Music plays a hugely important role in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), supporting children’s development in a wide range of meaningful and lasting ways. In the early years, children are naturally curious about sound, rhythm, movement, and self-expression. They instinctively respond to changes in tempo, pitch, and dynamics through singing, dancing, movement, and play, making music a powerful and engaging part of their learning journey.
At this stage of development, music supports far more than just musical understanding. Through regular musical experiences, children build confidence, creativity, communication skills, and emotional expression. Music also plays an important role in supporting language development, memory, coordination, spatial awareness, and emotional regulation. Whether children are singing familiar nursery rhymes, exploring instruments, or moving rhythmically to music, they are developing important foundations that support both their academic learning and personal growth.
Music also provides valuable opportunities for children to develop social skills and positive relationships. Shared musical experiences encourage cooperation, turn-taking, active listening, and collaboration. Singing together, responding to rhythms, and participating in group musical activities help children feel connected, engaged, and confident within their learning environment.
At Britannica International School, our EYFS music sessions are designed to build on this natural curiosity through practical, hands-on, and engaging musical experiences. We place a strong emphasis on active music-making, ensuring children regularly take part in singing, listening, movement, and instrument exploration as part of their weekly learning.
Children frequently explore rhythm and pulse through nursery rhymes, action songs, and musical games, helping to strengthen early musical awareness whilst also supporting memory, language, and coordination skills. Call-and-response activities are often used to encourage focused listening and quick musical thinking, allowing children to anticipate and respond to simple rhythmic patterns in a fun and accessible way.
We also provide many opportunities for children to explore percussion instruments, giving them the freedom to experiment with different sounds, textures, and dynamics. These hands-on experiences help to develop confidence, independence, and creativity, whilst deepening their understanding of basic musical concepts. Alongside this, body percussion and movement-based activities, inspired by approaches such as Dalcroze Eurhythmics, allow children to physically experience rhythm and tempo through movement and play.
Through these varied and interactive experiences, we aim to nurture a lifelong love of music and the arts within our youngest learners. Music in EYFS is not simply about learning songs or keeping a beat; it is about building confidence, encouraging creativity, strengthening communication, and allowing children to express themselves in joyful and meaningful ways.
This week, Pre-Nursery children continued learning about tractors, animal sounds, and how to care for animals on the farm. The children particularly enjoyed washing the classroom farm vehicles, as well as cleaning all of the livestock in our small world area. Our song of the week was “Driving My Tractor”, and our story of the week was “Mrs Wishy-Washy’s Farm” by Joy Cowley.
Our exciting journey through the rainforest and savannah continued this week as we explored the stories “Roaming the Rainforest” and “Handa’s Hen.” The children loved learning about these fascinating environments and discovering some of the amazing animals that live there. We have also been using descriptive vocabulary to talk about the animals we discovered, whilst in maths the children enjoyed creating repeating patterns on painted snakes inspired by the wonderful patterns found in nature.
Reception have been consolidating their addition and subtraction skills this week and have enjoyed experimenting with different techniques, choosing which methods work best for them. In literacy, we have started reading the fable “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” and have been discussing the message and moral of the story, which the children have really enjoyed exploring together. In maths, we have also started learning about shapes through practical activities such as pattern blocks and picture making, helping the children to develop their spatial awareness, problem-solving, and understanding of shape in creative and hands-on ways.
Cian Parker
Music Teacher
