Action Kids
Music & Movement

Young children love to be creative and move about to music. They also need to move about in order to develop healthy bodies. Action kids "physical development and play with fun" approach stimulates and encourages children into action!

"Action Kids 88 music and movement" comprises 2 introductory cards, a further 15 themed cards (88 activities and 104 extensions) and 5 CDs of music (88 separate tracks).

Although the cards offer specific ways of using the music there are of course alternative ways which could include:-

1. Play the music and let children freely enjoy moving and singing to it.
2. Talk about the theme or idea and show pictures if possible. Encourage children to express their thoughts and ideas in words and actions.
3. Try out some specific ideas and ways of moving and encourage children to express themselves through the movements.
4. Adult and child/children listen to the music and make up their own stories and ideas.

There will be opportunities for children to count, talk and make up stories, gain knowledge of the world, be creative and imaginative, develop their personal and social skills, and of course, moving will encourage healthy physical development.

Specific individual activities or music can be used at any time throughout the day. However a number of planned activities can be used to create a physical development session. A planned session could take the following form:-

1. AK warm-up song
2. Activities
3. AK calm-down or an activity from the 'quiet card'.

All the activities can be used in different environments including small spaces, the carpet area, a cleared space in the room, a larger hall or an outdoor space. Small spaces will restrict the amount of moving off the spot whilst at the other end of the scale a hall or outdoor space will encourage more unrestricted activity.

Safety. Because young children are generally unco-ordinated it is inevitable that they will sometimes fall over and bump into objects or other people. Before doing any activity we must make an assessment of the area in which the children are going to move in order to minimise the risk and make the activity safe. Things to look for will include:-

1. No open doors for them to bump into, no sharp corners, uneven surfaces or obstacles on the floor.
2. Footwear and clothing are suitable for movement.
3. Children are made aware of the space in which they can move.