Working with children aged two to four across Melbourne and Colombo has helped me explore how early musical learning can be playful, carefully scaffolded and responsive to the children in the room. Through structured curriculum teaching as well as independently designed music experiences, I have developed a growing understanding of how movement, repetition, imagination, listening and exploration can build children's musical confidence and foundational skills.
Kinder Beat - Melbourne
As a Kinder Beat teacher at Musical Avenue, I teach a progressive early childhood music curriculum to children aged two to four. Through singing, movement, rhythm and pulse activities, imaginative play, storytelling, percussion, listening, ensemble experiences and early instrumental exploration, children encounter foundational musical concepts through active and playful experiences.
The structured curriculum has strengthened my ability to be responsive within a planned learning sequence. With young children, even a carefully prepared lesson needs to change according to attention, confidence, energy and the responses of the group. I continually make decisions about pacing, transitions, modelling, repetition and when to extend an activity or move on.
An important part of my role has also been the reflective practice surrounding the classes. Through regular debriefing, sharing observations about how students are responding and contributing ideas as the program develops, I have experienced early childhood teaching as a continuous process of plan → teach → observe → reflect → adapt.
I have also had the opportunity to support the training of new Kinder Beat teachers, with teachers shadowing my classes and observing how the curriculum is brought to life with young learners. I have really valued being able to model different teaching strategies, talk through decisions made during a lesson, and share reflections on what helps children engage. This has been a rewarding extension of my role and has encouraged me to think more consciously about not only how I teach, but also why I make particular choices in the classroom.
Above all, Kinder Beat has reinforced for me that foundational music education can be rigorous without losing its sense of play. Young children can begin developing rhythm, pitch, listening, coordination, ensemble awareness and early musical literacy while still experiencing the lesson as a space for movement, imagination, discovery and joy.
ABC Preschool & ABC School of Early Learning - Colombo
At ABC Preschool and ABC School of Early Learning, I designed and facilitated play-based music experiences for children aged approximately two to four, using singing, movement, storytelling, listening, rhythm activities, body percussion, vocal exploration, instruments and imaginative play to introduce foundational musical concepts.
My sessions were designed to give children multiple ways to experience and respond to music. Alongside familiar nursery rhymes and Disney songs, I introduced selected classical repertoire and used movement and storytelling to make the music more accessible and engaging. For example, when exploring Carnival of the Animals, children listened for musical ideas while using lion movements, actions and imaginative play to bring the character of the music to life. Rhythm and movement were also a regular part of the lessons. I incorporated body percussion, call-and-response activities and simple rhythmic games to help children experience beat and rhythm physically before connecting these ideas with instruments and songs.
I also created playful vocal warm-ups and sound-based activities that introduced children to breathing, vocal control, articulation and expressive use of the voice. One favourite was a “baking a cake” warm-up, where children moved through an imaginative sequence using breathing exercises, lip rolls, different vocal sounds and exaggerated words as we pretended to mix, bake and decorate a cake. These kinds of activities allowed technical skills to be introduced through story and play in a way that felt natural and enjoyable for young children. Instrument exploration was another important part of the sessions. Children experimented with shakers, percussion instruments, Boomwhackers and other sound-making resources, developing awareness of rhythm, pulse, dynamics and ensemble participation while discovering the different ways sound can be created. A particularly valuable part of my work was teaching children with disability and diverse learning needs at ABC School of Early Learning. This strengthened my ability to adapt activities, communication, pacing and modes of participation according to individual learners.I often used playful and familiar points of connection such as George, my music-loving monkey puppet, movement, familiar songs or preferred instruments to help children feel comfortable, engaged and able to participate in ways that were meaningful to them.
Through these experiences, I developed a deeper appreciation for responsive and inclusive early childhood music practice. I learned to observe how children were engaging, adjust activities in the moment and create different entry points into the same musical experience.