Reflection
three
Children
with music instruments
Music is one of the favourite activities for
the toddlers in my centre. Yesterday I was with the infants and toddlers. I
observed a toddler start beating a drum and another boy picked the rattle and
start shaking. It was interesting to see
that a six months old baby start moving and seemed joyful to listen to the
music. I gave her a musical toy. She started playing with that toy and felt
happy. To look at children’s interest I gave them a little electrical piano
toy to them. They started playing the toy with their little fingers. I
encouraged singing songs with the music. “Children experience an environment
where they discover and develop different ways to be creative and expressive” (Ministry of education 1996, p. 80).
I believe that toddlers have lots of gain from
listening and playing musical toys. These days children have variety of
electronic toys. These toys have many functions to explore children’s learning.
I remember my time, when I was little I had a few wooden toys with little
functions. Wright (2003) defines that music has deep biological and
neurological roots. Babies have a disposition
to process, respond and create new musical ideas. Musical instruments help
children to enhance their musicianship and cognitive development.
Through this music activity children develop
important social skills which benefits them taking turn, making friends, and sharing.
Playing music with others gives children a wonderful feeling of belonging to
the group. I believe that Children, who have difficulty joining in activities
with others, because they might shy, have language problem, or special needs
can easily participate when it comes to music activity. According to Te Whāriki “Children experience an
environment where they are encouraged to learn with and alongside others” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.80).
The
babies explore different musical sounds and rhythms by this activity. Toddlers
develop fine motor skills by moving fingers and turn objects in hands. The
toddler really enjoyed and had fun to participate in the music activity. Music
also provides children rich and stimulating environment involving all senses
including auditory sense and support children’s healthy growth and development.
“Through the nature of technology strand, student develops an understanding of
technology as a discipline and of how it differ from other discipline” (Ministry
of Education, 1996, p.30).
As an early childhood educator we need a lot
of awareness about technology. We should familiarise technology to children to
foster their learning. I believe children start using technology from their
early age. For example their toys made with technology. Pratt Prairie (2005) defines
that technology can be integrated into the curriculum using a selected
application to enhance the goal of learning. The technology application shall
follow the curriculum.
I
provide the opportunities to the children to sing songs with music. These type
of daily musical experiences help to extend children’s language capabilities,
communication skills and creative thinking. We have some bilingual children in
our centre. It’s easy for them to learn new words by repeating songs with music.
Instrumental music is wonderful way to enhance children’s listening skills and
awareness of different words. I think that new technology makes it easy for the
children to learn new things and explore in their world. Smorti (1999), states
that technology is a tool that can provide many way for children to learn and
make sense of their world.
References:
Images: Retrieved 18/03/12 from Google Images
www.google.co.nz
Ministry of
Education. (1996). Te whāriki: He whāriki
mātauranga ngā mokopuna Aotearoa: Early
childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.
Pratt Prairie, A.
(2005). Inquiry into math, science and technology for teaching young
children. United States: Thomas Delmar Learning
Smorti, S. (1999,
Autumn) Technology in early childhood. Early
Education, 19.
Wright, S (2003).
The arts, young children and learning.
Boston, United States of America: Pearson Education
Hi Sarbjit
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your reflection. Music instruments are great resources for infants and toddlers for their development of gross and fine motor skills and language. Gardner,(1993a) cited in Wright, 2002 suggests that we as teachers need to foster and educate all these intelligences in children. He notes music as one of the first talents that emerge from children. I also realised that you were involved in providing them with resources to extend their learning. You also recognised the different processess of development taking place during this exploration.
Self-awareness is good because it allows us to tap into our personal feelings, you were able to recall your own moments when you were young by reflecting on this experience.
I agree when we were young technology was unheard of, we had to use the environment to develop our skills. Nature was our daily contact. As educators we must encourage children to have that contact with nature because the costant use of technology causes them to miss out on the outdoors, this is my personal feeling.
Kia kaha.
Sarbjit, it was good to read through your reflection about using musical instruments with infants and toddlers in your early childhood setting. Infants and toddlers enjoy exploring different musical instruments as this allows them to explore all different sounds made from each instrument. I really like the part where you as an educator have shared your childhood experience relating to olden days musical instruments. I agree that technology is getting more advanced and today’s generation explore through technology in many ways. I was pleased to read that you have done this experience with infants and toddlers as I personally believe Infants and Toddlers should also be given an opportunity to explore through technology as well. Alongside with the musical instruments you have mentioned about adding a song which shows that you as an educator have extended that learning experience for children. I was just wondering, did you provide electrical piano for each child? Were children still interested in playing drums and rattle after seeing the electrical piano? Over all well done, keep up your good work.
ReplyDeleteHi Sarbjit
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to reading your reflection on music instruments. Music is powerful relaxation for human being. It was interesting to see how six months baby start moving with joyful music. I love the way you extend children’s interest with different musical toys. I agree with you, technology develops children’s social, emotional, problem solving and sharing skills. I think these types of activities are helpful to extend children’s oral language and improving skills. I realized that you would be able to children’s learning and development through using the musical learning tool. According to Te Whāriki “Children experience an environment where they are encouraged to learn with and alongside others” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.80). You used good references to understand learning abilities. Overall, your reflection is good. Well Done