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UNICEF. (2024). How music affects your baby’s brain: Mini Parenting Master Class. https://www.unicef.org/parenting/child-development/how-music-affects-your-babys-brain-class

Wilson, R. (2007). Children, creative play, and the natural environment. In R. Wilson (Ed.), Nature and young children: Encouraging creative play and learning in natural environments (pp. 1–18). Routledge.

Gandini, L. (2012). The atelier: A conversation with Vea Vecchi. In C. Edwards, L. Gandini, & G. Forman (Eds.), The hundred languages of children: The Reggio Emilia experience in transformation (3rd ed., pp. 303–316). ABC-CLIO.

Psychology of dance. (2025, July). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychology_of_dance

Raising Children Network. (2023). Imaginary friends. https://raisingchildren.net.au/preschoolers/behaviour/friends-siblings/imaginary-friends

Creative dance movement for toddlers. (2021). Dance Teaching Ideas. https://danceteachingideas.com/creative-dance-movement-for-toddlers/

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I would like to acknowledge the Yalukit-willam clan of the Boonwurrung people, part of the Kulin Nation, the Traditional Custodians of the land on which I gather here in Williamtown beach. The beach is connect a lot to community here, it provides food, water and resources for people that connection to Country.

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On a nice sunset I visited Williamstown beach, on the lands of the Bunurong people. The environment presented itself as a living force which encouraged me to observe the natural sounds and movements and dramatic things between the sea and sky. The 60-second video recording of waves shows only brief moments of natural processes but in my mind the experience of the scene remained more deeper.

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The first language I experienced was sound. The ocean is a complex sound which started with powerful wave crashes that transitioned into gentle bubble sounds as they disappeared into the sand. The seagulls interrupted the rhythmic sounds with their loud cries while the wind look like whispering my ears. I started to walk along with natural sounds of the beach and listening the soundscape.

The second was movement. The water moved pattern of coming and going through the shoreline. I walked forward with my feet as the tide waves approached and then I step backward when the waves approached me.

The third was drama. The shoreline transformed into a theatrical setting where ocean waves performed as dramatic actors who displayed both strong and peaceful behavior. The beach which I knew so well now became an theater where I found myself performing in a spontaneous play.

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The video recording of waves at Williamstown Beach serves as my artefact. The video presents a simple short videos contain three temporal arts languages which become visible upon closer inspection. The video features natural wave sounds which I enhance through my voice. The waves display their natural patterns while my body movements create a dance-like effect through my small steps and swaying gestures. The waves function as storytellers in my imaginative narrative which forms the dramatic core of the video.

The open-ended stimuli of natural environments align with Wilson's (2007) perspective on how they foster creativity. The beach sensory experiences led me to discover stories in sticks and rhythm in raindrops in the same way children do during their playtime. The ocean functioned as my creative workshop according to Gandini (2012) who shows that materials influence creative development through dialogue.

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Wilson (2007) explains that children develop their imaginative play skills best in natural environments because these areas provide imaginative play. The waves provided rhythmic sounds while the sand provided experiences and the endless horizon encouraged rich sensory experiences and multiple open-ended materials.

According to UNICEF (2024) music exposure during early childhood development enhances brain growth which leads to better language skills and improved memory and emotional control abilities. During my time at Williamstown Beach I directly experienced how different sensory elements combined to create a unified experience where sound led to body movement which then generated storytelling that produced emotional responses.

The atelier in Reggio Emilia according to Gandini (2012) functions as a space where children work together with materials to develop their own understanding. The materials I used for my response included wind and water and sand which functioned as active elements that transformed my creative process.

The literature on dance and movement (Creative Dance Movement for Toddlers, 2021) demonstrates that physical improvisation enables toddlers to express themselves and develop their cognitive abilities.

The Raising Children Network (2023) explains through its resources that children naturally create narrative elements and dramatic play during their activities.

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Implication for early childhood practice

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Implication for early childhood practice

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This reflection strengthens my opinion that play-based and artistic pedagogy are important in early childhood education. Children should experience outdoor sound creation through voices and physical movements and natural elements. The educational approach should present these activities as discovery experiences instead of stage performances. The outdoor play activities should focus on improve movement instead of basic gross-motor activities that involve running. Children who imitate natural elements such as waves and trees and animals develop their body awareness and creative skills. The natural environment creates opportunities for children to develop their narrative skills. Children develop symbolic thinking abilities and empathy through their practice of bringing stones and waves and trees to life. The educational staff needs to recognize that children's imaginative play activities hold educational value.

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The experience at Williamstown Beach showed me how sound and movement and dramatic elements exist together as a single language of place. The waves transformed from background noise into active participants which brought memories and emotional responses and new understanding. The experience shows that I should believe in children's natural ability to connect with places through imagination while creating educational approaches that support their poetic sensory experiences.

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1. Sound- Natural Soundscape:

Children pick natural loose parts such as sticks, leaves, stones and seeds to create a soundscape that represents their environment.

2. Movement- Trees in the Wind

Children use their bodies and simple props to express how nature moves ( could be tree, wind or birds).

3. Drama- Story of rain

Children can create a drame about rain falling, use objects or their bodies to make rain storm or weather by their ideas.

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I observed during my time outdoors that sound and movement and imagination merged together. The previous work failed to show the interconnectedness between these elements and pedagogical. I will focus on the mutual development between children and materials and environment while understanding my educational function to support their connection through guidance and scaffolding and space maintenance.

The activities serve educational purposes which extend more fun. The activities enable children to develop deep listening skills (Dadirri) and multiple language expression (Reggio Emilia) and body-based learning (Merleau-Ponty). The activities establish connections between children and Country and Indigenous perspectives by showing that sticks and wind and rain function as living components of their environment.

The EYLF teaches us that children function as active communicators who actively participate in learning activities. Children transform into storytellers with the materials they use during these sessions. The connection between entanglement and pedagogy emerges at this specific point.

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-Natural soundscape :

Materials: Sticks, stones, leaves, seed, small bowls/containers.

1. Take children outdoors and invite them to collect a small natural object.

2. Ask: “What sounds can this make?” Model tapping, shaking, rubbing.

3. Give time for children to explore and experiment.

4. Invite children to share sounds with a partner (small groups first).

5. Gather in a circle: each child adds their sound one by one.

6. Blend sounds into a “place song” — a soundscape of where we are.
Pedagogy:Children, objects, and sounds come together. A stick is not just a stick- it becomes rain, drum, or voice. I scaffold by noticing (That tapping sounds like rain) and encouraging children to listen to each other.

-Trees in the wind:

Materials: Scarves or ribbons (optional).

1. Begin standing tall: “Let’s become trees.”

2. Model swaying gently like trees in a breeze.

3. Add wind: “How do trees move in a storm?” Encourage big movements.

4. Introduce birds: “What birds might live in our trees? Can we fly?”

5. Return to calm: gentle swaying and slow breaths.
Pedagogy: The children’s bodies, the scarves, and the idea of wind are entangled. Their movements affect each other-one child’s storm may influence another’s. I guide with open questions and use breathing to support regulation.

-Story of rain:

Materials: Blue fabric (clouds/rain), rainstick or shaker.

1. Begin in silence. Ask: “What does rain sound like?” Use props to model.

2. Spread blue fabric across the space as clouds.

3. Children take roles: raindrops, puddles, trees, animals, or people.

4. Build the story: soft rain, heavy storm, water soaking into earth.

5. Finish with stillness: “What does the land feel like after rain?”
Pedagogy: The fabric, props, and children become one story. They don’t just pretend to be rain; they are the rain, entangled with Country. My role is to scaffold the narrative, keeping it open-ended but focused on water’s role in life.

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The assessment experience of working with music and movement and drama has completely transformed my understanding of arts education in early childhood. The arts functioned as an activities which I used to fill empty time slots in the program. It’s essential communication tools which enable children to establish bonds with their peers and their placet and with their me.

The process of music shows how basic everyday items can transform into musical sounds. A stick exists as multiple things because it can function as rain or become a drum or start a musical song that people can share. There showed me the value of slowing down to listen because children develop their creativity through their connection with objects and their environment.

Children use their bodies to communicate through dance because they express emotions and connect with natural elements including wind and trees and birds. The experience showed me that body-based learning happens through breathing and rhythm which also promotes children's emotional health.

The drama showed me that children bring stories to life through role-playing activities which activate their creative thinking. The combination of fabric and sound and gestures transformed into rain and storms which demonstrated to me that drama enables children to merge storytelling with self-expression and environmental awareness.

I will use my professional growth to establish arts as fundamental components which should never be treated as optional elements. I will establish flexible musical and dramatic and movement-based activities which allow children to discover their own creative expressions while fostering their connection to Country and their peers. I will move away from structured teaching activities to create spaces where children and materials and their environment can develop their own understanding through encounters.

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Ungunmerr, M-R. (2002). Dadirri: Inner deep listening and quiet still awareness. Miriam Rose Foundation. https://www.miriamrosefoundation.org.au/

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

Bangarra Dance Theatre. (2018). Mutton Bird [Education resource video].

Malaguzzi, L. (1998). The hundred languages of children. In C. Edwards, L. Gandini & G. Forman (Eds.), The hundred languages of children: The Reggio Emilia approach—Advanced reflections (pp. 171–188). Ablex.

Merleau-Ponty, M. (1962). Phenomenology of perception. Routledge.

Sensorium Theatre. (n.d.). Early years sensory storytelling. https://www.sensoriumtheatre.com.au/our-services/early-years/