"Children are innately musical. We can provide the tools and inspiration to allow them to explore their musicality. In the early childhood classroom, these tools may be various instruments from around the world, found sounds, and manipulatives that inspire spontaneous vocalizations (Young, 2002)".

Idea behind this activity is to create a musical learning space with natural material where children used their imagination and creativity. Children are confident and involved learner when they choose their own musical instruments and made their own rhythms with them.

As Malaguzzi said, "The wider the range of possibilities we offer children, the more intense will be their motivations and the richer their experiences" (quoted in Gandini, 2011b, p. 54); let Reggio practices enrich student musicking in your classroom.

Through this experience children explore the different types of music as I expected. Experience goes very well, children enjoyed and they were very happy through the activity.

For next time I will add more natural resources and loose parts to the musical experience like small rocks, leaves, wooden spoon, pot and pans etc.

My future practise is inspired by this natural walk. I know recognise the value of nature in children’s play. How children learn different music , texture and creativity from nature.

Young, S. (2002). Young children's spontaneous vocalizations in free play: Observations of two-to three-year-olds in a day care setting. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 152, 43-53.

Gandini, L. (2011b). History, ideas, and basic principles: An interview with Loris Malaguzzi. In C. P. Edwards, L. Gandini & G. E. Forman (Eds.), The hundred languages of children: The Reggio Emilia experience in transformation (3rd ed., pp. 27-72). Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.

When children dance, they use their whole body to explore the different movements, they develop body awareness and concentration.

Furthermore, what young children do in play through rhythm and movement, with someone they love, can lay the ground work for the accumulation of complex skills later in life (Delafield-Butt and Tevarthen, 2015).

Delafield-Butt, J. T., & Trevarthen, C. (2015). The ontogenesis of narrative: From movements to meaning. Frontiers of Psychology, 6

Through this experience children explore different body movements; they can balance their body. Children also developed their social, language and imagination skills. In future I will add different props for dance activity and yoga. I am going to do these activities in outdoor yard so children can connect with nature.

“Moving in the wild is in our bones. Our indigenous ancestors danced in rituals to celebrate all aspects of life: birth, death, harvest and rites of passage. They communicated with the spirits of the land and moved with these spirits in ceremony.”

https://www.theearthbodyinstitute.com/2017/03/movement-in-the-wild-nature-as-dance-partner/

These are the sounds of children at work and at play. Collaboration, creativity, imagination, inventiveness, problem-solving, coordination, physical strength—when children are given the space and time to freely play outdoors, truly the whole child is able to grow.

 “There is a growing amount of research showing that children who participate in complex, collaborative, pretend play are better able to regulate their emotions and implement creative problem-solving (Hoffman & Russ, 2012)”

Hoffman, J., Russ, S. (2012). “Pretend play, creativity, and emotion regulation in children.” Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Art, 6(2) 175–184.

Through this experience children connect with the nature. They are looking for the leaves colour and saying each other look my leaf colour is red, green and yellow. They also learn about the season when they asked me why leaves have different colour?

Children are very confident and involved learners, this is evident when children choose their imaginative play independently and playing with their friend.

In my future practice I will add more natural material and loose parts for the experience. And give children to opportunity to explore the natural environment and connect with it.

The benefits of play in natural environments are many and well documented. Louise Chawla (2015: 445), in a comprehensive review of the literature, reports that “natural areas provide for more imaginative, constructive, sensory, and socially cooperative play than asphalt, fl at expanses of lawn, or built play equipment.” Play in natural environments fosters the child’s health, ability to concentrate, and emotional bonding with the natural world (Elliott 2008, Erickson and Ernst 2011). Play in natural environments also promotes personal, social, and physical development.

https://www.theearthbodyinstitute.com/2017/03/movement-in-the-wild-nature-as-dance-partner/

Delafield-Butt, J. T., & Trevarthen, C. (2015). The ontogenesis of narrative: From movements to meaning. Frontiers of Psychology, 6