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People generally think that music and movement are beneficial artistic experiences for children and of course for adults. But what exactly are those benefits when responding, creating and considering music and movement? Based on my emerging questions below, I would like to inquire about the advantages of music and movement used in early childhood education and unexpected links with other forms of arts (visual or performing arts using other materials) in everyday moments. Further, some inspirational examples of how we can include music and movement in the early learning environment will be explored on this page as well.

What do we hear in the music?

What do we see from the movement?

How does music make us feel?

Why do people respond to music?

How can we express our feelings through music and movement?

How do children respond to the music spontaneously?

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Beginning thoughts about music & movement and encounters in our lives

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Beginning thoughts about music & movement and encounters in our lives

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Below are possible experiences we can encounter with music and movement in everyday situations;
| Encounters of musical sources
- Sound recordings of music
- Musical instruments
- Sounds made when tapping, shaking, stretching, swaying of any objects
- Use of bodily sound (from the mouth, tummy, tapping toes, crying, etc.)
- Hearing background noises (cars passing, people talking, doors opening)
- Sounds from nature (rustling windy leaves, birds chirping, the sound of waves)
| Encounters of moving sources
- Movement of yourself (moving started even before you were born!)
- People and things moving around you (family members, friends, cars, bikes, tram)
- Visual images from TV or other screens
- Movement from nature (rustling leaves, birds flying, ocean waves, marching ants)
- Daily routines of lives (brushing your teeth, pouring milk, taking a bath)

Look at a photograph of my daughter when she was 12 months old; she had been visiting the Scienceworks almost every month during the year. Normally she would stay in her pram and watch older children playing, but on this day, she decided to hop down from the pram and walked towards the instrumental tower in the musical space. She started to hit the wooden xylophone vigorously in tune with the background music played in the room and other children’s musical sounds made from the other side of the room. The mallet held on her hand was nearly invisible due to the speed of her movement. Was she trying to make her own music? Was she expressing her feelings? Or she just remembered how to play the instrument from the past months’ observation and had a go. Daily music and movement happen as an individual event on its own, but also can be embedded in other things producing other questions, hidden meanings and varied interpretations.

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Artefact 1: Doggy, doggy, who's got the bone? (Getting to know…)

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Artefact 1: Doggy, doggy, who's got the bone? (Getting to know…)

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I often play the game ‘Doggy, doggy, who's got the bone?’ with kinder children. This is an exploration that involves both music and movement interacting with people in place. Each child would have a turn to be a doggy and pick someone in the group to be the next doggy. This is especially helpful when we have new groups of children learning each other’s names. Teachers can bring children’s attention, making meaning of a fun game as situated and creating a purposeful moment of everyday contexts. This game is entangled with bodies, knowledge of sound and movement of others and different ways of knowing, being and doing (Hamm & Boucher 2017, p.64).

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Artefact 2: Block play (Benefits of Belonging & Social skills)

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Artefact 2: Block play (Benefits of Belonging & Social skills)

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Music and movement are social activities as we want someone to listen to us singing and to watch us moving. When participating in music & dance experiences in early childhood place, children develop a sense of belonging in the group, listening skills, expression of self and empathic understanding.
Block play is an exploration of wooden materials while children impulsively mix with other found materials around them. It also demonstrates children’s improving social skill, development of vital gross motor skills, coordination, language skills and imagination in an early learning setting, making sound with the bricks and moving their body continually. All children making sounds, talking and moving together in the situated environment would feel safe, welcomed and valued as a member. They could also learn about themselves and others, the environment, routines and limits.

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Artefact 3: Free Dance Moves (Benefits of Appreciation of beauty → Development of Artistic Ability, Boosting Creativity & Imagination)

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Artefact 3: Free Dance Moves (Benefits of Appreciation of beauty → Development of Artistic Ability, Boosting Creativity & Imagination)

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Another benefit from music and movement is that children learn to appreciate the beauty of music and movement and other arts in general. What children see as beautiful might be different (not inferior) from adult’s views. The Reggio approach provides an opportunity of child-initiated learning, where children’s own learning ideas, perspective, feelings and experiences are celebrated. These expressions could help develop children’s artistic ability and encourage exploring their creativity and imagination. According to Hanna (2017, p.4), it is sometimes hard for teachers to let go of expectations for children’s learning outcomes and simply view children’s pure imaginative play as they research their creative minds. Following clip shows my son (aged 8) dancing at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) in the form of performing arts, he carefully watches himself moving and making a sequence of beautiful images. It is not a professional dance performance but represents his solitary exploration of bodily movement creating shapes that give visual pleasure.

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Artefact 4: Circle Time Songs & Dance (Benefits of Improving Language skills, Concentration & Motor skills)

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Artefact 4: Circle Time Songs & Dance (Benefits of Improving Language skills, Concentration & Motor skills)

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Musical literacy and language development have mutual benefits in the early years and beyond. Besides, playing instruments or voice training effectively influence on children’s verbal skills and other mental abilities into adulthood (Hanna 2017, p.26). Children can learn new words or concepts from hearing songs repeatedly. If children are well aware of a song, they can understand what it means even if it is sung in other languages. The following clip shows how I get children’s attention by singing during group time. I feel children can focus better and longer with singing voices than speaking blandly. Further, as educators normally incorporate dance moves when singing, children can develop their gross and fine motor skills along with other coordination skills (balancing, eye-hand coordination, visual tracking skills) and cognitive skills.

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Artefact 5: Jumping & Splashing in natural resources (Inspirations in ECE practices)

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Artefact 5: Jumping & Splashing in natural resources (Inspirations in ECE practices)

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The following video shows an exploration of mud after rain, it fascinated me as I have never jumped in a muddy puddle myself. My (Korean) cultural background emphasizes keeping oneself clean and tidy in front of others, so people tend to dress up their children with the nicest clothes even when they go to a childcare setting. After immigrated to Australia, it was a culture shock to me watching children eating their snacks sitting on the ground and no one minding about a whole or stains on a child’s shirt. I now accept that children need to wear comfortable clothes that are easy to move around and okay to get dirty. Also, educators in the video joining the splashing and sploshing in the puddle helped to make louder sounds from the water and increased the fun part. Teachers become children again and enjoy fun playing.

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Artefact 6: Aboriginal Symbols & children’s stories (Inspirations in ECE practices)

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Artefact 6: Aboriginal Symbols & children’s stories (Inspirations in ECE practices)

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I put a sand tray in front of Aboriginal symbols display so children can explore the texture of sand and practise drawing Aboriginal symbols on the sand with their fingers or brushes. From their movement of arms and hands, however, children create art pieces that represent their own story. They try to imitate a few symbols and then start drawing their shoes, birthday cakes and mum on the sand. According to Edwards et al. (2011, p.150), all children search for achieving their identity and get their voices heard within a specific context. I believe all artworks do tell a story although viewers might get different messages or interpret the meanings in their way. Children’s every movement tell stories and teachers are there to listen to their special stories.

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Artefact 7: Arts with natural materials while listening (Inspirations in ECE practices)

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Artefact 7: Arts with natural materials while listening (Inspirations in ECE practices)

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The linked recording from a local park is an example of what I play as background sound of a gentle breeze, rustling leaves and chirping birds. Or I just simply set up the art materials in outdoor space providing with natural materials (pinecone, leaves, branches) that can be easily found in gardens and parks together with paper and paints for children's exploration. Children enjoy listening to beautiful nature sound and they paint, roll, stamp with found natural resources demonstrating their feelings of the situation. They spontaneously add more materials (sand, tanbarks, flowers) from the playground and garden. As well as teachers, children are also listeners, researchers and artists.

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Extra: My thoughts about the COVID-19 Safe activities restricting the Group singing

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Extra: My thoughts about the COVID-19 Safe activities restricting the Group singing

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A recent guideline from the Victorian Government’s Department of Education and Training (2020, p.4) advised not to have a group singing (and use of wind instrument) during the term 4 which made many educators and children sad and confused. While teachers and educators do not need to wear a mask, when working directly with young children, we still get sneezed at multiple times a day and occasionally wipe their noses and tears. Although I am not happy with the new measures as we cannot even sing birthday songs to celebrate together, I thought about an alternate way: taking a smaller group of 3~5 children outdoors so they can listen and dance to songs from sound recordings or by an educator (wearing a mask) and sing along together.

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Everyday moments of our life encounter with music and movement which are dynamic and lively. These are forms of arts on their own but can be interpreted in, but not limited to, other forms of arts (visual or performing arts) as well. Further, music and movement can be witnessed in daily exercises, playing, sports, building relationships and various learning experiences. Materials and situated environment could evoke children's memories, invite actions, tell their stories, and present ideas and feelings (Pacini-Ketchabaw, Kind & Kocher 2016, p.1) through music and movement. As there are uncountable benefits of music and movement, I could embed these possibly in every activities and program in early childhood education. From this inquiry into the benefits of music and movement and studying practicable application into early learning, I decided to become a teacher with a child’s mind who would enjoy the fun of playing through sound and moving, who would share my own stories to special persons and become an artist myself.

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* Images & photos courtesy of ‘Camberwell Baptist Church Kinder’

Daffodils Outdoor Nursery 2018, ‘Puddle jumping at Daffodils’ on Facebook, viewed 9 October 2020,
<https://www.facebook.com/981693011913400/videos/1642910155791679 >

Department of Education and Training (Victoria) 2020, Health and safety advice for early childhood in the context of coronavirus (COVID-19) factsheet, viewed 10 October 2020, <https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/about/department/covid-19/health-and-safety-advice-term4-ec.pdf?utm_source=email+marketing+Mailigen&utm_campaign=Direct+Send+-+Emergency&utm_medium=email >

Edwards, C, Gandini, L, Forman, G, & Reggio, CS (eds) 2011, The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Experience in Transformation, ABC-CLIO, LLC, Westport, viewed 8 October 2020, <https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/vu/detail.action?docID=820317 >

Hamm, C & Boucher, K 2017, ‘Engaging with place: foregrounding Aboriginal perspectives in early childhood education’, Found in Translation: Connecting Reconceptualist Thinking with Early Childhood Education Practices, Taylor & Francis Group, pp. 58–75, viewed 15 October, <https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/vu/reader.action?ppg=71&docID=5160936&tm=1547688316881 >

Hanna, W 2017, The Children's Music Studio: A Reggio-Inspired Approach, Oxford University Press, ProQuest Ebook Central, viewed 10 October 2020,

<http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/vu/detail.action?docID=4747980 >

Pacini-Ketchabaw, V, Kind, S, & Kocher, LLM 2016, Encounters with Materials in Early Childhood Education, Taylor & Francis Group, London, Viewed 2 October 2020, <https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/vu/detail.action?docID=4649662# >