Supporting Children's Creativity Through Music, Dance, Drama and Art ― Creative Conversations in the Early Years

An essential part of children’s development in the Early Years involves creative engagement through language, gestures, body movements, drawing and music; creating shared meanings in playful contexts.

Supporting Children’s Creativity through Music, Dance, Drama and Art brings together contributions from a range of early years practitioners and professionals, sharing their ‘creative conversations’ and helping readers to implement the themes of the Early Years Foundation Stage framework in a creative way. Including a new chapter to explore the relationships between music and movement, this second edition has been fully updated and covers:

• how to incorporate music-making and story-telling in the classroom;
• how to use stories of practice to inspire reflection and change
• how to extend, challenge and sustain children’s interests;
• how to make use of the ‘talking table’ and ‘Helicopter’ approaches;
• how to become an effective play-partner;
• how to improve practice with interactive strategies and music for wellbeing;
• how to use observation to inspire planning and learning projects.

Appealing to all with an interest in Early Years practice, this new edition demonstrates how parents, carers and practitioners can put excitement and inspiration back into the learning process, guiding them to encourage and support the creative capacities of young children.

Fleur Griffiths is a retired nursery teacher/educational psychologist/senior lecturer in Early Childhood Studies at Sunderland University, UK. In retirement she has worked on a contract basis as an educational consultant in Foundation Stage settings in local authorities.