Giving Toddlers a Music Start

New initiative to get children singing from an early age

As part of the Government's investment in singing, Youth Music has been awarded funds to develop a pack to get pre-schoolers singing at home with their parents. The pack will be aimed at children aged between two and four and their parents, will contain a fully illustrated book, a selection of small, hand-held instruments, a CD of high-quality, fully orchestrated original music and suggestions to get parents doing some very simple musical activities with their children at home.

Currently, a creative team is working together to produce five prototypes of the pack, which will be tested with groups of parents and some early years practitioners. The creative team was chosen through an open tendering process, which resulted in Youth Music choosing celebrated children's book author Miriam Moss to write the book, Sian Rance from D.R. ink to illustrate and design the book and composer Malcolm Bruce to create all the original music for the pack.

Once the prototype has been approved by Youth Music and the Government, 100,000 resource packs will be produced and distributed throughout England. Youth Music hopes that in the future, through future sponsorship, this pack will become a universal entitlement to all children in the UK.

The MusicStart pack is being developed as part of Sing Up, the Music Manifesto's National Singing Programme, in an attempt to bring singing and music into the heart of homes across England preparing toddlers for the singing activities that they will encounter in school later in life. The pack also aims to build musical foundations and aid in the development of communitication and numeracy skills in pre-school children.

Should the Government's investment in Sing Up continue past 2008, Youth Music intends to link the MusicStart pack more closely to the other activity being developed through Sing Up by bringing the pack into all Children's Centres and primary schools with nurseries throughout England.

Early years music making has always been one of Youth Music's highest priorities. In 2006, Youth Music produced the results of a three-year-long academic study, Turning Their Ears On, which proved that music making can help to develop communication, maths, listening, concentration, sharing and social skills in under fives. Through the MusicStart pack, Youth Music hopes that parents throughout England will be able to give their children an educational and musical advantage by embarking upon a magical, musical journey together at home.

Words: Celi Barberia, Sing Up Resource Officer