated activities
Role play
Additional resources and adult support
* Provide a till, money, shopping baskets, pictures and posters of musical instruments, classical and popular bands, posters advertising concerts, a selection of instruments and books of sheet music, CDs, CD player and headphones.
* Set up your resources in the role play area to create a music shop. Put the posters on the wall, label and price the instruments, CDs and sheet music, and set up a shop counter for the till.
* Provide a receipt book and order book (use some scrap paper stapled together) to give the children a real life writing opportunity. Model the language and procedures of writing a receipt and taking an order.
* Provide a blank music manuscript book for children to have a go at writing down their own music scores.
* Create a listening centre in the music shop for children to listen to the CDs for sale before they decide to buy them.
* Invite the children in to the music shop, initially in small groups, to explore the resources available with your support.
* Invite any musically talented parents or carers to come in to the music shop and demonstrate playing their instrument.
Play possibilities
* Exploring resources independently with or without peers
* Playing and experimenting with musical instruments and the sounds they make
* Responding to music in different ways (listening quietly, singing, moving) when playing a CD or when peers or parent/carers play a musical instrument
* Expanding spoken language through a familiar role-play experience
* Mark-making with enjoyment and confidence in a no-failure situation
Possible learning outcomes
Select and use activities and resources independently
Use language to recreate roles and experiences
Enjoy listening to and using spoken and written language and readily turn it into their play and learning
Know how to operate simple equipment
Recognise and explore how sounds can be changed, sing simple songs from memory, recognise repeated sounds and sound patterns and match movements to music
Maths area
Additional resources and adult support
* Provide two of several types of musical instruments such as rhythm sticks, shakers, bells or castanets and put them all together in a basket or shallow tray.
* Invite the children to sort the musical instruments into pairs.
* Explain that a pair means two of the same type of something.
* Ask the children to count how many pairs of musical instruments there are.
* Model appropriate mathematical thinking, such as 'how many...?' and 'how many altogether...?' and 'pair' and language such as 'same' and 'different'.
Play possibilities
* Sorting and matching musical instruments
* Predicting how many different types of musical instruments are in the basket
* Checking how many different types there are by counting
* Talking about the shapes of the musical instruments
* Talking about which instruments are the same, which are different, and why
Possible learning outcomes
Extend vocabulary, especially by grouping and naming
Recognise groups with two objects
Find the total number of items in two groups by counting all of them
Begin to talk about the shapes of everyday objects
Look closely at similarities and differences
Creative workshop
Additional resources and adult support
* Provide assorted plastic pots, a variety of fillings such as dried rice, pasta or lentils, glue, masking tape, thick elastic bands, and fabric or strong paper to make shakers or maracas.
* Let children choose a filling and cover their pot with fabric held down tightly with an elastic band. Alternatively, use two pots that are the same, add a filling and tape together at the rim.
* The shakers can be painted, but use ready-mix poster paint with PVA glue added to make the paint dry satisfactorily on the plastic surface of the pots.
* Use the shakers to accompany a singing session. Invite each child to demonstrate their shaker and listen carefully to the noise it makes. Are they shaking it noisily, quietly or softly? Do different fillings make a difference to the sound the shakers make?
* Use the term 'percussion instruments' again with the children. Remind them that musical instruments that are banged, shaken or scraped are called percussion instruments.
* Add some of the shakers to your music shop.
Play possibilities
* Designing and making shakers and exploring the sounds they make
* Listening to and exploring rhythm both independently and within a whole group
* Making up their own songs using a shaker to accompany their voice
* Experiencing a role play opportunity through testing out a shaker for sale in the music shop
Possible learning outcomes
Select the tools and techniques they need to shape, assemble and join materials they are using
Make 3-D structures
Sing to themselves and make up simple songs
Tap out some simple repeated rhythms and make some up
Opportunities for ICT
Additional resources and adult support
* Use musical programs on your computer such as Musical Leaps and Bounds by Granada Learning. Support children's independent use of the program.
* Use a dance mat in the setting (many of the children will already have had experience of these at home).
* Have fun with a karaoke machine.
* Encourage the children to have a go at using an electronic keyboard.
* Provide a tape recorder for children to tape themselves singing and playing the keyboard and other instruments.
* Investigate the website www.hitchams.suffolk.sch.uk/ictmusic. This is an excellent site which gives many ideas for combining music with ICT in the Foundation Stage.
Play possibilities
* Exploring the functions of the computer program
* Developing a sense of rhythm and co-ordination through using a dance mat
* Using their voices in different ways through singing
* Handling an electronic keyboard and exploring the sounds it makes
* Rehearsing and performing with others
Possible learning outcomes
Find out about and identify the uses of everyday technology and use ICT to support learning
Manage body to create intended movements
Engage in activities requiring hand-eye co-ordination
Imitate and create movement in response to music
Resources to support the theme
* Musical instruments can be found at NES Arnold (tel: 0845 120 4525 www.nesarnold.co.uk) and also at the Early Learning Centre (www.elc.co.uk)
* Till 10 and shopping baskets 2 each from the Early Learning Centre (www.elc.co.uk)
* Karaoke machines and dance mats at reasonable prices from Argos (www.Argos.co.uk)
Fiction books
* All Join In by Quentin Blake (Random House Children's Books, Pounds 5.99)
* Isabel's Noisy Tummy by David McKee (Random House Children's Books, Pounds 4.99) Software
* Musical Leaps and Bounds by Granada Learning (0161 827 2927 www.granada-learning.com)
Information books
* Sound by Claire Llewellyn (Watts Publishing Group, 9.99) 0749651660
