Music and Movement in an Early Childhood Setting

More and more we are seeing a reduction of access to Arts programs, especially when children begin the transition from Early Childhood Education to primary and secondary schools. It is a sad thing to see or experience as a child and as a parent of a child who has left a child care centre in Australia.

Early years education is based off the exploration and the creativity of children. Creative childcare learning centres emphasize the importance of fostering a child’s creativity and finding different ways for children learn through their own emergent interests. There are many ways that families can bring that sense of exploration into their homes and into everyday interactions or experiences with their children. It can be as simple as turning a chore into games, or for those children who have made the transition to school and are struggling, turning home work into a creative experience.

Some things we can do as parents is encourage our children to look at things from different perspectives and provide our own context to experiences to enrich, enhance, add complexity and stimulate their creative centres. A simple way to explore these creative centres is to simply not follow directions, have a loose goal in mind and encourage the self-expression of your child. Give options, if a child has ‘homework’ give them choices in how something can be accomplished, it could be as simple as creating a model of a shape out of paper rather than drawing it or choosing their own colours for an activity or their own medium of self-expression.

Here at creative childcare we realise that while our early years framework is rich and diverse, many aspects of our guidelines and curriculum become lost in the transition from childcare in Australia to Primary schools. So, something we’ve begun to implement in our centre is a Dance Program encouraging children to explore the world through their imagination and movement. Not only are we helping children build their confidence to explore their world though movement, but we are building motor skills, developing their cognitive abilities through rhythm recognition and teaching children to self-regulate. These skills have long term benefits that help children with their self-expression later in life.

Studies have shown that the arts have a positive impact on the mental health of individuals, it’s a way for children to cope with change and anxiety and provides a creative way for children to work through problems. If you think that your children could benefit from these skills come into any of our locations and ask for a tour or an orientation visit that coincides with one of our programs, or if your child is already in care and you wish to know more, talk to your children’s’ educators or volunteer your time to come in and participate in a creative activity. Most importantly remember that it’s the journey, the exploration, self-expression and creativity of children that will allow them to grow, learn and become well rounded individuals.

Do you have a topic that you would like to learn more about? Comment on our Facebook page or send us an email. See you next month!