The Calling of Nature: Listening, Moving and Playing with the Forest by Yingyue Zhang

Three Lessons

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Music: Little Bird Rhythm Ball - Use a ball to make sounds and match the bird songs to create rhythm.

Dance: Like a Tree in the Wind - Use your body to show how trees move in gentle and strong wind.

Drama: Whose Sound Is This - Guess and act out natural sounds through voice and movement.

Rationale

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All three of my experiences build on my Assessment 2 project. In these activities, I use the sounds of wind and birds to explore creative connections with nature. The children are guided to respond through three artistic languages, music, movement, and drama, so they can feel inspired by the natural world.

As Wilson points out, nature-based play helps children develop creativity, imagination, and overall growth through direct contact with the environment. (Wilson, 2018) When children hear the sounds of nature and stand on the earth, these experiences spark new thoughts and reflections.

The Reggio Emilia philosophy also reminds us that children have “a hundred languages” to express themselves, including music, dance, and drama(Edwards, Gandini, & Forman, 2011). This allows them to use many artistic and symbolic forms to create meaning. These ideas have shaped my activities, and I want to encourage children to listen and create in playful and imaginative ways inspired by nature.

Bird (Artifacts from Assesssment 2)

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Wind (Artifacts from Assessment 2)

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Lesson - Little Bird’s Rhythm Ball

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This activity invites children to interact with the bird song piece from Assessment 2, using sound balls to create rhythm. It connects with EYLF Outcome 5, as children make meaning through music and rhythm (ACECQA, 2022). Inspired by Hanna and her ideas about the music atelier, this activity gives children a simple and playful way to explore sound and rhythm as creative expression (Hanna, 2013). This activity also reflects Aboriginal perspectives of listening to the natural environment as a source of rhythm and inspiration.

Steps

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Play a short recording of birdsong.
Invite the child to listen and notice how the bird sings.
Give the child the sound ball to shake with the rhythm.
Encourage the child to add their own beat to make the song more harmonious.
Record and replay the rhythm so the child can hear it joined with the bird.

Materials

Birdsong recording (from AT2)
Sound ball (noise-making ball)

Lesson - Like a tree in the wind

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In this activity, children use their bodies to show how trees move in the wind. It connects with EYLF Outcome 3, as they explore body control and a sense of well-being through movement (ACECQA, 2022). Inspired by Ungunmerr’s concept of dadirri, which is deep listening and quiet still awareness, the activity begins with carefully listening to the sound of the wind before moving into action (Ungunmerr, 1988). In line with Aboriginal ways of storytelling, this activity encourages children to listen to nature and act out its voices through story and role-play.

Steps

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Play a recording of gentle wind. Say: “Let’s be leaves in the breeze. Can you sway slowly from side to side?”
Play a stronger wind sound. Say: “Now the storm is coming! Let’s move faster like big trees in the wind.”
Switch between gentle and strong wind sounds. Encourage the child to change body when the wind changes.
Finish by saying, “Now the storm is over. Stand tall like a tree. Stretch your arms up and be very still.

Materials

Wind recordings (gentle and strong, from AT2)
Soft scarf or fabric (to represent wind)

Lesson - Whose Sound Is This

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This activity encourages children to listen to sounds from nature, then guess and act them out. It links with EYLF Outcome 2, as children connect with the world through imaginative play (ACECQA, 2022). Inspired by the Reggio Emilia philosophy of “a hundred languages,” drama is used here as an artistic form of expression, allowing children to represent and explore nature (Edwards et al., 2011).

Steps

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Play a short natural sound (bird, wind, or rustling leaves). Say: “What do you think is making this sound?”
Encourage the child to copy the sound with their voice.
Ask the child to show the sound with their body (flap like a bird, sway like a tree)
Reveal the answer together: “Yes! It was the bird/tree."

Materials

Natural sound recordings (birdsong, wind, rustling leaves –from AT2)

Artifacts

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Artifacts

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Video recordings of the volunteer using the rhythm ball to respond to birdsong. These clips show how the volunteer engaged with natural sounds from Assessment 2 and created their own musical patterns.

Reflection of the lesson

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This activity was carried out with an adult volunteer who helped me complete the task. The volunteer was able to follow the birdsong rhythm and use the ball as accompaniment, which went as expected and showed that the instructions and flow of the activity were clear. However, because they were an adult, their responses were more purposeful and less playful than I would expect from children, so some of the spontaneous creativity I anticipated did not appear. If I run this activity again, I would add more types of instruments and try it in a small group to encourage more imaginative responses. Working with a volunteer gave me confidence in the activity structure and helped me improve the way I explained it. In the future, when I implement it with children, I will keep the structure simple while providing open-ended materials and playful opportunities for exploration.

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Reflection of the lesson

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During this activity, I noticed that a plastic bag worked much better than fabric for showing the flow of wind. The rustling sound and the way it floated in the air made the wind feel more visible and real. The volunteer was able to move their body with the plastic bag to match the gentle and strong wind sounds, which showed me that the idea of connecting listening with movement is effective. However, I also saw that the volunteer focused mostly on showing the wind and did not use their body as much to represent the tree. The playful interpretation I had hoped for, such as turning the movements into a little dance that did not happen. Next time, I would prepare a range of materials such as scarves, paper, or ribbons, so that children can experiment and choose what feels best for representing the wind. This trial showed me that props can really change the feel of an activity, and in future early childhood practice, I will encourage children to test and compare different materials so they can explore natural forces in a creative and open-ended way.

Artifacts (guide)

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Become a tree with the body

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Reflection of the lesson

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In this activity, I tried it out with an adult volunteer. He listened to different natural sounds and then acted them out. The volunteer was able to quickly recognize the sounds and mimic them with both voice and movement, which showed me that the activity is practical.

But I also noticed that his responses stayed very close to reality. For example, he flapped his arms to copy a bird, or stood still to copy a tree. What was missing was imaginative extension, like creating a character or building a little storyline. This made me realize that children are actually more likely to bring creativity, their own experiences, and unexpected ideas into drama.

Next time, I could improve this by setting up a simple story frame, like “a morning in the forest,” to encourage role play rather than just sound imitation. Working with the volunteer also helped me practice timing when to pause, reveal, and give prompts. In the future, I will use these strategies to guide children to identify sounds and expand them into fun, dramatic expressions.

Final reflection

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Across these three activities, I explored how children can use music, movement, and drama to connect with nature. Each activity showed me that creativity is not only about copying sounds or actions, but also about personal expression and imaginative play to create meaning. As Tan, Tsubonou, and Oie point out, creativity in music education is about co-constructing spaces where learners can imagine, feel, and respond to sound in meaningful ways(Tsubonou et al., 2019). My activities were designed with this in mind, giving children opportunities to listen to natural sounds and respond with their own ideas.

The idea of dadirri (Ungunmerr, 1988) also reminded me of the value of deep listening and quiet awareness, which shaped how I guided the activities and how I will encourage children to slow down and notice natural sounds. These experiences connect closely with EYLF outcomes, showing how creative play can support children’s wellbeing, social connection, and holistic development(ACECQA, 2022). They also highlighted how the sounds of nature can inspire children to use their “hundred languages” of expression.

Looking ahead, my goal is to design more open-ended story frameworks that encourage children to go beyond simple imitation and invent their own ways of expressing. In this way, my project aligns with the vision of creativity in music education, using imaginative processes to enrich children’s learning and growth.

Reference List:

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ACECQA. (2022). Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (V2.0) (p. 21). https://www.acecqa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-01/EYLF-2022-V2.0.pdf

Edwards, C., Gandini, L., & Forman, G. (2011). The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Experience in Transformation (3rd ed.). Bloomsbury Publishing USA.

Hanna, W. (2013). A Reggio-Inspired Music Atelier: Opening the Door Between Visual Arts and Music. Early Childhood Education Journal, 42(4), 287–294. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-013-0610-9

Tsubonou, Y., Ai-Girl Tan, & Mayumi Oie. (2019). Creativity in music education. Springer.

Ungunmerr, M.-R. (1988). Dadirri (inner deep listening and quiet still awareness) [Handout]. Miriam

Rose Foundation. https:/ /www.dadirri.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Dadirri-Handout.pdf

Wilson, R. (2018). Nature and young children : encouraging creative play and learning in natural environments (3rd ed.). Routledge.