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The first experience is using a collection of natural materials found in the space to make music. The intention is for children to gain a deeper connection to place, through collaboration and discovering new ways of making sound.

Inspiration for this experience came from the soundscapes from Healesville video (Sound Art in Melbourne: Healesville Sanctuary Aboriginal Soundscape, 2015). I wanted the children to use natural materials to come up with their own musical soundscape.

Inviting children on an 'excursion' to the same place as I recorded my artefact, Sanatorium Lake in the Macedon ranges. The children will have the opportunity to explore the outdoors, listen to the sounds and collect materials that might mimic the sounds they hear or to create new sounds, sounds can be join together in collaborative music piece.

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What sounds can you hear?

'I can hear a bird chirping' -Oliver

'The wind is loud, oh its gone, where did it go?' -Oliver

'Branches moving' -Maisy

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What else can you hear, see, smell and feel

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What else can you hear, see, smell and feel

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As we walked along the track, the children talked about the noises they could hear, A group of kookaburra's laughed, and the wind in the trees, when I asked the children to stop, close their eyes and really listen to the sounds, they were able to describe more distant sounds, such as chirping and whistling, crickets and the tree leaves moving. Oliver mentioned he could feel the sun on his back and both Maisy and Oliver noticed the smell of a fire burning a while away.

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As the children continued to walk along the track I asked the children if they could replicate the sound of the birds, trees or the sound of the wind, Ollie was able to whistle and Maisy made a blowing sound with her mouth. I then suggested that maybe they could find some materials around the forest to make some sounds with. Oliver collected some bark and some green leaves on a small branch, he tapped the leaves on the bark and it and said 'check this out'. Maisy collected a couple of rocks and began to bang them together, making a clacking noise, we compared the two sounds to the crickets and the leaves blowing in the wind.

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I myself collected a couple of thick sticks and asked the children to show me their sounds as the same time, I joined in the sounds with my small sticks and together we created a melody of different sounds, as Maisy was tapping her rocks together, she moved closer to Ollie's bark and began to tap the rocks against the bark, this created a new sound to add to the song.

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Taking the children to the forest where they can be fully emersed in the outdoors, this gave them a real sense of the world around them and allowed them to experiences deep listening and explore as many of their 8 sensory systems as we can. (Gano & Krull, 2020)

I expected that the children would be able to point out clear up close sounds but was surprised when they were able to point out further sounds, feelings such as the sun on their back and smells like a nearby fire.

I think this experiences really engaged the children in the natural environment and gave them a new appreciation and perspective on natural materials and how they can be used in different ways.

Next time I would do this experience with a larger group of children, making the experience more in dept and allowing for more creative sounds joining in the music.

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For a dance/movement experience my inspiration has come from the Lake Cowal dance (Lake Cowal Bird Dance - Uncle Winnie (Winata Puru), 2020) the intention is to talk to the children about what movements they remember seeing while they were out at the lake. Asking questions and making sounds or visual demonstrations such as the trees moving in the wind, to prompt recall and then invite the children to show me how they interpret the movements these animals or trees made and then put them together to create an inspired dance.

The children will discuss and demonstrate these movements as a group, play some nature inspired meditation music and perform these movements together. This experience is an opportunity for children to explore body movements through exploration, gain a deeper understanding of music and movement, build confidence and express themselves freely.(Dance Teaching Ideas, 2020)

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We began by sitting together and discussing.

While we were together at the lake, do you recall anything moving?

Can you remember some of the noises you heard while we were there, that might come from creatures that make movements?

'Yes, the birds, the big bird that flew across the water' - Oliver

'The trees and the wind' 'It was blowing loud and then slow remember' - Oliver

'Little hopping bird' - Maisy

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Me- 'What do you think the trees move like?, Can you show me?'

Oliver- 'I have another one, The Kookaburra's laughing.'

Me - 'Great what do you think they look like while they are laughing?'

Me - 'What about the little hopping birds, what do you think they look like?'

Me - 'And the Heron soaring across the lake, what did that look like?' I demonstrated what I thought it looked like, and Oliver responded with 'I think it was more like gliding like this' he stretched out his arms and moved in a fast motion forward.

The children captured the movements of the animals and trees so well and in their own ways. Some movements changed as the children watched each other. Maisy tried to make the same movements as Oliver after watching how he did some of them.

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If you put all of these movements together what do you think it will look like?

'A dance' - Oliver

'A song' - Maisy

Would you like to do all the movements together and see how it turns out?

'Yes' - Oliver

Maisy was a little shy but was happy to participate if she could follow Oliver's lead.

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A dance of nature was a chance for children to think more deeply into the movements of animals and things, to connect with their own imagination and express themselves freely in a safe space (Dance Teaching Ideas, 2020). Throughout this experience children mentioned how fun it was, this was evident in the smiles, giggles and laughing together throughout their movements. exploring movement without being told what it looks like.

I think this experience worked really well and I would like to include more children, such as small groups of 5 or 6 to see more creative responses to the task. Although there were moments of shyness while videoing, we built confidence through positive reinforcement, off camera there was a lot of fun being had. To further the children's learning i would have a more props to use in the dancing adding another element to the dancing.

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Creating a dramatic storytelling through the eyes of the children. Creating an open discussion about what the animals might be communicating to each other. What they could be saying or doing and how they might be saying and expressing their ideas, prompting discussion and thus creating a dramatic storytelling to share.

The inspiration for this experience came from the Auslan Cranky bear video (“The Very Cranky Bear” Auslan Version, 2013). Not so much the Auslan sign language but the dramatic way she tells the story. The intention of the experience is for children to connect with nature, use their imagination and creative abilities to tell a compelling story in their own words.

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Throughout the time outdoors the children were listening to some bird calls, I asked them what they think the birds are talking about to prompt discussion.

Maisy talked about how she thought they were talking about us and showing us their true heart. Through the discussion we decided together that the birds were calling for their true love.

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At home we discussing details of the story, both children worked together by providing ideas of how a bird was going to find its true love. Oliver would share an idea and Maisy would add to it, my role was to bring the story together for them, creating a start, middle and an end to the story. To add to the story Oliver had a suggestion.

Oliver - When we get home can we do some painting for the story?

Me - What would you like to paint?

Oliver - The birds and the trees, where the bird lives.

Me- Yes you can that would add a nice element to the story.

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As we sat together outside we collaboratively came up with a story, I helped to fill in the gaps. bold are Oliver's contributions and not bold are Maisy's contributions, my contributions are in italics and the bracketed parts are the actions children were doing through the storytelling after the story was finished.

Titi finds his true loves kiss

Once upon a time there was a bird named Titi he lived in a town with lots of trees, he wanted to find his true loves kiss (Maisy grabs her chest with both hands and tilts her head), Titi was flying high in the sky and a big owl came and took him on his ankle, Titi yelled loudly 'ahhhh' (Both children screamed loudly) as he was being pulled in the sky, the big owl dropped him and he broke his leg, he had to go to hospital, his doctor was a girl, her name was Tulu, she helped Titi get better, you will be ok she said, Titi fell in love with Tulu, he told her you are my true love. They kissed and lived together forever. (Oliver and Maisy get up dancing around with excitement)

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The children were presented with an opportunity to explore their imagination and creative storytelling skills, collaborating together they came up with an even better story than I imagined they would. Maisy demonstrated deep listening of the bush with her ideas that the birds were talking to us about their true hearts, which inspired a story of finding true loves kiss. The children bounced off one another as we discussed the details of the story. Although the children did not want to read the story and capture it on video, which would have been great, together I feel like we were able to capture the drama that the story intended. Moving on from that I would like to have a larger group of children to strengthen the storyline, created new avenues for adventure and excitement and to assist in feeling more confident to share their ideas. Another adult to assist with building confidence and inspire ideas could help in this instance.

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I got a lot of inspiration for these experiences from indigenous Australian methadologies (Slater, 2020) I can now see the importance of giving children access to all the arts, expecially using the natural materials around us and our imaginations. To be inclusive of all children and I now have ideas and avenues to follow to be able to include the temporal arts into my practice when it comes to inclusion, one example I have learnt is learning through vibrations (ABC TV & iview, 2019). I have really enjoyed getting an understanding of drama within storytelling and I have always liked to emphasise the characters in stories to engage children more to the stories. Knowing that children will express themselves in all different ways opens up a new perspective on all sorts of behaviours that might just be a way for children to express themselves, giving me better understanding and appreciation for the arts. Including children in coming up with the ideas gives them a sense of accomplishment, confidence and leadership.

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ABC TV \u0026 iview. (2019). People who are deaf answer “How do you experience music?” | You Can’t Ask That [YouTube Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTWLoFuEvL4

Dance Teaching Ideas. (2020, June 7). Creative Dance for Early Childhood |. Dance Teaching Ideas. https://danceteachingideas.com/creative-dance-movement-for-toddlers/

Gano, D., & Krull, S. (2020, July). Natural Sensory Learning. Www.communityplaythings.com. https://www.communityplaythings.com/resources/articles/natural-sensory-learning

Lake Cowal Bird Dance - Uncle Winnie (Winata Puru). (2020). Www.youtube.com. Retrieved March 13, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVDh_Qev-yc

Slater, O. (2020). Storying: A Reflection on Entanglements with Indigenous Australian Methodology. Cambridge Educational Research E-Journal, 7, 9–17. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.58324

Sound Art In Melbourne: Healesville Sanctuary Aboriginal Soundscape. (2015). Www.youtube.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-0mfMT8dAo

“The Very Cranky Bear” Auslan version. (2013). Www.youtube.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QsoglLzKtQ