It is essential that young children get frequent and regular opportunities to explore and learn in the outdoor environment and this should not be seen as an optional extra. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Curriculum, which covers children aged birth to the end of the Reception year, became statutory in September 2008 and places strong emphasis on the importance and value of daily outdoor experiences for children’s learning and development.

In recent years there has been a cultural shift in our society that has reduced the access and use of outdoors for many young children. Contributory factors include increased fear amongst adults in relation to children’s safety and technological advances leading to an overwhelming prominence of more sedentary indoor activities, such as television, video and computer games.

Children recognize the melody of a song long before they understand the words and will try to mimic sounds and start moving to the music as soon as they are physically able to do so. There are many benefits to starting early with songs and rhymes and studies have shown that children who enjoy music, rhymes and singing on a regular basis are often those who learn how to speak first. They recognise sounds and string them together in order to form basic words and associations.

It gives them an early love and passion for language which will form a solid foundation that will help children to value learning. So take a little time every day to sing and rhyme with your child no matter what age – it’s never too early or too late to introduce music into your child’s lifestyle and the benefits will be with them forever!