“Monkeys eating bananas in rocket ships”: How kids can get creative with sound

Posted in Toddler Essentials.
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When we were kids, chances are we just had one screen to focus on today. But if you go back a bit further in time, there was just the radio – the kids of that time would gather around to listen to their favourite stories.

Kinderling Kids Radio was designed to create something like that old-fashioned experience with a modern spin. Sally Knight is the Head of Early Learning at Kinderling and spends her days getting creative with sound through a range of programs aimed squarely at little ears.

Creative sound play

Hear It, Make It is a guided music imagination exercise that encourages children to make, draw or build what they hear. The music can be classical, contemporary, lyrical or instrumental and it can be eye-opening how the kids respond to the music.

“I’ve been in daycare centres and seen kids make stuff, and it’s amazing because they always hear something different – so they use blocks, they use playdough, paddle pop sticks, anything … feathers,” says Sally. “So we’ve had monkeys eating bananas in rocket ships. You know, beautiful pictures of their family house and their friends. It’s really up to them.”

Hear It, Make It is part of the broader Play and Learn program that’s been specially designed with early childhood educators. The show is aimed at kids 3 – 5 years, and develops kids’ language, coordination, and emotional development.

“Developing those school readiness skills – and listening to your teacher is a pretty big one – so Play and Learn really tries to focus on this,” says Sally.

Listen to Sally Knight on Feed Play Love:

The gentle art of listening

Listening is a great way to spark children’s imaginations generally, but listening has become a bit of a lost art, says Sally. Particularly when you consider how many things are competing for your child’s attention. But slowing down and simply listening to a story has incredible benefits for children of all ages.

“That story will take you to an amazing place in your mind and your imagination. And that’s what we’re doing on Kinderling with our audio stories and our creative activities. Really sparking children’s imaginations.”

The secret powers of music

Aside from being hugely entertaining, Sally believes that music and sound is an important part of childhood and enhances development in a number of key areas.

“Music is also a wonderful therapy and a learning tool. It can help children to retain information – lyrics to songs can help them recall that information and generally help with memory retention, which is really really important,” Sally explains. “It’s hard not to dance or move when your favourite song comes on [which] links to gross motor skill development and physical activity which is important for little kids.”

“Meditation features in a lot of the Play and Learn programming and that grows children’s resilience and emotional intelligence. And then lastly there are stories, which help children to understand language, and help them to focus and concentrate.”

There are so many valuable skills to develop before heading off to big school where active listening is so important for learning.

This post is sponsored by LEGO DUPLO. The fun way to create and connect.

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