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Inspiration for Early Childhood Educators
Earlyarts E-Bulletin No. 71
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Dear Friend
Welcome to the summer edition of Earlyarts Ebulletin! The snow has finally gone and we've had our annual quota of Yorkshire sunshine all in one week! So we're feeling refreshed and excited to share this quarter's news, research and current thinking on arts, culture and early childhood practice.
I don't know about you but we think its a good thing, every now and then, to embark on a new adventure where you can't see the end point but you can see amazing possibilities. So our big news is that, from this autumn, I will be undertaking a PhD on the neurological impacts of the arts in young children with selective mutism. I will be looking at how young children who can't speak in certain environments can use music and dance to develop a range of non-verbal as well as verbal languages, and how these art forms impact on their brains and bodies, their confidence, behaviours and relationships, as they express themselves in different ways.
The wonderful Liz Clark of the aptly named 'Our Creative Adventure' will be helping with the dance side of the research and lots of lovely settings, families, psychologists, neuroscientists, S&L therapists, artists and young children will be involved too.
Although our training programme will be scaled down during this research period, the Earlyarts network will, in fact, become more important than ever. As this exciting research evolves, we will invite you to try out some of the creative methodologies designed to support young children with anxiety based communication challenges.
Do get in touch if you support children with selective mutism using any art forms or creative methods, as we would love to hear about approaches that have worked for you. In between quarterly E-bulletins, we will also post updates on this research in our Linked In Group, including questions for test pilots who would like to try out ideas for us, so do join the group if you haven't already.
The Earlyarts Ebulletin will be bursting with the latest research as we delve into the depths of our specialist interests, and we will keep you updated on new ideas or questions that emerge from the nurseries, childrens centres, neuroscientists, psychologists, parents and speech and language therapists we will be working with during this doctoral research programme.
Well that's probably enough excitement for one day so I'll leave you to grab a coffee, read and digest the rest of the Earlyarts E-bulletin in your own good time, enjoy the lovely offers we've got on books and arts supplies, and have an awesome summer.
 Oh, and please take a minute to update your profile so that we can keep you properly informed!
Take care, Ruth
Earlyarts Director
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Creative Teaching Packs - New Bite-Sized Bundle
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 Don't miss our Bite-Sized Bundle of six Creative Teaching Packs, beautifully designed and printed. Each bundle contains your favourite art forms and comes with a free magazine rack, so you can enjoy a smaller collection at an affordable price.
Written by teachers and artists, the Bite-Sized Bundle contains a range of inspiring arts activities with extra hints for planning, assessment and reflection. They cover modelling and construction, dance and movement, painting and mark making, music and puppetry, role play and story telling. All are mapped across the EYFS and include extension activities for SEN-D children.
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'What a brilliant resource, every teacher should use these packs. We've had so much fun putting the ideas into practice!' Paul Mills, Early Education Specialist
And feel free to explore the hundreds of free resources and latest research we have on offer at Earlyarts. We hope it will make your life and work a little bit easier!
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News, Training and Opportunities to grow
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 Not Too Early, But Just Right! - Unleashing the power of science in early childhood by PEDAL - Centre for Research on Play in Education, Development & Learning on Wed 23 May 2018, 17:00 – 18:30pm. Science has the power to engage early childhood educators and young children in hands-on, minds-on, fun and engaging experiences that increase the quality of teaching as well as provide young children with critical problem-solving skills and improved learning in multiple school readiness areas. In this PEDAL research seminar Professor Greenfield, a Professor of Psychology and Pediatrics at the University of Miami, will discuss the role of science in early education in relation to research, as well as current policy and practice. Booking advised as places limited.
 The Clore Leadership Programme are looking for ambitious and creative individuals who aspire to lead and make a difference with at least five years paid work experience in the arts, museums and/or libraries sector. Interested? More details and applications for their short course here. Deadline Tuesday 29th May.
 Affecting space: an interdisciplinary ethnography at Manchester Art Gallery - why not start your own adventure with this fully funded, PhD at Manchester Met University? This unique research opportunity gives you a chance to explore how babies and young children interact with space, the visual and aural, movements and materials at Manchester Art Gallery (MAG). The research will also help find new ways for artists, health and educational practitioners to learn together about the emerging development of the under twos. Ideal for practitioners, educators or artists looking to specialise in this area. More details and application here - deadline 31st May.
 How can technology help us make alternative theatre for children? Friday 1st June at Polka Theatre, Wimbledon, 1pm - 5pm. An informal gathering of minds to discuss how technology is being used within theatre for young audiences and how it can help us to think about making different types of theatre. This is part of Polka's second Festival of Childhood - TECHTOPIA. More information for the research session here and booking for the festival shows and workshops here. TECHTOPIA FESTIVAL DISCOUNT 20% off when you buy for 2 events or more
 6 specialists with music and teaching experience required to help deliver First Thing Music, a randomised control trial funded by the EEF and the RSA. The trial will investigate the impact of daily Kodály-based musical activities on improvement in literacy, self-regulation and dispositions for learning, plus investigate ways of giving musical confidence and skills to non-specialist primary teachers. Following rigorous research into the impacts of Kodály approaches on the development of 4-5 year olds, this child centred, playful programme has been created to deliver a structured music education programme to 1,800 five-to-six year olds in 60 schools. Schools are invited to participate in the trials by completing an expression of interest form here. Professionals are invited to apply for the specialist music job here - closing Date 28th May.
 Arts on Prescription is a low-cost, low-risk, high-impact, life-changing programme using different art forms for healing, health and well-being. Watch Dr Daisy Fancourt's reasons why doctors should be able to prescribe arts to patients they think would benefit. Then, explore how you can get your arts initiative involved so that there are plenty of 'treatment' options available in every community. Or, join your regional Arts, Health and Wellbeing network or your regional Social Prescribing network to find out more about the how the arts can impact the health of young children and families.
 Urban Thinkscape - Imagine if ordinary places like the bus stop, the corner market, or the pavement could become spaces for playful learning. That’s the vision of Urban Thinkscape, a program working with Frontiers of Innovation that transforms public spaces by infusing them with activities that challenge the mind while encouraging joyful interactions between children and caregivers. This 8 min video tells the story of how a group of psychologists, architects, city planners, and the Belmont community of West Philadelphia, PA, came together to design and build the very first Urban Thinkscape installation. Watch the video here.
 Labour launches National Education Service consultation to help improve the lives of our youngest and most vulnerable children and refocus funding on children's services. Angela Raynor, the shadow education secretary (pictured) has announced a series of roadshows to set out Labour's plans and Labour has set up a website where teachers, parents and arts educators can submit their views.
 The Durham Commission on Creativity and Education, a collaboration between Arts Council England (ACE) and Durham University, has now been launched. The Commission is seeking to influence national policy, looking at the role of creativity and creative thinking in the lives of children and young people, both within and beyond our education system. The project will be led by 17 Commissioners from across culture, education, business and the HE sector to collect research, evidence, best practice and lessons learnt from the UK and abroad, which identifies what is working well and where there are gaps that can be addressed by ‘government, teachers, parents, arts organisations, business and the creative industries' in England.
 The Primary Assessment consultation outcome has been published by the DfE, with the intention to develop a new reception baseline as a statutory assessment ready for autumn 2020. The consultation outcome also touches on the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP) including how to make the ELGs a better measure of child development and school readiness, improving the assessment approach, and how to make the administering and moderation process more useful and efficient. Expressive Arts and Design ELGs will be 'tweaked' as a part of this process.
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Latest Research and Publications
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 Nature and Nurture: Can new science inform child policy? A scientific revolution is changing the way scientists and researchers think about how early life experiences affect genetic predispositions. As Jack Shonkoff, director of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, explains, the latest research shows that factors including stress, adversity, and parental behavior physically affect the body’s biological systems, shaping the trajectory of human development, with significant implications for for early childhood research.
 Taking a Learner-Centred Approach to Music Education by esteemed specialists, Laura Huhtinen-Hildén and Jessica Pitt. This wonderful resource provides an exploration of professional and pedagogical aspects of learner-centred practice, with latest theory underpinned by experience, practical examples and self-reflection. Chapters explore the theories of learner-centred music education, collaborative learning, the learning environment and pedagogical sensitivity, as well as the practical application of these teaching strategies and methods. Earlyarts subscribers can benefit from a 20% discount by entering the code FLR40 at checkout.
 Speech Bubbles - a story-drama intervention designed by the London Bubble theatre - has been shown to have significant improvements for inner-city children with speech, language and communication difficulties, according to their latest effectiveness report by the University of East London. In 2016– 2017, teachers reported that 88% of the 800 children taking part in Speech Bubbles showed improvements in learning, speaking and listening and 90% showed improvements in emotional and conduct behaviour. The study will be followed up with a Randomised Control Trial conducted by the Education Endowment Foundation involving 500 pupils across 25 schools - one of five trials examining whether cultural learning approaches can help boost primary pupils’ achievements. Speech Bubbles Co-ordinator, Amelia Bird, has written a blog for Earlyarts, sharing some of the insights into their highly successful programme.
 Longitudinal Analysis of Music Education on Executive Functions in Primary School Children by Jaschke, Honing and Scherder. The first large-scale, longitudinal study of its type involving 147 primary school children in the Netherlands has found that structured music lessons significantly enhance children’s cognitive abilities – particularly around inhibition, planning and verbal intelligence and therefore their academic achievement. Read the full research text here.
 Developmental Dance Movement (DDM) research, Investigating learning through developmental dance movement as a kinaesthetic tool in the Early Years Foundation Stage, has set the stage for a new study with Greenwich University focusing on autism, arts and health. Director, Ali Golding's TED-X Talk gives a great overview of her research findings, showing how DDM impacts positively on many of the 90% of young children who are not yet physically ready for school. Watch a snippet from her in-depth findings here and the full interview with top tips for practitioners in Earlyarts' Training Video here.
 Growing up North, a new report from the Children’s Commissioner calls for the poorest children to be put at the heart of the Northern Powerhouse plans, with a similar focus on children’s outcomes that is given to economic regeneration. The report also calls for children to have better access to arts to improve outcomes and reduce ‘the double-whammy’ of deprivation and poor schools. Download the full report from the Children’s Commissioner’s website and read coverage of the report on the BBC, Guardian and ITV.
 How babies learn – and why robots can’t compete by Alex Beard who analyses a range of research into being and belonging. His interview with Angela Prodger, director of Pen Green Early Childhood Centre, is revealing; 'Before children could acquire the tools of speech and language, you had to ensure they felt a sense of “being and belonging”. Too frequently our approaches to early learning skipped these steps... Creative play is the foundation on which creativity, language, maths and science are built. If you start too early with flashcards, you lose this developmental stage. “It’s about being free”... “It’s about risk-taking.” Listen to the full podcast here or read the text in the link above.
 The Educated Brain - a series of ESRC-funded seminars and briefings supported by Cambridge Neuroscience, Cambridge Language Sciences, and Cambridge Public Policy, and hosted by the Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner. The seminars brought education, psychology and neuroscience researchers together with teachers and practitioners, to build bridges between research and practice. Read the research summaries and policy briefings here.
 Music@Home - a research tool to assess musical enrichment in early years by Middlesex University London and Goldsmiths University of London. The tool is designed to help researchers quantify the extent to which the home environment of infants and preschoolers is musically enriched in specific ways and how this may influence development of non-musical capacities. It also provides future possibilities to understand whether this influences the development of, for instance, social or communicative abilities. The study also investigates musical characteristics of parents such as musical training and personal engagement with music. Read more about the research behind the Music@Home tool here.
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Practical and Inspiring Teaching Toolkits
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 Museum of London Early Years Toolkit - An inspiring digital resource for those working with under 5s in a museum, heritage or cultural setting. This toolkit is full of inspiring case studies, top tips, useful links, a super film on how young children learn in museums and research articles, including open ended play, using makaton, spaces for curiosity, evaluating impact and a section on neuroscience and early childhood development by Earlyarts Director, Ruth Churchill Dower. Explore the free toolkit here.
 Creative Sparks – from the award-winning entrepreneur and director of Creation Station, Sarah Cressall tells her story of taking her passion as a creative mum of three boys to a business that served over 650,000 other kids. From her experience, Sarah offers an exploration into the benefits of creativity, encourages an entrepreneurial outlook, and provides 52 practical craft activities to inspire your own kids. Sarah Cressall’s dedication to seeing all children’s potential released comes through so well in this book. As you can watch in the intro video, her positive attitude, hard work and determination not to let anything get in the way of her dreams is a great model for today’s society. Her passion for all children (and their families) to experience and enjoy their huge creativity is wonderfully evident in this easy-to-read toolkit of ideas and activities. It’s a must-have for both parents and professionals looking for stimulating ideas and oodles of fun to have with their creative little ones! Out this month for £14,99, Earlyarts subscribers can enjoy a SPECIAL EARLY BIRD OFFER of less than £1 by signing up here.
 Learning through Woodwork - If you ever wondered what woodwork has to do with little children, then the answer is writ large in this wonderful new book; 'EVERYTHING!'. In this superbly practical, and beautifully illustrated book, the talented sculptor, educator and trainer, Pete Moorhouse, lets us in on his secrets to enhancing young children's creativity learned through many years of practice. Setting out a clear pathway of theory and tradition in early years woodwork dating back to the 19th century, the author enhances this evidence with a wide range of relevant case studies, showing techniques that any teacher or parent could support their children to use in the classroom or home, to great effect. Children's voices are beautifully captured in the case studies, and the ideas for imaginative projects are inspiring, along with resource lists and top tips for tools, materials and safety.
Woodwork is one of those rare artforms that engages every single sense in the body simultaneously, underpinning the very core of how young children learn through their senses. It enhances imagination, problem solving, strength building, coordination, risk taking, physical, cognitive, social and emotional development and speaks to the characteristics of very effective learning. If ever a nursery only offered a woodwork pedagogy of the sort set out in this book, they would be well on the way to developing well-rounded, confident, thoughtful, curious, engaged, healthy, self-controlled, creative analytical and highly skilled young people. If those are the sort of qualities you want to nurture in your children, then don't hesitate to do what I did; get the book and start your own woodworking adventure!
 Art & Craft Factory are passionate about crafts and creative learning. They have a strong belief that every child has the right to creative play and deserves quality materials to support their creative freedom. Art & Craft Factory love creative teachers and practitioners and are keen to welcome anyone and everyone into their crafty family, including Earlyarts subscribers who can take advantage of the SPECIAL OFFER of 15% off their entire website! Just enter the code ‘earlyarts’ at checkout.
 Drip Drop Play at Artplay Melbourne provides a unique opportunity for children to explore a sonic world of water and ice through play and improvisation. Funded through the New Ideas Lab, you can watch the video of Drip Drop Play, or read an interview with musicians, Thea Rossen and Jesse Dean, who created the idea.
 Building SEN-D Pupil Confidence and Self-Esteem by Phil Mullen - Danny has his reasons for trying to escape. His mum is seriously ill and the situation at home is difficult. As we listen [to his CD], Danny starts dancing. He’s just into his grooves, using the music he has created to let himself go, forget his past and future, and shed the troubles of the world from his shoulders, just completely immersed in his own world of sound.' Read more about the wonderful work of Phil Mullen here.
 Consulting Creatively with Young Children by Artplay, Melbourne, is a fantastic resource brimming with creative ideas that respect and validate young children's voices. The toolkit guides practitioners through a range of ideas for using the arts in a meaningful way to consult with children, underpinned by relevant case studies and a superb list of resources and further research. The toolkit is especially useful in exploring the purpose, principles and practicalities of consulting with children when making performance-based art.
 Curious Blog: Creativity and Autism by Rachel Kirkpatrick, Head of PSHCE and a Drama teacher at Hollingworth Academy in Rochdale. In Curious Minds' blog for World Autism Awareness Week, Rachel was asked to blog about the place for creativity in supporting young people with ASC (Autism Spectrum Condition). Read the full blog here.
 10 Ways to Prioritize Fun While Learning by Marianne Stenger. Research shows that introducing novelty helps you to stay motivated and learn more effectively. The Imaging Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin says that novelty activates the dopamine system, which floods your brain with 'feel-good' chemicals when you engage in pleasurable activities such as eating, exercising, or listening to music. Dopamine also plays a big role in memory, attention, and motivation—all of which are vital to learning. Stenger highlights ten useful ways to keep introducing novelty into your teaching and learning, so that it is not only be more enjoyable but also more efficient. Gem up on your Ten Top Tips here.
Earlyarts does not receive commission for any of these resources, we just like to share things of beauty AND quality with our network. Let us know what you think of these resources on any of our social media channels below!
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