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.

“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)

“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)

“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)

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.

·       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.