Sounds Around Us

Overview

This five-day music programme for August 2026 invites children aged 2–5 to listen, move, sing, create and explore sounds through play. Each 15-minute experience is suitable for a group of 20 and connects music with inside play, outside play, messy play, mat time and simple games. Children may join in, watch, repeat, or move between participation and rest.

Learning intentions

• WALT listen and respond to sounds, music and silence.
• WALT explore how our voices, bodies and everyday materials can make sounds.
• WALT move, sing and play alongside others.
• WALT make choices, experiment and share musical ideas.
• WALT care for people, instruments, materials and our learning spaces.

Success criteria

• I can listen and show a response to a sound or song.
• I can make a sound using my voice, body or an instrument.
• I can copy or change a rhythm, movement or action.
• I can take turns and play safely with others.
• I can help care for our music materials and spaces.

Curriculum links

• Mana Aotūroa / Exploration: playing, imagining, inventing and experimenting.
• Mana Aotūroa / Exploration: using strategies for thinking, reasoning and problem solving.
• Mana Whenua / Belonging: taking part in caring for this place and understanding familiar routines.
• Kotahitanga / Holistic Development: learning through connected physical, social, emotional, cultural and cognitive experiences.
• Mana Tangata / Contribution: learning with and alongside others.

Lesson structure (75 minutes across five days)

Day 1 – Listening Walk: Inside and Outside

1. 0–3 min · Welcome mat time. Teacher gathers children in a circle, introduces the pūkana/listening eyes and quiet ears routine, and plays the opening picture and listening prompt in the welcome and listening slides. Children practise being still, then make one quiet sound with their hands.
2. 3–7 min · Inside sound hunt. Teacher leads children around the room, pausing to listen near objects such as blocks, paper, chairs and the door. Children point, name, imitate or gesture the sounds they notice.
3. 7–12 min · Outside sound hunt. Teacher takes the group to a safe outdoor area and reminds children to stay together. Children listen for birds, wind, footsteps and play sounds, then copy one sound using their voices or bodies.
4. 12–15 min · Sound sharing game. Teacher makes one sound behind their back and invites children to guess what made it. Children show their favourite sound with a gesture or word before returning to play.

Day 2 – Shake, Tap and Stop

1. 0–3 min · Mat time song. Teacher sings a familiar welcome song with actions, using the action-song slides to show the stop, go and freeze symbols. Children join in at their own level.
2. 3–8 min · Instrument exploration. Teacher models safe use of shakers, tapping sticks and drums: “gentle hands, instruments stay low”. Children explore loud/quiet and fast/slow sounds while the teacher narrates their discoveries.
3. 8–12 min · Music traffic game. Teacher plays or sings while children move around the indoor space. When the music stops, children freeze; when it resumes, they move. The teacher varies slow and fast tempos.
4. 12–15 min · Pack-away rhythm. Teacher taps a simple tidy-up rhythm and invites children to echo it. Children return instruments, helping care for the shared environment.

Day 3 – Water and Mud Music

1. 0–3 min · Mat time sound story. Teacher tells a short rain story, using the rain and water-play slides to show rain falling, puddles forming and the sun appearing. Children make rain sounds with fingers, hands and feet.
2. 3–9 min · Outdoor messy play. At a supervised water-and-mud station, teacher provides tubs, wooden spoons, leaves, stones and containers. Children stir, drip, splash, pour and listen to changes in sound; adults model respectful sharing and safe boundaries.
3. 9–12 min · Copy my weather sound. Teacher creates short patterns such as finger taps for drizzle or gentle claps for rain. Children copy, alter or invent a weather sound.
4. 12–15 min · Calm ending. Teacher leads slow breathing and a quiet listening moment. Children identify whether their sound was loud, soft, long or short using words, gestures or facial expressions.

Day 4 – Move Like the Music

1. 0–3 min · Mat movement warm-up. Teacher demonstrates movements for beat, pause, high, low, wide and small, using the movement and shape slides. Children copy or choose their own safe movement.
2. 3–8 min · Inside movement game. Teacher plays contrasting music. Children move like animals, trees, rain or rolling balls, changing when the music changes. Children may dance seated or hold a kaiako’s hand.
3. 8–12 min · Outside pathway play. Teacher invites children to travel between cones using tiptoes, marching, jumping, crawling or swaying. Children choose a pathway and notice how their bodies feel.
4. 12–15 min · Partner mirror game. In pairs or with an adult, one child makes a slow movement and the other copies. Children swap roles, with no expectation to perform alone.

Day 5 – Our Group Soundscape

1. 0–3 min · Recall on the mat. Teacher revisits the week’s sounds and experiences with the review and soundscape slides. Children choose a sound they remember using a picture, word or action.
2. 3–8 min · Create together. Teacher divides the group into small sound teams: body percussion, voices, instruments and outdoor/nature sounds. Each team explores one sound and practises starting and stopping on the teacher’s signal.
3. 8–12 min · Group soundscape game. Teacher conducts a short soundscape about “a windy day at our centre”, cueing each team separately and then together. Children listen for others and adjust their volume.
4. 12–15 min · Celebration and farewell. Teacher invites children to share one thing they enjoyed, then leads a familiar closing waiata. Children help return resources and choose a calm activity for transition.

Resources

• the five-day music and movement deck
• A laptop, screen or tablet for the slide deck
• Shakers, drums, tapping sticks and bells
• Scarves or ribbons for movement
• Cones or floor markers for outdoor pathways
• Water tubs, mud, wooden spoons, leaves, stones and containers
• Familiar waiata and instrumental music
• Handwashing supplies and towels
• Visual stop/go and quiet/loud cues

Assessment

• Observe whether children notice, imitate, vary or initiate sounds, movements and rhythms.
• Note participation in turn-taking, listening, safe instrument use and caring for materials; accept verbal, physical, visual and non-verbal responses.
• During the final sharing, invite each child to show or name a favourite sound, movement or activity. Record emerging working theories, confidence and peer interactions for future planning.

Differentiation

• Offer children a choice to watch, join from the edge, sit, move with an adult or participate fully; never require solo performance.
• Use gesture, photographs, modelling and repetition for younger children, children learning English and children who communicate non-verbally.
• Provide larger, easy-grip instruments, reduced-volume choices, quieter spaces and headphones where appropriate for sensory needs.
• Extend older or confident children by inviting them to lead a rhythm, combine two sounds, conduct a group or explain how they changed the sound.