50 Fantastic Ideas For Making Music

Music is key to early childhood development and contributes to socialisation, speaking, motor skills and more. 50 Fantastic Ideas for Making Music is packed full of fun and accessible ideas for singing, creating instruments from recycled materials, exploring sounds and making music together. From making maracas, tambourines and rainsticks in the music workshop to beatboxing, singing, stomping and even writing rhythms, every activity uses easy-to-source equipment or no equipment at all. Whether you're a specialist music teacher or a non-specialist looking for inspiration, this book is perfect for anyone looking to put the magic back into music in their Early Years setting. Written by Early Years expert Judith Harries, all ideas include step-by-step instructions, tips to understand music terminology and suggestions for further development. With over 40 books in the 50 Fantastic Ideas series there's something for everyone – whether you're a practitioner looking for new ideas or you want to try out a popular well-loved activity with a new twist. Each book offers a wide range of fun and creative activities to carry out with children aged 0–5 years, with lists of resources, step-by-step instructions and information about the benefits for children.

Many practitioners are under pressure to deliver effective outdoor learning experiences for all children. Current resources are aimed at academic studies or families - this book is an inspirational and accessible resource for practitioners. A starting point for outdoor activities that really engage, encourage and develop children.

Circle time stimulates learning in all areas of development – from the improvement of social skills and positive relationships to encouraging children to listen to each other within a caring and respectful environment. Judith Harries brings together creative ideas for circle time where learning can be shared and music and drama can be enjoyed. The book includes circle time activities and games that cover all of the Early Learning Goals through the sharing of thoughts, feelings and experiences. It can also be used across the curriculum, including helping children with literacy and mathematics through phonics and number games. This timeless collection of ideas featuring colourful and fun photography is a fantastic resource with many new activities for circle time, as well as some old favourites.

Teach children to reduce, reuse, recycle, repair and be respectful with 50 fun activities for encouraging environmental sustainability. From making planters and bird feeders to creating natural paints or even bringing broken crayons back to life, these original ideas encourage children and practitioners to see the potential for creativity and fun using and reusing everyday, easy-to-source items, some of which might have otherwise gone to waste. Enhance children's creativity, cognitive development and motor skills through indoor and outdoor activities that are enjoyable, educational and environmentally friendly. 50 Fantastic Ideas for Sustainability encourages children to be considerate and responsible, paving the way for a positive lifelong attitude towards the environment. June O'Sullivan and Nick Corlett bring their expertise from the London Early Years Foundation to this must-have collection of inspiring, sustainability-focused activities. With over 40 books in the 50 Fantastic Ideas series, there's something for everyone – whether you're a practitioner looking for new ideas or you want to try out a popular well-loved activity with a new twist. Each book offers a wide range of fun and creative activities to carry out with children aged 0–5 years, with lists of resources, step-by-step instructions and information about the benefits for children.

50 Fantastic Ideas for Supporting Children's Wellbeing is packed full of easy-to-follow activities to calm busy minds and bodies and develop young children's self-esteem through engagement with their senses, nature and the world around them. With the ever-increasing pressures on children and teachers in schools for results and academic success, the desire for time and space for young children in the Early Years to calm their minds and bodies and tune into the natural environment is growing. Rebecca Gordine presents 50 ideas to address this and nurture young children's concept of self and wellbeing, from playing with warm noodles and making a healthy soup recipe, to tuning into nature by listening to bird songs, and creating a singing show.

_______________ The 50 Fantastic Ideas series is packed full of fun, original, skills-based activities for Early Years practitioners to use with children aged 0-5. Each activity features step-by-step guidance, a list of resources, and a detailed explanation of the skills children will learn. Creative, simple, and highly effective, this series is a must-have for every Early Years setting. The outdoor environment is a rich, dynamic and natural space for promoting learning and development in children of all ages. Its value as an essential learning resource has been recognised by many government policies, including the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), particularly within the principle of 'Enabling Environments'. In a survey of schools who had improved their grounds, 65% reported an improved attitude to learning, 73% an improvement in behaviour and 64% a reduction in bullying. 50 Fantastic Ideas for Nursery Gardens is packed full of exciting activities, such as making a bird feeder and a garden treasure hunt, that have been tried and tested in the LEYF (London Early Years Foundation) nursery gardens with the children and nursery staff. These are designed to enrich children's skills and knowledge by broadening their horizons and opening up wider opportunities, extend language and contribute to deeper conversations about the great outdoors.

Small world play offers a wide range of learning opportunities for young children. Acting out narrative and ideas through the manipulation of small or miniature equipment, tools, toys and objects helps children to respond to their environment. Play becomes representative of real-life situations and is a medium through which children can explore their own feelings about these events and experiences in a safe and productive way. The frequent inclusion of sensory elements in this play also deepens experiences. Small world play is rich in possibilities for specific, thematic, learning, such as gathering information about spaces, positions, colours and cultures. Small world play is entertaining, challenging, motivating and allows children to use their imaginations and decide on their own play choices. Many practitioners find it challenging to continually renew the play environment, but this book suggests ideas for how to ensure a meaningful play content that replicates environments or scenarios that children can connect to, using a large variety of resources from natural materials to specific props. Presented in the accessible, practical and flexible 50 Fantastics format, Judit Horvath's book is a compendium of ideas that will ensure you get the most out of small world play in your setting, without over stimulating and distracting the children involved.

50 Fantastic Ideas for Getting Children Active is filled with simple and accessible ideas to make physical activity an enjoyable and meaningful part of daily life in the Early Years. Young children's physical and mental development, health and wellbeing can be significantly improved by regular physical activity, from tummy time that informs crawling to walking, and sitting still that impacts on fluent handwriting. Dr Lala Manners uses her wealth of experience to present 50 ideas to engage with young children physically in a positive way and get them active, from Scrabble and Stand where toddlers lift themselves up to standing as quickly as possible to Duvet Tunnels where children commando crawl under a sheet. Many of the ideas in this book can be used both indoors and outdoors and all of them involve using easily-accessible or free-to-source materials that can be found at home and in Early Years settings. With over 40 books in the 50 Fantastic Ideas series there's something for everyone – whether you're a practitioner looking for new ideas or you want to try out a popular well-loved activity with a new twist. Each book offers a wide range of fun and creative activities to carry out with children aged 0 – 5 years, with lists of resources, step-by-step instructions and information about the benefits for children.