Music in the Two’s Room

By Kitti Pecka, Head Teacher

Two year olds entering school in the fall work hard to adjust to a new, enlarged world. Getting used to the unfamiliar books, materials, people and environment takes time. To aid their adjustment, we sing many familiar songs. Hearing music that they recognize eases them into group activities.

This year, we developed a curriculum for the Afternoon Twos to increase the occasions children sing and dance together. Concentrating our efforts on well-known folk songs and easy movement repertoires, we soon found that all the children were participating at music time. Even at story time when parents join us at the end of the day, the whole group was engaged in creating music together.

As a result of the emphasis on music, it was not long before spontaneous songs emerged as part of play. Some of these echoed the group’s repertoire and some were creative adaptations by individual children. The children sometimes included teachers in these new “musical plays” or games involving music. Occasionally, a child would request a special song from a teacher, as Sadie did of Megan. Singing Hush Little Baby also brought Karina into the play. Both girls became “babies” and curled up in the cradles as Megan sang. Soon they were themselves singing to soothe their babies, creating together a domestic musical.

Spontaneous musical play also occurred outside when Hudson decided a pot lid was a suitable instrument. He used a wooden spoon as a striker and became the leader of a band of friends marching all around the yard.

Another manifestation of music providing a social, emotional and cognitive connection for children came when they learned a new song. Slippery Fish not only increased their vocabulary, but also encouraged their creative dramatic abilities to emerge. Quan made a simple book of the animals in the song to aid memorization. Becoming a shark and a tuna “flashing in the water” opened an avenue of exciting adventure to children who looked at the book. Children continue to revisit the song when they see the felt fish that Quan assembled into his own book of Slippery Fish. Brynn imitated each fish as Hudson sang and vice versa.

Singing songs again and again adds not only vocabulary but also images to a child’s repertoire. Jackson made a “mountain” of clay the week we were singing The Bear Went Over the Mountain. These experiences become interactive as well and contribute to a child’s social well being. Music provides all these opportunities and more for two year olds.