Running head: CREATIVE MUSIC AND MOVEMENT
Creative Music and Movement Thematic Experiences and State Standards
Name
Institution
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CREATIVE MUSIC AND MOVEMENT 2
Creative Music and Movement Thematic Experiences and State Standards
Design Experience
The domain of creative arts includes four crucial elements: music, dramatic play, art, and movement. Besides supporting children’s imaginative thinking, these arts support their selfexpression techniques and enhance their progress in different domains. For instance, by counting musical beats, children can develop a variety of cognitive and social skills; hence, enhance their creativity and knowledge on music. Unlike other domains, creations focus on engaging children’s senses (Ostergard, 2004). Furthermore, the pieces invite children to solve problems through observation, listening, and utilizing several modes of thoughts and expressions. Research depicts that through engaging children in such arts while at a tender age, there is development of positive relationships that stimulate academic performance (US Department of Health and
Human Services, 2012). The engagement enhances students’ level of creativity and intellectual activities throughout their growth.
The theme selected will be that of a grocery store. The rationale for the selection focuses on an appropriate art that will facilitate children movement, music relation skills, as well as enhance their participation and thinking skills. Moreover, such a theme incorporates the needs of all the students, whereby even children with special needs can relate to the activities in a grocery store.
The objective of engaging children in the activities is to enhance their intellectual thinking, create an avenue for talent development, and develop original experiences that will promote children’s expressions through music and movement.
Florida State standards dictate that schools should encourage children to communicate through arts. This implies focusing on production, exhibition, music and movement, as well as

CREATIVE MUSIC AND MOVEMENT 3 performances. Moreover, the law necessitates that a responsible adult must provide various musical experiences to young toddlers through recorded music, singing, and musical toys. This will help children develop vital skills in music. Consequently, there is the recommendation of continuous introduction of new songs and encouraging toddlers to participate in musical activities. This will help in exposing children to a variety of music, which will improve their mastery to the development of skills.
The areas to be integrated in the activities include language arts, arithmetic, and social studies. The areas help students in understanding class concepts apart from their music presentation, performance, and movement skills. Furthermore, learners would relate to most of the issues discussed in subjects with the music presentations given, thereby increase the likelihood of grasping contents while in class. For instance, a song that helps students count numbers or arrange letters would help in improving mathematical skills, language skills, as well as boost performance and thinking skills (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2012).
The lists of materials and props to be used in creating the grocery store theme are food containers, toy-shopping carts, paper bags, play money, empty food containers, cash registers, operating stations, as well as tills and aprons.
Children learn best through moving their bodies (Ostergard, 2004). This implies that the activity must include various movements such as running and jumping to represent locomotor movements, throwing and kicking to achieve satisfactory manipulative movements, and hands movements to represent actions at cash tills, cash registers, and stability movements. This will enhance the development of student’s social, emotional, and cognitive experiences.
To develop a child’s thinking skills, it is necessary to ask questions that will stimulate the thinking process. This implies including the appropriate words and involving various musical

CREATIVE MUSIC AND MOVEMENT 4 and subject related performances to improve thinking skills. Some of the questions that can be asked include:
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How many eggs are there in an egg holder that holds a dozen eggs?
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How many days do we have in a week?
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What is the difference between a cow and a chicken?
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Which part of the body is responsible for: a) Tasting b) Smelling c) Hearing d) Touching
Therefore, using the above questions, instructors would help students develop vital learning skills, which can be composed into musical tunes. In this case, this strategy enhances learner’s performance and participation in class.
To assess children’s responses, they would be divided into groups, and each group required to come up with various performances and answers to questions asked. This will help them cooperate and learn from each other while creating an easy time for the assessor.
Various home activities that can be done by parents include number counting and alphabet arrangement. Consequently, parents can use various props to help students develop their skills while far away from home.
Implementation
The activity to implement is a complete shopping experience, as the theme requires a grocery store activity. The acting will take place in the form of a dramatic play, coupled with singing to enhance the performance and cooperation of all children. In this case, students who

CREATIVE MUSIC AND MOVEMENT 5 will not secure various roles to participate in the drama will contribute to the play through singing. This implies that there must be appropriate props for the station, as well as shoppers, staff, and workers to work in the grocery. Consequently, there must be suitable products for sale in the grocery to enhance the play. Such a scenario will help the children utilize all the skills learned, as they will implement arithmetic skills in sales, use language skills to improve communication, and social experience to initiate reasoning and problem solving skills.
According to Ostergard (2004), dramatic plays are an efficient way to develop cognitive response skills. Moreover, instructors can dramatize stories learned from the children’s cultures in order to create a flexible and imaginative environment for the children.
The children’s comments after the activities revealed that they enjoyed the dramatization of the theme. Moreover, learners enjoyed the experience through making various purchases, making different sounds, emulate various actions, and transport their goods from the grocery store. They were happy with the materials used in the play, as they created a suitable environment for the theme, for which most of them were familiar with (Ostergard, 2004). For the needy children, it was amusing to see them interact with their peers. The play did not prohibit any person to participate because of their physical state. Nevertheless, it would be necessary to use a larger space in the future to enhance the activity. The space for the grocery store was small, and occasionally, some of the children would get confused on accessing items in the store.
Others did not follow the correct path to access the exit. In fact, others used what was set as the window for their exit. Consequently, we could also incorporate signs to indicate exit, thereby guide learners in the future. Nevertheless, students enjoyed the presentation and cherished their efforts towards making the play a success.

CREATIVE MUSIC AND MOVEMENT
References
Ostergard, M. (2004). Toddler's Tango: Creative music and movement.
School Library Journal,
50 (9), 68.
US Department of Health and Human Services. (2012). Domain 5: Creative Arts . Accessed online at:
<http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/ttasystem/teaching/eecd/domains%20of%20child%20d evelopment/creative%20arts/edudev_art_00015_061705.html> on 7 th February 2014.
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