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Set up
The experience was set up outside, so children were able to use natural sunlight for shadow play. headbands were provided for children to use, and they were encouraged to use their hands to make shapes (e.g., butterfly, animal). An open space that was safe was arranged so shadows could be cast against the ground or a wall clearly.
Goal:
To have fun discovering shadows and light through movement with children.

To imagine moving like trees, butterflies, or animals.

To build curiosity and early symbolic thinking by linking children's body movements to specific natural items.

Rational

According to my Assessment 2 experience Nature in a spotlight (drama)was provided with the experience for children to play and create using sunlight and shadows in order for them to become trees, butterflies, or animals—all of which can connect creative play to nature. This experience connects directly to EYLF Outcome 5: Children are effective communicators (DEEWR, 2009) as children conveyed ideas through movement and symbolic play. This relates to the work of Malaguzzi (1996), which supports the idea of children using one of their hundred languages (Malaguzzi, 1996) to enhance their imagination, creativity, and experience with the environment through embodied learning.

Teaching Strategies: Initially I introduced a simple peek-a-boo game using my own shadow to engage the children. I modelled slow, clear movements with my arms (like tree branches dancing) and modelled demonstrating how hands and arms could become butterflies or animals and encouraged babies to imitate, explore or create their own shapes. I offered some simple prompts like "Where is your shadow?" and "Can your tree bounce in the wind." for some direction in their play. For the little littles I was emphasising the repetition of their gesture.

What went as expected? Children laughed and roared with glee when they began to see their shadow move with them. They enjoyed flourishing watching the shadows expand, shrink and distort. Some mimicked my "tree arms" and others was so curious to see hands like butterflies. With the use of shadows, and movement, babies began to see their bodies as part of a story about nature. This expressed Malaguzzi's Hundred Languages and showed me that even our youngest of learners can express ideas and feelings through light, movement, and play.

What did not go as expected? Shadows disappeared when clouds moved across the sun, and this caused confusion for some of the younger children. Some lost interest very quickly and moved on to other play in the outdoor space.

What will I do differently next time?
I would use a big sheet, or torch as a backup so shadows are always visible. I could also keep the play shorter and more focused, as well as with extra props (such as soft animal toys) to link shadows to familiar objects.

How this supports my future practice?
This showed me that even babies and toddlers can explore drama through simple gestures, props and light. The natural world as a stage also allows children to make connections of their bodies to the environment. Moving forward I continue to design short, sensory-rich dramatic play that invited joy, imagination and curiosity.

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Dancing with the Scarf and Moving with Wind

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Dancing with the Scarf and Moving with Wind

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Set-Up
This activity is to be a movement experience for children indoors, connected to nature. An area was cleared large enough for children to move freely. Scarves in a variety of bright colours were used to represent, or mimic, the movement of wind. Since this activity was in the indoors, a fan and air conditioning were used to simulate the sensation of the breeze. The activity was supported with soft instrumental music in the background that floated with beautiful rhythms to support the imaginative experience.

Goal: Experience movement and express creativity through dance.

Develop coordination and spatial awareness using scarves.

Connect movement to natural elements such as wind and leaves.

Develop imagination and confidence when improvising and playing in groups.

Rational: My experience of Assessment 2 of A dancing tree blown by the wind is a lovely example of dance as it allowed children to connect dance to natural elements as well as rhythm, flow, and imagination using scarves and wind-inspired movement. This relates to EYLF Outcome 3: Children have a strong sense of wellbeing, as Wright (2012) states the arts offer young children’s meaningful opportunities for creativity and storytelling through movement rather than steps in a structured way. This sways my pedagogical choice of incorporating nature and dance; to support children’s creativity, wellbeing and connection to their environment.
Implementation
The children explored how scarves could move like the wind, twirling, waving, floating, and tossing them in different directions. I encouraged them to imagine leaves falling, trees swaying, or ducks gliding, but they were free to create their own movements. The focus was on self-expression and telling a story through their scarves rather than following set dance steps.

Children's Responses
The babies jumped right into moving the scarves, and they took great pleasure in doing so. Responding to the movement quality of the scarves wins the air, children enjoyed chasing them or just waving them around as they laughed freely in delight. Some of the children mimicked each other's movements, while others created their own interpretations of dancing and movement. The music and scarves provided a playful framework for the children, and they enjoyed dancing together broadly.

What worked well
The children enjoyed the open-ended nature of the activity and the freedom to explore movement in their own ways. The scarves offered a tangible prop that supported creativity, while the song encouraged flow and rhythm. The children showed confidence in experimenting with different body movements and enjoyed the social aspect of watching and imitating peers.

What did not work well
Holding the activity indoors meant that the sense of wind was less authentic. Although the fan and air conditioner created some airflow, it did not replicate the unpredictability and natural feel of being outdoors. A few children also became more interested in playing with the scarves as objects rather than using them for expressive dance.

Connection to Theory: This activity reflects the principles of embodied learning (Dissanayake, 2000) and this time, movement was acting as a type of storytelling and/or emotion. By using scarves as props and imitating natural elements - wind, leaves, and other moving things - children were again exploring ideas and feelings in their body, combining imagination, rhythm, and the awareness of space in a meaningful, embodied way.

Future Practice Scarves are a fun object for encouraging movement and creativity. Next time I would have an outdoor area to do this activity to experience the real wind. I will continue to create flexible, sensory-enhanced movement experiences with the natural world.

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Goals for the Children: -To share and discover rhythm, tempo, and dynamics through the use of recycled musical instruments while singing.
-To participate in imaginative role-play (ducks swimming, paddling, and quacking).
-To build social connections through group singing, making music together.
-To build environmental awareness through using recycled materials as instruments while linking music to nature, sounds, and environmental issues.

Resources:  Outdoor I set up a small pretend area as a pond with green plants, water and toy ducks. Musical instruments were created from recycled materials (e.g., paper roll shakers filled with sand and two recycled boxes as a drum with two sticks). The song we were using for musical work was, "Five Little Ducks’’.

Rational: My experience from Assessment 2 ,Hearing the call of a duck on the water I created an engagement with children through a sound/music session using Five Little Ducks , re-cycled instruments and supported children's exploration of their environment through rhythm, investigation and imagination, also linking with the EYLF Outcome 2- Children are connected with and contribute to their world (DEEWR, 2009) where children were contributing to their learning through the use of recycled instruments, supporting their learning on sustainability, while collaborating with one other. Wilson (2007) suggests outdoor settings are ideal for open-ended, imaginative play as the sensory experience become intentional and valued.

Implementation

When I began to sing "Five Little Ducks" (as we see in the children's environment) they all seemed very happy and began to be said, ’Duck’’. While we sang, I started to play with the shaker some of them children also showed interest play with it and shake them as a way to make music and sound, to imitate the splashing, as the ducks were paddling in the water. Children were able to have their own ideas to add their own movements, to be more like ducks and pretend to swim at the beginning of the song and added any movements that they liked after that.

The children responded to their surroundings with a shared “soundscape” of their laughter, water, duck movements, and shaking instruments. They also took turns role-playing ducks, exhibiting the noises that a duck would make - quacking, paddling and going fast/slow loud/soft. One child pointed to the water and shouted "duck!" which indicated they were engaged and connected with the activity.

What went well: The children immediately engaged with the song they had previously been presented with. They re3cognised the song very with confidence, participating with their shakers and drum. Singing new song ‘’Swimming in the water’ ’it’s fun and multi-sensory exploration that helped foster creative thought and imagination.

Challenges: Some children were more interested in exploring the water and plants, and a few of the children were also shaking their instruments in a loud way that made softer sounds hard to generate.

Next time: I would model loud/soft, build in pauses for improvisational opportunities for the children to create duck sounds and instead of simply singing the song I would end with a listening moment, so that we could connect with the natural soundscape (Wilson, 2007).

Future practice: This experience has reaffirmed music and place connections are valuable. I will continue to plan music activities that involve hands-on learning and recycling materials, while also inspiring creativity, participation, and sustainability.

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Overall Reflection:

Experiencing music, movement, and drama with babies has demonstrated to me that many of these experiences serve as not just entertainment, but powerful modality for expression and learning. In fact, children communicate through movement, use their voices, and interact with the environment, thus expressing their ideas, emotions, and relationships in ways that would be difficult to articulate verbally. Experiences like Sunlight Shadows and Moving Trees stimulated storytelling and imaginative engagement using shadows and hand movements and reflected Malaguzzi's Hundred Languages.

Overall subject Review: Participating in music, movement, and drama in 2008 contexts reaffirm their importance to early childhood learning. It provides children with opportunities to be creative and expressive with one another and interact gently with others. Children learn and grow through these experiences as they develop a sense of identity, develop emotions, and explore their surroundings. They are important languages for thinking, socializing, and creating an imagination in a creative, playful fashion.

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1. Dissanayake, E. (2000). Antecedents of the Temporal Arts in Early Mother-Infant Interaction. In N. L. Wallin, B. Merker, & S. Brown (Eds.), The Origins of Music (pp. 389-410). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

2. (n.d.). Just a moment... https://www.acecqa.gov.au/

3. The Hundred Languages of Children : The Reggio Emilia Experience in Transformation, edited by Carolyn Edwards, et al, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2011 ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/vu/detail.action?docID=820317.

4. Wilson, R. (2007). Nature and young children: Encouraging creative play and learning in natural environments

Routledge.