Songs & rhymes
- Amusica - musical instruments for children
- Bobby Shaftoe Clap Your Hands
- Chanting Rhymes
- First Notes Resource Pack - pre-school musical activities
- Keeping The Beat
- Music is Fun
- Nursery Rhymes & Songs - CD resource
- Peers Early Education Partnership
- Piccolomusic - workshops and resources
- Playsongs Publications
- Rhyme time - rhymes for babies and toddlers
- Sharing songs and rhymes - quick tips for parents
- Start with a Song - 70 songs for preschool children
- Voiceplay and Young Voiceworks
- What will we play today? - drama, movement and music games
- Youth Music
- TTYB downloadable activity pack: Communicate through music
Amusica
A specialist website that offers a full range of musical instruments for children. The instruments cater for all ages, from the youngest infant who is ready to explore sound and movement to children of primary school age. They are used all over the world by many recognised educational establishments including well known parent and baby musical groups, nurseries, primary schools, music shops, toy libraries, hospitals and other specialist outlets.
For more information visit Amusica
Bobby Shaftoe Clap Your Hands
Suitable for non-music readers and non-specialists, this is a collection of 37 all time favourite songs for young children with new words. Encourages children to listen to sounds, discriminate between them, use them in performance and improve their co-ordination.
Contact A & C Black Ltd, tel. 020 7758 0200, email customerservices@acblack.com
Chanting Rhymes
Written by John Foster and Carol Thompson (Oxford University Press, £4.99) this is one of a series of rhyme books for young children. The series has well chosen rhymes and attractive illustrations, which are invaluable for shared reading and singing.
First Notes Resource Pack
A bespoke package of musical activities, information and other resources for early years settings, which has been produced by soundLINCS, Lincolnshire's music development agency. The aim of the pack is to provide a flexible package of activities that can be used by setting practitioners and music facilitators alike, regardless of whether they possess a formal knowledge of music. The activities can be implemented in one of two ways. Practitioners can either follow a musical path through the pack, selecting activities linked by category, (Pulse, Tempo, Pitch, etc), or follow a curriculum path and select activities that are linked by foundation stage details. The pack costs £30.
For more information email info@soundlincs.org, call 01522 510073 or visit soundLINCS.
Keeping The Beat
A company that produces CDs of traditional and modern nursery rhymes and songs, set to funky, catchy tunes derived from current music styles. The CDs are designed to engage babies and young children, as well as adults who share the experiences with them. It also offers a customised CD service, where projects can have a personalised CD developed for a particular area or initiative.
For more information visit Keeping The Beat.
Music is Fun
A website with resources and ideas for running music groups with children aged 0-5. It is divided into sections and each is based around a theme such as animals or food. For more information visit Music is Fun.
Nursery Rhymes & Songs
A CD that has been produced by an early years and music specialist. It contains traditional nursery rhymes, popular nursery songs and a sleepy-time section with music to encourage gentleness and relaxation. The CD costs £5, of which £2 goes to Children with Leukaemia.
For more information visit Joan and Steve.
Peers Early Education Partnership
Publishes a range of song books and tapes for babies up to preschool.
For more information visit the PEEP website.
Piccolomusic
Early years music specialists and run music sessions for parents and carers with babies. The focus is on playful songs and rhymes encouraging babies to participate at the earliest opportunity, and aiming to develop the two-way interaction between parents and babies which is crucial for early language. Piccolo's Abi Cotton and Anna Scantlebury have written and recorded new and traditional songs for babies and toddlers and also produced a picture song book/CD called 'Wriggle and Giggle'. The most recent training workshops have been with librarians, helping them to enhance story and rhyme times with the youngest visitors and their families.
For details of Piccolo workshops and resources visit Piccolomusic or ring Anna and Abi on 0191 2528765.
Playsongs Publications
Offers a range of collections, on tape and CD, of traditional and new songs and rhymes for the very young. They combine action/interactive songs and restful lullabies, with acoustic instruments and a variety of percussion sounds. There are also book and CD/tape packs, and helpful hints in the CD and cassette inserts.
Contact Playsongs Publications Ltd on 01799 599 054, email info@playsongs.co.uk, or website: Playsongs.
Start with a Song
A song book written by Mavis de Mierre, (Brilliant Publications) containing 70 songs composed for preschool children. It includes suggestions for actions, musical accompaniments, ideas for further development, things to talk about and suggestions for music listening. The songs are grouped into popular early years topics making it easy to integrate them into the curriculum. There is also an accompanying CD.
For more information visit Brilliant Publications.
Voiceworks
Oxford University Press has expanded its Voiceworks series for teachers with two new song collections. Voiceplay, by Alison Street and Linda Bance, includes 22 songs for early years, and Young Voiceworks, by Jo McNally, includes 36 songs for 5 to 7-year-olds. Both have step-by-step teaching notes, photocopiable pages and accompanying CDs. For more information visit Voiceworks.
What will we play today? Drama, movement and music games for children aged 0-5 years
Written by Veronica Larkin and Louie Suthers, this is full of good ideas for songs, activities and games: £12.95.
Contact Brilliant Publications, tel. 01525 222 844, email sales@brilliantpublications.co.uk
Youth Music
A UK-wide charity set up in 1999 to provide high quality and diverse music-making opportunities for birth-18 year olds. The organisation has three main roles: funder, development agency and advocate. It targets young people living in areas of social and economic need who might otherwise lack opportunity and predominantly supports activities which are held outside school hours. First Steps is a programme that supports music-making activities for birth-5 year olds and Bongo Club is an online resource to support early years music-making.
For more information go to Youth Music or Bongo Club.
