Our latest blog post has been written by guest blogger Tina from Play with a Purpose.

 

Tina is a qualified Early Childhood teacher and parenting educator with many years of experience that is passionate and enthusiastic about PLAY! Tina established P.L.A.Y. with a Purpose in 2014.   

 

Tina delights in designing groups that highlight the wonder of play and connecting together through play through hands-on learning with lots of expression and an energetic sparkle encouraging children, parents and caregivers to join in.

Tina offers a range of groups from Music Miracles, to Yoga Heroz and P.L.A.Y. with a Purpose and is available for consultation or a custom-designed workshop by appointment. She also offers Visual Communication Charts and Sensory Toolkits.

She shares her world on Instagram as @play_with_a_purpose

When we think about children and music, it can bring a smile or a memory of a moment of music shared. Was it a memory of you as a child and the music in your home? Or perhaps a memory of you with your children and musical moments shared together? Or maybe music with a special friend or pet? 

Whatever your memory or moment, music can bring about so much learning and incredible connections to each other and to your mind. 

Exploring the joy of music together with children creates wonderful opportunities for learning. Investing playtime with your child through singing a song about a particular interest, makes this learning more meaningful to them. What topic are they always talking about or playing with? Do they like a particular animal? Plant? Transport? Tree? Farm? or Sport?

Below you will see some play cycles that I have put together that links to some wonderful musical instruments that are available here at The Creative Toy Shop. 

The Hape 'Bird Whistle' featured here encourages muscle development especially around the lips, tongue, jaw and vocal cords which are all vitally important for talking!

Experiment with playing the whistle, fast and slow, long and short breaths, use an 'Ask, Say, Do' approach:

'Ask - Can we blow the whistle?'
'Say - Let's blow a long sound.'
'Do - show your little one how to make the sound.'

You have a try. Encourage and give them lots of feedback to keep trying. Do check out the graphic above for more tips on using this wonderful instrument.

Does your little one like to bang on the pots and pans?

Adding in this Hape Baby Drum can bring a new sound to their ears and yours. 

Introducing the concept of rhythm with a pom, pom, pom and then command of stop helps not just their rhythm develop, but also their listening skills for an important instruction. Try tapping really fast then stop. Then slowly and rhythmically then stop.

Try different beats with and without music to tune your ear and theirs to the bass and drum beats within nursery rhymes. Or perhaps your own favourite tunes.

Rain is in great demand and many of our regional areas in Australia and even the coast is waiting for those precious drops to fall.

Listening to the Hape rainmaker sounds very much like rain and children can turn it upside down again and again to explore this gently soothing sound. Shake it, rattle it or roll it to see the different sounds and explore it from many angles. 

The rainmaker enhances grip strength and hand-eye coordination. It also helps develop listening skills, sound recognition and language as you talk to them and explain what is happening as you explore together. 

I like the raindrops drawn on the outside of this instrument, it enhances the connection between the sound of the instrument and the sound of rain. 

Is building a favourite?

Or perhaps it's knocking them down, that tickles their delight!

A different way to create artistry with both construction and music is with this multi stacking music set by Hape. The primary colours are appealing and give yet another learning opportunity for their developing brains. When you hold and play with your little one, your brain and their brains develop and are stimulated. You then create and deepen that beautiful bond between you.

Take a moment to build together this wonderful construction and then make some music to celebrate!

Our final instrument to add to your collection is the delightful Wildwood Kids Shaker Egg. Soothingly smooth to the touch and with an appealing wood finish with a dab of colour, it is just perfect for the baby to pre-schooler hand grip. They can shake, rattle and roll this egg to the song entitled 'Shake, Rattle and Roll' made famous by Bill Haley & The Comets. Or perhaps to your favourite children's music CD? 

Grab one egg each for both of you so they can follow your directions. Shake up high, down low, to the side, to the other side, to the right, to the left. Or make a shape with it, put it on your nose, on your head or even on your toes!

Make a game of it especially with the pre-schoolers, they love it.

A great way to bring music into you and your little one's day is to plan it. At P.L.A.Y. with a Purpose we have Play Choice Charts to help plan out the day and have wonderful play experiences that you can plan or change as needs or desires arise! 

Thank you so much, Tina, for sharing some wonderful ideas about music and the benefits it has for play. We love that music can create such strong memories that last a lifetime. 

Please say hi to Tina over on her social channels listed below: 

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