Boogie Mites - Making Music Outdoor
Boogie Mites- Making Music Outdoors
Children love being outdoors, research has shown it has a positive effect on our emotional and mental wellbeing – great benefits for both children and the adults who care for them. Children love music, research shows us the incredible benefits of regular music-making opportunities for children and adults development and wellbeing – so combining the two means we can harness more benefits!
Why take music-making outdoors?
Physical space and freedom: Indoor music sessions can be constrained by the physical space you have. We know young children love to move (and need to for their development of course!), being outside means more physical space so that children can explore those big movements that are so important for their gross motor skills: e.g. running, jumping, climbing, skipping. You can also find a variety of surfaces/terrains for children to challenge their physical skills: travelling up and down slopes; negotiating rough ground; weaving in and out of obstacles such as trees or large stones; walking on or jumping over logs. Music motivates movement, so play the music and see how children employ a wide variety of movements, using the larger space available.
Spontaneity and creativity: More space translates into a greater sense of freedom and creativity during music sessions, for both the children and the practitioners. Outdoors space can present lots of lovely opportunities to follow children’s observations and interests. We’ve seen children in settings that use Boogie Mites programmes initiating their own music-making when playing outdoors – for example drumming together on some wooden decking in their garden area, or on a water butt. What a wonderful way to practice those beat-keeping skills, which research has shown to be linked to speech and language development!
Sensory-rich environment: During music sessions, the main sensory focus is obviously on sound. By taking music and listening outside, we open up a natural and more varied soundscape to tune into – whether that’s the birds singing, a lorry rumbling past, the wind in the trees, or a plane flying overhead: perfect for supporting development of listening skills and linking these into our Boogie Mites sound songs.
Connecting to and understanding our world: With growing concerns about climate change, the destruction of habitats and loss of wildlife, it feels more important than ever that we all understand the world around us, and our impact on it. Being outdoors strengthens our connection to the world we live in, providing opportunities to notice the creatures, trees and plants that we share our planet with. Boogie Mites songs about nature prompt children to think about some of the wildlife around us, while our use of recycled materials for music props and instruments explores how we can reduce our impact on the world by recycling.
Activity Ideas
Ideas for Music-Making Outdoors – Make a Nature Shaker!
We LOVE making shakers here at Boogie Mites – all you’ll need is a recycled plastic container or bottle with a lid, and an outdoor area to explore!
By filling our shakers with things we find in the natural world, we open up the opportunity for children to develop a range of different skills:
• Identifying the objects they’ve found: Ask your children where did it come from? What does it do or what’s it for? It’s a great way to understand more about our world.
• Describing the quality of the objects they’ve found: Are they large or small? hard or soft? Smooth or rough? What colour are they?
• Filling the container uses hand-eye co-ordination and fine motor skills as children practice their pincer grip.
• Early maths skills also come into play: Spatial awareness through learning which objects will fit into their container; counting the objects as the child puts them in; talking about how full or empty the container is.
• Sound discrimination: Once you’ve made your shakers, have a listen to how they sound – can you discover together what affects the sound? Which objects make the loudest sound? Or how does a full shaker sound compared to one with just a few things inside?
Download a Boogie Mites marching song to enjoy outside
Boogie Mites One Man Band song can be downloaded here:
https://ex246.infusionsoft.com/app/form/one-man-band-request
As well as having lots of space for marching around to the steady beat of this song, you can also incorporate shaking your nature shaker as one of the actions.
In our experience children will come up with the ideas for this song once they know it – such as:
• Children initiated train to march around as they sing
• Ideas for actions between each chorus, don’t be afraid to sing over the actions in the recorded song if using the music via blue tooth speaker, or to sing acapella
• Creative ideas for using our outdoor environment to make sounds with our bodies such as stamping in puddles, jumping on wooden decking, tapping stones or sticks together
Boogie Mites Core Music Programmes:
Boogie Mites music programmes provide everything you need to boost your music provision in the setting and outside, for each age group, boosting movement, mood and cognitive development for all involved - staff and children.
Boogie Mites School Ready Music Programme (3-5 years)
https://www.boogiemites.co.uk/shop/school-ready-training-package/
Boogie Mites Minis Music Programme (2-3 years)
https://www.boogiemites.co.uk/shop/minis-music-training-package/
Boogie Mites Teenies Music Programme (crawlers to 2 years)
https://www.boogiemites.co.uk/shop/teenies-music-training-package/
Boogie Mites are offering a special 20% discount to Morton Michel policyholders as well as a programme launch meeting! Find out more and retrieve your discount code.
Contact sue@boogiemites.co.uk for information about onsite training options.
The information in this article is provided by Boogie Mites and does not represent Morton Michel.