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The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is the term education professionals use to describe the time in a child’s life from birth up to the age of five. The UK Department for Education has issued the EYFS Framework, which sets the national standards Early Years providers must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe during the first stage of life.
We have designed our Music Monkeys sessions with the EYFS Framework in mind. Our classes promote development and learning in all areas defined by the framework.
If your child attends regularly throughout their first years of life, you can be sure that amidst the songs, games and bubbles, we are promoting his or her development along the lines laid down by the UK Department for Education and their expert advisers.
Underpinning the EYFS Framework are four broad principles:
The Framework recognises that the very young learn through play and that a child’s early years experience should be happy, active, exciting, fun and secure; and should support their development, care and learning needs. The EYFS Framework takes children up to the year in which they turn five. It gives children the broad range of knowledge and skills that provide the right foundation as children begin their journey through school and life. The framework divides the development of the very young into seven categories.
The three prime areas are:
These prime areas are those most essential for a child’s healthy development and future learning.
As children grow, the prime areas will help them to develop skills in four specific areas:
Here are some of the ways in which Music Monkeys supports developments in all seven areas identified by the EYFS Framework:
Music Monkeys sessions provide many opportunities for babies and toddlers to listen, to sign and to speak. There are opportunities throughout our sessions for children to call out answers to questions, follow simple instructions and join in as a group. Parents are also encouraged to participate and act as role models for their children, especially in classes where children are too young to speak.
During Music Monkeys sessions, children have the opportunity to develop a whole range of physical skills. Parachute games, bubble-popping and a physical warm up develop co-ordination and physical self-awareness. Our songs are accompanied by some signs and actions, which help babies and toddlers connect physical movements with meaning.
Our classes show children how to build relationships with the group leader and other children and adults. They develop confidence in a social situation and an unfamiliar setting; respond to instructions; learn to sustain their concentration for a full session and discover and explore their own emotional responses in a safe and secure environment.
We sing many popular and traditional songs and rhymes that will also be found in children’s books. By learning these songs and rhymes during our classes, children can connect immediately to the pictures that they discover in those books at home or at the library. Many parents have found that this early introduction fosters a love of books from a very young age.
Many Music Monkeys songs involve counting, following steady rhythms and words relating to shape, size and position.
Every Music Monkeys session follows the same pattern and routine. Being able to predict what is going to happen next helps the very young to learn about the sequence of time. Our termly themes also helps them build vocabulary and understanding relating to a particular area – themes include Transport, Our body, Farm animals, in the Jungle, Colours and weather.
During a Music Monkeys session, children listen and respond to music and use musical instruments. They are encouraged to dance and to engage in imaginative play.
OUR HELLO SONG
A WARM-UP
THEMED SONGS
PLAY AN INSTRUMENT
PARACHUTE PLAY
BUBBLES
GOODBYE SONG
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