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This November marks 10 years since I started Musical abc, my independent music classes for the under 5s.  If you don’t know my background, I studied musical composition and then trained as a primary school teacher, with 4- 8 years as my specialist age range, although I spent most of my teaching career in Reception. So, with Musical abc I aimed to use my experience of teaching and music to bring a live music experience to young children and adults in my local area.  I have...

I have always found food/drink themed songs and rhymes are always popular with the children.  I try, when I first introduce a food/drink song/rhyme to the children, to also have an example of at least one of the items mentioned in the song/rhyme, either the actual ingredient or a picture of it.  I do this as a multi-sensory experience to help more children engage in the activity.  Here are some examples of songs and rhymes that I used with an ingredient to enhance the...

All my music times incorporate multi-sensory activities.  I do this so that all children can find a way to explore and express themselves.  I have selected 5 sensory props that are my favourite although I use many more.

Bubbles

Bubbles are great for all ages.  For babies, it helps them with tracking objects.  Older children try to catch and blow them.  I use them within songs/rhymes and when listening to music.  You may like to take a look at the blog: Bubbles...

It is amazing how a music activity can help with a child’s self-confidence. 

I recently attended a nursery to do a music time with a new group of children; their response was fantastic and I love how music can bring a smile to a child’s face.  The activity I remember most was the listening activity.  This activity involved the use of fabric and bubbles.  As it was their first session I knew these props would be great to help the children respond to music. ...

Twinkle, Twinkle is a song that is known by most people and I am sure it is one of the first songs that many parents sing to their newborn child.

So, with this in mind, how can we use a song like Twinkle Twinkle to help children develop in the 7 areas of learning?

• Communication and Language
• Physical Development
• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding of the World
• Expressive Arts and Design

We can use Twinkle, Twinkle as a starting point for a music...

Are you looking for early years activity ideas to celebrate the end of the year?

Below I have listed past blogs that I have written that can help you with ideas with a musical element:

Music for the end of year concert

If you are looking for music for your end of year concert or graduation take a look at this blog for 11 music suggestions: https://musicalabc.simplero.com/blog/5961-11-suggestions-of-music-for-end-of-year 

Bubbles

The children are always excited when I get the...

I am lucky to be able to listen to the birds singing to each other from my office in the garden. There is one bird, we think it is a blackbird, who sings a very non-bird like tune.  It sounds like the start of a song but you never hear it complete; just the same unfinished musical phrase every time.

Why am I telling you about this?

When children first learn to sing they don’t always complete a  phrase or sing a complete line, just like the bird.  We need to acknowledge...

Do you do a leavers event where you share memories of the children's time in your early years setting?  If so, are you struggling to think of pieces of music that you could use to accompany it?  Well, I have listed below 11 happy and/or celebratory pieces of music that you may like to use.  There are affiliate links for your convenience.

1. Greatest Day by Take That

2. A Million Dreams from Greatest Showman

3. Don't Stop Me Now! by Queen

4. Wonderful World by Louis...

Travel and Transport is a fun topic/theme that the children really enjoy. I usually start this topic with the focus of travelling on the land, e.g getting around by walking or by horse. Horse related songs, rhymes and music are great as a stimulus to get children moving as they sometimes struggle to think how to move; having a focus really helps them. e.g. trotting or galloping like a horse.

I sometimes use the hobby horses as shown in the image below. I use these with the children inside and...

We’re going on a journey to the seaside!

Along with the theme Animals, I have found ‘Travel and Transport’ is a firm favourite with the children.  ‘We’re going on a journey to the seaside!’ is a line from a song I wrote to get the children to play with sound; I ask them to make the different transport sounds, with the car sound usually being the favourite!

Do you have a collection of travel and transport themed songs and rhymes up your sleeve?...