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South Tyneside Libraries/Sure Start
run Baby Bounce rhyme sessions in nine locations.
The purpose of the sessions is to encourage parents and carers
to communicate with their babies in both verbal and non-verbal
ways, using rhymes as way in. Parents can borrow a special
chest of baby books on a "no worry" loan.
Torquay Central Library has launched
Bright Star Babies, a highly interactive parent/carer
and baby course with singing and book sharing at the heart
of every session. The library has designed a CD of simple
songs designed for families to share with their babies.
Portsmouth Sure Start runs the Music
is Fun project to promote the benefits of music in
developing and supporting listening, communication and thinking.
Mothers who have attended the Music is Fun sessions with their
children have reported benefits for themselves as well as
their children. These include increased self esteem and confidence,
increased mutually rewarding interactions, learning new ways
of managing behaviour, seeing an improvement in their children's
social skills, learning about supporting speech and language
and singing songs and playing the musical games at home that
they learn in the sessions. For more information contact Elizabeth
Scott Hall who runs the project on esh@music-is-fun.co.uk
Music One2One
is the name of a project based at Exeter University that is
examining ways of using music, including movement, voice play
and listening as well as songs and rhymes, to facilitate and
foster interaction between parents and their children under
two. Trials have already been run in Banbury, Oxon, and on
Exeter Sure Start, the results of which can be seen on the
project website. The project offers training in ways of using
music to encourage interaction and communication skills with
children under two. For more information go to www.education.ex.ac.uk/music-one2one
MusicStart is a 15 month
project on the Isle of Wight designed to make music making
and singing part of everyday life for all families with children
under-five. Funded by the national organisation Youth Music,
and delivered by Healing Arts, the project uses music and
singing to promote children's personal learning and development.
It trains early years practitioners, parents and musicians
to deliver music and singing in early years settings. It aims
to identify links between singing and speech and language
development, and develop programmes to support this.
Youth Music are developing
Music Start Packs to get parents doing very
simple musical activities with their children, following a
£50,000 investment from the DfES in January 2007. The
packs will contain a selection of small hand-held musical
instruments, a CD of songs and instrumental music with suggestions
to help parents. MusicStart was the inspiration for the scheme
(see above) and the Music Start packs are aimed at older pre-school
children aged 2-5. For more information visit Bongo Club's
website www.bongoclub.org.uk/news
Bongo Club is the online resource for early years music making
hosted by Youth Music.
The Rhythm and Rhyme
project in Derbyshire is designed to introduce children under
the age of five to the joys of music-making and develop their
skills and abilities through musical activity. Devised in
partnership with the Library service, a particular focus is
the use of musical activities to promote and improve language
skills. The programme also aims to build the confidence of
parents and carers and encourage them to use music with their
children, and to develop the confidence and abilities of childcare
professionals, such as Sure Start Librarians, to use music
in their work with young children. For more information about
Rhythm and Rhyme contact the Derbyshire County Council, County
Hall, Matlock, Derbyshire DE4 3AG, telephone (01629) 580000.
Shropshire's top ten nursery rhymes invited children under five to vote for their favourite nursery rhyme or song, as part of the 2008 National Year of Reading. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star came first with Baa Baa Black Sheep second. A rhyme booklet has been put together and is available at all libraries in Shropshire for under fives. The booklet will also be used in Bookstart Bounce and Rhyme sessions. For a full list of the top ten rhymes and more information visit www.shropshire.gov.uk
Sing and play, every day is
a special nursery rhyme tape and CD sung by staffordshire
school children to help babies develop early language skills.
The recording was made at a slow speed to suit babies' hearing
ability and includes a booklet with lyrics and suggested actions.
Around 1500 copies have been produced with the help of funding
from the national Queen's Nursing Institute and will be given
free to new mothers. The tape was produced by the South Western
Staffordshire Primary Care Trust with advice from speech and
language therapists. For more information contact health trust
workers Alex Dudley on 01785226967 or Anne Hobbs on 01785
223099.
Tot Stars is the name for a
baby and toddler song and rhyme group at Sure Start Cauldwell,
in Bedford. Amongst their other projects promoting speech
and language are You and Me (a parent/child interaction language
group focusing on songs, play and book sharing that can be
duplicated at home); Play-Talk bags; and training for pre-school
workers about speech and language issues.
Tune in,
the Music Cluster Programmes from Youth Music, are being expanded
in 2007 to include up to nine locations following a successful
pilot. Each Cluster will comprise a number of early years
settings working with a music organisation and other local
partners, with guidance from the Association of British Orchestras
and Youth Music. During the project, early years children
will experience music played by professional musicians and
explore musical instruments themselves. For more information
visit www.youthmusic.org.uk (Extracted from Nursery World, 30.11.06)
Play and Rhyme is Sure Start's
project in Abbey Bucknall, Shelton Cobridge and Longton South.
It gives families of young children an opportunity to learn
about the importance of play and rhyme from an early age,
to help develop confidence in learning in a fun and friendly
way. Membership to the Toy Library is included, and there
is support from speech and language therapists. Each participating
child receives a free CD/tape of local children singing nursery
rhymes and telling stories.
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