Promotion
Children’s wellbeing is at the core of the EY Foundations Stage (EYFS) and this has been brought further into the limelight with the challenges of COVID-19.
With so much change and uncertainty, we want to support and settle our children and staff as much as we can.
So how can music, and specifically, early years music practise help you meet today’s challenges?
Well, in three ways:
- Music supports the wellbeing of early years children and practitioners
- Music supports parent involvement
- Music supports ‘catch up’ in development
How can music time support the mental and physical wellbeing of your children and staff?
Supporting children — It can be difficult to settle a child who is worrying, but a simple music activity could help. Music activates most of our emotional brain structures (the limbic brain and the amygdala), the management of which scientist Daniel Goleman deems essential for happiness and success.
Supporting staff — Team training may feel unobtainable, but it’s more important for your staff now, than ever. At Boogie Mites, we have been leading music and movement training for EY practitioners for over 15 years, and the benefits stretch way further than CPD.
The benefits of upskilling your team in creative music practise:
- Knowledge - Music covers all 7 Areas of the EYFS, making your planning easy.
- Confidence - Staff will be given the confidence they need to use music to support the curriculum and to make learning fun through music.
- Wellbeing (Physical and mental) - Music making activities, singing, and dancing, are uplifting with adrenalin and serotonin released to energise and improve mood.
- Bonding- Music is an all-inclusive activity. We love to see practitioners laughing and having fun with music together.
Supporting parent involvement
We have always known how important it is to encourage parent engagement in children’s early learning at home. In the wake of COVID 19, parents have had to play an even more vital role than ever.
Learning through play is the most effective method for EYs children and using music makes this engaging, inspiring and fun for everyone involved. Music sessions at the nursery or via online platforms for home practise are an excellent vehicle for engaging parents and for informing them of the many benefits of regular, interactive music activities at home.
Supporting catch-up on nursery hours missed
Some children may have been well supported with home learning during lock-down, but others will have missed out.
Music is a multisensory experience that involves three ways of learning: auditory, visual and kinaesthetic. Similarly, the brain is a multisensory organ, and this could partially explain the remarkable benefits: music activates all three cortices (motor, visual and auditory) of the brain.
With this evidence, it is surely time to include EY music intervention programmes to help children to ‘catch up’.
Taking the lead
The great news is that you don’t need to be a musician to lead effective music-making activities, you just need the training and resources – and the confidence will come with practice.
You can try out a Boogie Mites song that plays with words, and helps children hear the syllable chunks that make up the words, the rhythm of the words.
In conclusion, music has a highly valuable part to play in supporting the early years sector, particularly during the challenges that covid-19 presents for children, parents and practitioners.
Watch the videos below for more information on the benefits of music for EY children:
Each of our 3 core music programmes are tailored towards different age groups:
!! Exclusive offer for Alliance Baby and Toddler group members !!
All Alliance Baby and Toddler group members can now receive exclusive access to 15 music and movement songs from Boogie Mites for just £50.
