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In this experience, we used tools and loose parts around us to create soundscapes and musical pieces. Working in small groups, participants explored rhythm and sound through everyday objects, whether by shaking materials together (rocks in plastic bottles), tapping sticks, or banging pots. This collective exploration highlighted the natural inclination of children to make music, showing how easily beats and rhythms emerge when given open-ended resources. Victor Wooten’s perspective on music as a language reinforces the idea that children experience rhythm and sound as a natural, intuitive form of communication.

For this activity I reflected on my own experience, where I observed how quickly loose parts could be transformed into instruments, sparking creativity and collaboration. If this was 6 months ago I wouldn’t know how to approach these materials, however now they feel like second nature to explore. This activity aligns with Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, which emphasises learning through social interaction, and Piaget’s constructivist view of children testing hypotheses through play. With that, Nicholson’s theory of loose parts further explains how non-perspective materials invite innovation and creative thinking.

During the sound and music season, it was clear how natural making a beat came to everyone, confirming how innate rhythm is in both adults and children. For the future, I might ask children to both create original pieces and replicate familiar songs to show the universality of rhythm. Giving children that option gives them the flexibility to be creative, compared to in our activity we all needed to be a different level in the beat

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The second experience involving engaging with an imaginary friend, recalling the private, trusted relationships many children form in early play. I found a quite place where I could interact with my imaginary friend as if I were a child again, treating them as a friend who could hold all my secrets. While I expected this to involve more movement, it became a largely reflective and imaginative experience. From a theoretical perspective, Vygotsky (1978) described sociodramatic play as essential for emotional and cognitive growth, with imaginary companions supporting private speech and self-regulation. Piaget (1951) also explained that in the preoperational stage, symbolic play allows children to process abstract ideas such as trust and companionship. This activity demonstrated how children use imagination to negotiate feelings, experiment with relationships, and build identity. In future practice, I could adapt this into a group experience, where children bring their imaginary friends into collaborative adventures or shared activities such as a tea party. This would encourage both imaginative play and social connection.

The imaginary friend activity unfolded privately for myself, but everyone quickly seeked solitude to engage in personal play, using any materials they found around them. In the future, I might do something guided to ensure that each child is engaging in movement. Similar to another movement/sound activity we did in class, getting to retell a story physically, getting other classmates involved to be each element, that would be to have less teacher involvement.

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Drama in the environment invited us to see the everyday world through new, imaginative perspectives. We stepped outside and looked for drama in ordinary things, such as seeing stories in the clouds or interpreting a lonely hallway as a passageway to another world. What surprised me was how easily I was able to find these perspectives, particularly after learning about concepts such as parallaxis and engaging with works like Wala is Life, which emphasise creative re-interpretation of place. This experience links to Vygotsky’s (1978) view of imagination as a developmental tool, as well as Piaget’s (1951) constructivist theory, where symbolic play enables children to transform their environments through meaning-making. Wright (2012) highlights the expressive value of drama in fostering creativity and problem-solving, while Gruenewald’s (2003) place-based pedagogy explains how imaginative engagement deepens our relationship with the environment. In practice, I could extend this activity by inviting children to collaboratively create a story or shared world from the dramatic elements they discover, fostering both individual creativity and group storytelling.

In the drama activity, everyone quickly identified their own interpretations of the environment, validating how perspective shapes imagination. I would encourage children to collaboratively design worlds and narratives, weaving together their discoveries. Making the drama in the environment bigger with each level, working off each other to provoke those problem-solving, communication and creativity skills.

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My assessment 2 was ‘Wind Warriors’, that involved children believing they had powers based off the wind and ocean around them, engaging in dramatic play as they fought each other and the wind. In the sound/music session, children created rhythms with everyday materials, this could be echoed to my assessment, how the wind makes different sounds, children are working with the natural rhythm around them not being forced into artificial music knowledge. This reflects Vygotsky’s (1978) sociocultural theory of shared meaning-making, collaborating and scaffolding of each other's ideas. As well as Nicholson’s (1971) theory of loose parts, which explains how open-ended materials promote creativity and experimentation. I believe when looking at sound, Pauline Oliveros ideas of deep listening also are involved, where for my assignment I stopped unconsciously acting in familiar environments, and started consciously listening, really deepening those connections and creativity, because as I started listening more I was noticing new things and started to look at those familiar things with a different perspective.

The imaginary friend activity mirrors ‘Wind Warriors’ using imagination and symbolic play. Through the imaginative battles and teaming up with others, it links both concepts of movement and drama (like most activities do). Wilson (2012) highlights how imaginary companions provide children with a safe space for emotional expression and problem-solving. As well to do with movement, Wilson highlights how movement and imagination are intertwined in developing cognitive, social, and emotional skills, through spatial awareness, rhythm, and coordination.

Drama in the environment extended the experience by encouraging reinterpretation of everyday spaces. Both activities were changing the narrative for everyday spaces and creating a story, whereas in the ‘Wind Warriors’ the children would actually engage in the new thought of space. The Parallaxis heavily supported this activity, supporting children to see ordinary objects and places in new ways, fostering symbolic thinking in creative ways.

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·       Getting children to make their own music based off the emotions of the wind warrior activity, with provided loose parts

“Wind Warrior Soundscapes”

Step one: Ask directed questions based on their experience.

“How did you feel when you were a Wind Warrior”

“Did the wind feel gentle or strong”

“What noises did you hear near the beach”

Step two: Children will break off either in pairs, groups, or individual and make music with the materials provided to reflect their experience. The emotions and sounds that they experienced (5 minutes).

Step three: Perform to the group if comfortable, and give an explanation. Reflect on any similarities or differences in the group.

Learning focus: Creativity, self-expression, collaboration, and symbolic thinking through sound

Learning outcomes and connections:

Encourages creative expressions and imagination (EYLF outcome 5)

Supports collaboration, listening, and reflection (EYLF outcome 4)

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Getting children to physically re-enact the elements they heard outside

“Embodied Elements”

Step one: Begin with a brief discussion, get children to recount all the different elements they heard outside (wind, ocean, birds)

Step two: Children stand in their own space and replicate physically what they heard.

Step three: Call out each element discussed one at a time for children to explore, allowing freedom to interpret the movement. Teachers giving guidance and demonstration of their own if children are unsure, joining in on the movement of giving prompts.

Learning outcomes:

Develops gross motor skills, special awareness, and rhythm (EYLF outcome 4)

Encourages self expression and connection with the natural environment (EYLF outcome 5)

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Getting children into a new world in teams to create a world of their own

“Parallaxis Adventure”

Step one: Reflect on wind warriors

Step two: get children into groups and tell them to explore the area and what drama they can find

Step three: give them 5 minutes to add levels just with the environment around them, building and adding layers.

Step four: come back to the group and share experiences. make this better like a more directed game

(changed game for outdoor area)

Getting children to retell adventures in their own way

“Parallaxis Adventure”

Step one: Ask the children to share something exciting that happened to them on the weekend or holidays

Step two: Children stand up and reenact it

Step three: give them 5 minutes to add levels just with the environment around them, building and adding layers.

Step four: Teacher can throw in changes (adding in changes)

Learning outcomes:

Develops imagination, problem solving, and teamwork (EYLF outcome 4)

Encourages storytelling, communication and reflection (EYLF outcome 5)

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I did these activities with my brother and a friend as I wasn’t able to conduct it with children in the time frame, so naturally it wasn’t as authentic as I’d like. What I believe went as expected was that the first and second game that involved music and movement came naturally, although I gave audible guidance for the movement they were quickly able to find their own movement and rhythm. When I introduced loose parts as instruments, they were also very quick to engaging, in less than 5 minutes they found perfect items of pillows, pens, cans and dog toys to make their music. This highlighting how accessible music can be, and the openness of music making.

Next time I would prefer a larger subject group, the experience lacked authenticness and richness with only two participants. In a bigger group there would’ve been more opportunities for them to bounce off each other, layer their contributions, and create more complex performances, including beats, tempos and rhythm. In addition, I was unable to carry out my full drama-based activity due to time constraints. I believe that if I had been able to conduct this outdoors with children, the opportunity to connect with nature and imagine new worlds would have led to a deeper creativity and imaginative story telling, rather than a teacher-directed activity. More opportunity for creating the drama and story in their own head which can lead to those important skills. With this, I would also allow for more time for the drama activities to unfold naturally, as imaginative world-building requires time and space, with the longer you leave them the bigger the story grows.

This has shown me the importance of trusting in children’’s natural abilities to create movement, sound, and drama when provided with open-ended materials and freedom. Although I struggled at times, it’s evident that these are second nature. In my future early childhood practice, I will prioritise designing experiences that give children this creative space, with my role being to set up the environment and then step back, offering guidance only when needed.

These activities reflect elements of music, movement, and drama as interconnected forms of expression. For example, Victor Wooten's music as a language reframed how I thought about music, not as a set technical skill, but as something natural everyone can do. I find this is evident when the participants create rhythms with loose parts without instruction (only to make music on how they feel), just as children learn musical ‘language’ through immersion. Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr’s concept of Dadirri also shaped my perspective, as deep listening and quiet awareness extend beyond known sounds, encouraging children to sense, feel, and respond physically to the world around them. Finally, as spoken about before Jessica Kilby’s Parallaxis heavily inspired my drama activity, as I believe it has inspired my own learning the most. Emphasising children moving through environments, building worlds with their bodies and minds as the central tools for story telling. Although all separate ideas, all the activities and concepts move between each other, with movement being found in all, along with drama being found in the movement activities. It is a primary way for children to think, feel, and communicate, interwoven through music and drama.

My new perspective it that concept exactly, that they are all interconnected, embodied forms of expression where movement often leads the way with younger groups. Children thrive when given opportunity, materials, and encouragement to explore deeper. Music, movement, and drama are not extras in early childhood practice but central to how children express themselves, make meaning, and connect with the world around them.

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·       Gruenewald, D. A. (2003). The best of both worlds: A critical pedagogy of place. Educational Researcher, 32(4), 3–12. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X032004003

·       Kilby, J. (2023). The Parallaxis project. Retrieved from https://parallaxis.net/

·       Nicholson, S. (1971). How not to cheat children: The theory of loose parts. Landscape Architecture, 62(1), 30–34.

·       Oliveros, P. (2005). Deep listening: A composer’s sound practice. iUniverse.

·       Piaget, J. (1951). Play, dreams and imitation in childhood. Routledge & Kegan Paul.

·       Ungunmerr-Baumann, M.-R. (1993). Dadirri: Inner deep listening and quiet still awareness. Retrieved from https://www.miriamrosefoundation.org.au

·       Victor Wooten. (2012, May 15). Music as a language [Video]. TEDx. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zvjW9arAZ0

·       Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.

·       Wilson, B. J. (2012). Imaginary companions and young children’s coping and competence. Child Development Perspectives, 6(3), 199–205. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1750-8606.2011.00223.x

·       Wright, S. (2012). Children, meaning-making and the arts (2nd ed.). Pearson.