1.   Music and Singing
i) The fabulous Interactive Music Making course is now open to teachers and practitioners who would like to use a child-oriented musical approach to support attuned relationships and strong communication. Due to the current budget challenges, IMM is offering free places through their fantastic Award Scheme, plus £650 to cover/travel AND a free set of instruments! The award is offered to the setting and allows any number of educators to attend for free. Application DEADLINE 21st AUGUST! Don’t delay, apply here: http://www.interactivemusicmaking.org/. Sign up to the IMM Mailing List for info on the next course and Award bursaries here, if you can't make this one.
 
ii) The mad and lovely Dot and Bernard are appearing on Shabang! Time TV – a new, live YouTube workshop, freely available for inclusive education settings and schools. From Wednesday 9th September, Shabang will be sharing original songs from their vast repertoire designed to be signed and used in special education classrooms, alongside ideas for tasks and art projects. The themes for each session will be available in advance to help with planning, downloadable from www.shabang.org.uk. Subscribe to their YouTube channel here: https://bit.ly/shabangtimetv.
 
iii)  Director of the award-winning Make The Paint Dance, Megan Jowett, is set to keep families singing, moving, making and shaking through her Friday Workshops that aim to increase access to music and art and improve participants’ wellbeing. As well as delving into the imagination of your little ones, these workshops are great for listening and movement skills and growing confidence and creativity through musical exploration. Join in here: https://www.makethepaintdance.com/free-friday-workshops or enjoy Megan’s awesome Birdsong Mashup – a community-inspired musical interlude featuring real bird songs and inspiring children: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfGV-2_oVCM.
 
iv)  The super Soundwaves are delighted to a practical zoom workshop packed with ideas and resources to use in Early Years music. Featuring two outstanding music specialists - Zoe Greenhalgh, (Note Weavers) and Rachel Thame (Moor to Sea Music Collective), this is an opportunity to learn the most appropriate songs, rhymes and activities to develop babies’ and children’s musicality. Free to those based within the South West, or £10 for those further afield: https://takeart.org/event/the-soundwaves-network-sounding-board-via-zoom-1.
 
v)  Prepare to set sail on a musical voyage with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s Sea, Voyages & Hope. This series of workshops will introduce children to making music, taking part in warm-up exercises, and rehearsing two nautical songs to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower’s pioneering voyage. From learning to compose and performing sea shanties to a curated night-time playlist there is plenty to occupy busy minds, supporting families during lockdown, enhanced by free music education resource packs: https://bsolive.com/projects/bso-young-explorers/.
 
vi) From the acclaimed children's theatre makers, Goblin Theatre, comes The Goblin Podcast featuring original musical stories for the whole family to enjoy wherever you like. Their stories are full of catchy new songs and a lot of fun that will inspire the imagination of all ages. From The Legend of the Jazz Penguin (a musical adventure about a little Penguin looking for her sound) to Hey Diddle Diddle (a celebration of nonsense based on the nursery rhyme) the stories and music are made with a variety of talented actors, musicians and writers. Enjoy your weekly podcast sing-a-long here: https://goblintheatre.co.uk/podcast.
 
vii) Jessies Fund is a small charity who specialise in creative music making for children with special needs, complex needs or life limiting illness, giving them the opportunity to express themselves through creative music making. Whilst it isn’t possible to take the sessions to special schools, hospitals or respite centres, all families can explore their fabulous, interactive, sensory music sessions here, featuring their highly skilled musicians, signers and singers: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuxkEo5oEam_Na8_9me4XFg.


2.   Art, Design, Materials and Mixed Media
i)  Over the summer, artist Darrell Wakelam has been putting one art project on Twitter every day just using tape, scissors and recycling stuff that we would have lying around. Each little project has two images, one showing some detailed photos of the result and one that is a step by step 'recipe' card. Search for the tag #ArtJumpstart at https://twitter.com/DarrellWakelam, or download all 50 of them from www.darrellwakelam.com and disappear into recycling heaven.
 
ii)  The wonderful Lakeside Arts have received a message that they can't decipher, some strange symbols keep appearing on our screens and a sound is playing... are they any codebreakers out there? They need help from all amateur detectives with drawing equipment and recyclable materials to solve four mysteries to get to a mysterious place: https://www.lakesidearts.org.uk/take-part-learn/inwithlakeside/undiscovered-island.html.
 
iii)  The multi-talented Little Angel Theatre are back with a whole range of puppets to create, animate and have their stories brought to life. Whether you prefer shadow, stick or paper-plate puppetry, there is enough here to keep every child from boredom – and most adults too! https://littleangeltheatre.com/online-shows-and-activities/. Whilst immersed in your new puppet creations, why not watch their latest, beautiful shows here: https://www.youtube.com/thelittleatheatre.
 
iv)  Super ceramicist Ammie Flexen of The Clay Mill art school together with the fabulous Kathleen Yore of Odd Doll Theatre are creating two ceramic flower installations in Dewsbury and Huddersfield in August. Families and children of all ages are invited to create models that show their favourite outdoor spaces in lockdown and share their stories online so that the artists can incorporate your garden stories into their installations. Watch the videos for ideas and join in here: https://www.facebook.com/Kirkleesgardenstories/.
 
v)  The wonderful Deborah Riding from Tate Liverpool and Kerry Walsh from Clifford Holroyde school have got together to bring you a Creative Summer Sketchbook Challenge for teachers and families to take part in over the summer holidays. It aims to support reflection, creativity, mindfulness and mental health. You can access the first of the six challenges here and then dive in with the other five: https://www.culturepool.org/offers/creative-summer-sketchbook-challenge-week-1/.
 
vi) From the award-winning Nimble Fish and cultural education organisation, A New Direction (AND), comes a treat for parents, teachers and artists alike: Creative Wellbeing at Home. This new suite of online resources focusses on wellbeing, balance, leadership and creative connection through the arts to help you through these challenging times. Have a go at these activities to help you take stock and recalibrate: https://www.anewdirection.org.uk/what-we-do/schools/creative-wellbeing-at-home. Whilst adults are immersed in this, why not introduce your children to AND’s Summer Arts Boredom Busters: https://www.anewdirection.org.uk/blog/summer-arts-boredom-busters-take-off?


3.   Dance and Movement
i)  After working with the fab team at Edinburgh University on their Move2Learn research project, it is great to see the results of this research put to good use in their new STEAM Charades Covid19 card game. Each playing card helps young children to use gesture or language to talk and learn about the Covid pandemic in a safe, diverse and engaging way. The cards can be used stand-alone or as part of a charades game, downloadable for free: https://www.de.ed.ac.uk/steamcharades_covid19.

ii)  Tremendous dance trio, Claire Pring, Jo Cone and Louise Jaggard have created a fabulous, socially distanced, creative dance book. Making a Move is an easy-to-use collection of 30 dance lessons for all teachers and dance artists focussing on well-being and collaborative dance with young (KS1 and KS2) children. To move beyond equipment-based PE and get creative without the hassle of cleaning everything afterwards, download your book here: https://dev.doodledance.org.uk/making-a-move-book/.
 
iii)  The lovely team from Movement Works are running a series of movement sessions for children with additional needs, including Rhythm and Rhyme, Autism Movement Therapy, Yoga with Dance for Early Years, Developmental Dance Movement and Sensory Yoga based on the Yotism Method! Book on and join in here: https://bit.ly/3fZlpFW.


4.   Museums and Galleries
i)  Imagine what would happen if some rare animals kept in the basement of a natural history museum came to life, got dressed up and escaped for the day in order to to ‘re-wild’ themselves? Experiential museums designer and artist, Lucy Carruthers together with sound designer, Dan Savage, and animators, Silver Machine Studios, have created a beautiful film of these animals‘ extraordinary adventures. Commissioned by Scarborough Museums Trust, you can watch the whole series of Animal Archives: Re-wilding the Museum here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-gck0CM7gVFcsZHMAIcDw/featured and enjoy their summer holiday crafts activities here: https://www.scarboroughmuseumstrust.com/summer-holiday-programme-resources/
 
ii)  72 years ago, the ship Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury Docks, Essex. Children, families and teachers can discover how London was changed forever through this fabulous online resource from the Museum of London. Listen to oral histories from children of the immigrants, watch a slideshow of the Caribbean revolutionaries who ended slavery and look through the lens of Charlie Phillips, a groundbreaking photographer who made visible the lives of Black Londoners: https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/museum-london-docklands/windrush-stories.
 
iii)  The fabulous Orleans House Gallery is offering a new series of online workshops to explore their paintings and sculptures with families and settings called See Saw @ Home. Designed for under-fives and a carer around the visual language of aesthetics – line, colour, shape, texture, pattern, design and composition, mass and volume, and balance – See Saw @ Home activities are carefully designed for little ones to develop curiosity and skills in looking, communication, coordination and creativity: https://www.orleanshousegallery.org/learning/families/see-saw-home/.
 
iv)  The National Gallery invites you to join them on a creepy crawl through the collection. Can you spot some of the bugs and creatures hiding in their pictures? They have searched for some of the tiniest animals in their paintings and unearthed the stories they tell. Enjoy the quest to find the best creatures in all of history! https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/stories/a-creepy-crawl-through-the-collection.


5.   Story and Role Play
i)   The fabulous children’s theatre company, Branar, have turned their forthcoming shows into a wonderful repertoire of Pop-up Poetry for Lil’ Peeps. Four Irish writers and artists have created new poems and nursery rhymes, animated by artist Maeve Clancy, to bring the musicality and rhythm of poetry, nursery and nonsense rhymes to very young children. Parent and educators are welcome to enjoy these beautiful offerings with their children at www.branar.ie/popup-poetry.

ii)  Awesome storyteller, Kevin Graal, is back with another fabulous animated tale as part of De La Warr Pavilion’s play circle. Tadin – a little known tickle-rhyme for babies and toddlers – is a beautifully illustrated story by author-illustrator Petr Horáček together with a rhyming song about parts of the body: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBmEcNTJPqM.
 
iii)  Award-winning, experimental children’s theatre company, Theatre Rites, has teamed up with the Spark Arts for Children to present Talking Rubbish – a show that helps us discover how to make the most exciting bunch of new friends from all the things we throw away, including puppets, models, pets, friends, robots, rockets. Join the characters of Talking Rubbish here and explore their Recycling Creative Learning Toolkit at the same time: https://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/leisure-and-culture/libraries/summer-of-fun/talking-rubbish/ or catch up with The Spark’s huge range of children’s activities here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6y0fdfvKOI-H-QPnS5haxg.
 
iv)  The wonderful M6 Theatre Company are streaming ten brand new monologues, or Coronastories, written by for young audiences in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Enjoy these 10-minute stories of love and life in lockdown:  https://m6theatre.co.uk/latest/coronastories/. Our personal favourite is the beautifully written and performed Bird Behaviour!
 
v) Multi-media creator, writer, researcher, lecturer and film-maker, Peter Hulton, has created a fabulous storybook and online resource for young children and families to explore together the richness of writing and mark-making through the feeling body and mind. The Magic Lantern Alphabet encourages children to enjoy the strokes and movement of the letters by tracing them to create the story and unlock natural encounters (perfect for touch screen tablet or iPad) helping children to feel and visualise the foundational features of hand-writing. Enjoy tracing your stories here: www.magic-lantern-alphabet.co.uk 
 
vi)  Finally, if you are looking for an excellent way to spend screen time together, look no further than the online children’s adventure, Select A Quest! Written and performed by Olivier-nominated Pins and Needles Productions and award-winning writer Bea Roberts, this interactive theatrical experience will take you through the heart of the Freaky Forest to meet Bigfoot, mutant plants and a swamp monster who works in HR plus many more in a vibrant mix of mystery, silliness and fun, all for one objective – to find the magic whistle before nightfall: www.selectaquest.co.uk.

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The Creative Care Packages are also available on Earlyarts Blog if you want to catch up on previous issues.