This important book provides practical guidance for parents, teachers and other early years practitioners who are concerned with young children's musical development.

Music and singing are an inherent part of children’s lives and offer a wonderful opportunity to promote young children’s learning and development. This how-to guide is full of useful information to support musical understanding and assist practitioners in developing their knowledge, skills and confidence in planning and leading successful and enjoyable musical activities in a range of early years settings. Focusing on the role of singing and children’s musical learning at various stages of development, Music and Singing in the Early Years aims to demystify music by providing practical tips, ideas and information on the integration of musical activities in the early years curriculum and environment, and provides clear explanations of musical concepts. Chapters consider topics such as: vocal strategies and development using song, rhyme and movement integrating instrumental accompaniments observation and assessment planning and delivery resources for music making. This book is essential reading for all early years practitioners looking to improve their musical understanding and plan successful musical activities with young children.

This book examines four main areas of music in early childhood: the traditions of music for young children, their capacities for music, the way they make music with others, and constructed and mediated musical childhoods. It studies several themes in detail, including music making in the home and family life, various musical experiences in schools, day cares, and the community at large in several locations around the globe. It looks at technology and diverse musical repertoires, as well as innovative pedagogies, children’s agency, and brain research. Expanding on the knowledge bases on which early childhood music education typically draws, the book brings together contributions from a range of authors from diverse fields such as education, psychology, sociology, cultural studies, anthropology, philosophy, ethnomusicology, and the neurosciences. The end result is a volume that offers a broad and contemporary picture of music in early childhood.

"This book is an excellent resource for gaining understanding about the fundamental principles of ICT in the Foundation Stage curriculum... [The] principles of good practice in this book will not be outdated by new products or trends. The book is a well-balanced blend of theory and application. It has certainly helped to provoke and resolve ideas about the use of ICT in our settings." - Nursery World This book helps readers understand how very young children (from birth to six) develop an early awareness, and subsequently develop their knowledge, skills and understandings of information and communication technologies (ICTs). The rapid growth of ICT has prompted concerns among parents, educators and policy-makers over the suitability of many educational applications, and electronic toys, for young children. However, evidence is presented to show that the use of ICT by young children is compatible with the principles of a developmentally appropriate curriculum (DAC). In fact the authors argue that used imaginatively, many applications of ICT can make a significant and unique contribution to children's social and cognitive development. This is a significant book for students, parents,carers, teachers, and other professionals who want to provide a rich learning environment in education, and in teaching and supervising research in the early years.

Children are inherently musical. They respond to music and learn through music. Music expresses children's identity and heritage, teaches them to belong to a culture, and develops their cognitive well-being and inner self worth. As professional instructors, childcare workers, or students looking forward to a career working with children, we should continuously search for ways to tap into children's natural reservoir of enthusiasm for singing, moving and experimenting with instruments. But how, you might ask? What music is appropriate for the children I'm working with? How can music help inspire a well-rounded child? How do I reach and teach children musically? Most importantly perhaps, how can I incorporate music into a curriculum that marginalizes the arts?This book explores a holistic, artistic, and integrated approach to understanding the developmental connections between music and children. This book guides professionals to work through music, harnessing the processes that underlie music learning, and outlining developmentally appropriate methods to understand the role of music in children's lives through play, games, creativity, and movement. Additionally, the book explores ways of applying music-making to benefit the whole child, i.e., socially, emotionally, physically, cognitively, and linguistically.

First Published in 2009. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Is my singing good enough? What should I do with instruments? How can I create a rich and exciting musical environment which will allow for both child and adult led musical activity? Singing, dancing and music-making comes naturally to young children, but we as adults often lack confidence in our musical ability. This easily accessible book will help you to realise that everyone can be a creative music-maker with young children. It aims to inspire you to take young children’s enthusiasm for music and create a musically rich environment that supports all areas of learning and development and at the same time celebrate music for music’s sake. Packed with activities, songs and musical games, this book includes: Recognising musical development in young children and the benefits of music-making in the early years Advice on inclusive practice Guidance on using musical instruments Ways to develop your own musicality Help with planning and assessment Chapters linking musical activities to each area of learning and development How to create a balance between adult-led and child-initiated activities Music for Early Learning also includes downloadable resources containing 23 songs and listening activities linked to each area of development which can be used as a standalone resource or alongside the music manuscript and Guitar and Ukulele tabs provided, as well as lyrics to each of the songs. This practical text will help you to realise the wonderful opportunities that music can offer young children and is an ideal resource for Early Years Practitioners, Early Years consultants and trainnee teachers, as well as those on Nursery Nursing and Childcare courses at Further and Higher education levels.

There is a growing awareness in Early Years education that an essential part of children’s development involves creative engagement through language, gestures, body movements, drawing and music; creating shared meanings in playful contexts. Supporting Children’s Creativity through Music, Dance, Drama and Art brings together contributions from a range of professionals and early years practitioners, to help readers implement the themes of the Early Years Foundation Stage framework in a creative way. Emphasising the need for responsive adults and a creative atmosphere for learning, this book covers: How to promote a creative classroom effectively The importance of talking and listening in groups Working with community artists Music-making and story-telling in the classroom Practical resources and theoretical grounding Making use of the ‘talking table’ technique With practical case studies drawn from a range of contexts, this book highlights the contribution that creativity makes to children’s learning and social development, illustrated through practical suggestions and feedback from tried and tested methods. Appealing to all with an interest in Early Years practice, this book demonstrates how practitioners can put excitement and inspiration back into the learning process, and guides them to encourage and support the creative capacities of young children.

Maureen Harris has written an early childhood music program that is easily incorporated into the classroom routine. Written for the early childhood educator-experienced or trainee, musician or nonmusician_this book describes a music-enriched environment for teaching the whole child. Now educators can put research into practice and benefit from the wealth of knowledge and research acquired over the centuries on the power of music. With easy-to-follow lesson plans, sing-along CDs (sung in a suitable pitch for the young child), and supporting literature, educators can gain musical confidence as they explore research on child development, learn how to create a music-enriched environment and build musical confidence, see a curriculum time-frame, and follow lesson plans with ideas for further musical creativity and exploration. In addition, the multicultural section shows how to set up an early childhood music setting that maximizes the benefits of a variety of cultural values and practices. As you read this book you will begin to see music as a biological human need, an incredible vehicle for enhancing intelligence, and a means to connecting and uniting people around the world.

What does the National Curriculum mean to pupils and teachers at Key Stage One? How have teachers and children coped with the ongoing changes? How has subject teaching altered in infant classrooms? In A National Curriculum for the Early Years, Angela Anning and her team of contributors set out to examine these issues. Infant teachers and their pupils were the guinea pigs for the introduction of the National Curriculum over a five year period. Despite many reservations about a subject-based curriculum for young children, teachers struggled to interpret the National Curriculum Orders into a workable, if not manageable, curriculum in their classrooms. The contributors to this book, each experts in a subject discipline, have kept in close touch with practising and intending infant teachers as the National Curriculum was operationalized in primary schools. They have used their teacher networks, as well as research evidence, to tap into the strategies used by infant teachers to cope with the planning, delivery and assessment of the National Curriculum subjects and the effects of government policy changes on young children's learning. Together the contributors provide a timely analysis of subject discipline based education for young children and look ahead to the prospects for those subjects at Key Stage One in the second half of the 1990s. This book will be essential reading for anyone involved in the education of young children.