The Music Playground Playtime Classes
Designed for children aged 3-6 years.
If your child is 0-15 months old, click here to view Baby Steps Online.
If your child is 1-4 years old, click here to view Small Steps Online.
We're excited to welcome you to our new studio with our CovidSafe face-to-face class format. We've introduced stringent hygiene procedures, physical distancing and other recommendations in our new larger studio to help keep us all safe and healthy.
Every child can and should be musical, all they need is the right environment. The Music Playground has created a unique and carefully planned enrichment program to foster a love of music. Our curriculum is based on Early Childhood Research and led by qualified, experienced teachers with specialist qualifications in both the Suzuki and Kodaly methods.
Our mixed age classes promote interaction among families as we focus on developing a child's sense of pitch, beat, and expression, preparing our students for the transition to learning an instrument which can happen as early as three years.
🧸🥁 Play based learning
🥰 Joy and connection through music making with others
🎶 Stimulate imagination through joy-filled music making including singing, instrument exploration, rhymes and stories
🌱 Grow musical potential, by following the natural process of language acquisition
🎼 Inspire children to listen, connect and move to classical music, developing musical sensitivity and self-expression
👩👦👨👧 Encourage constructive social interaction and cooperation with other children and their families
🎹 Seamless transition to learning an instrument from three years old
This class is designed to facilitate a smooth transition from our "Small Steps" class to learning any instrument, as well as extending and supporting the beginner instrumentalist by providing a broad range of musical experiences and activities to improve their fine motor skills, music literacy and spatial awareness.
Children who have begun to learn an instrument continue in our Playtime class until they start school.
Priority bookings for Term 3 are available for existing students re-enrolling in the same class time until Friday 25 June.
Bookings for Term 3 open for new students and existing students transferring to a different class time from Saturday 26 June.
We ask new families to book and pay for the term. If after the first class you decide our classes are not suitable for your child's needs, we will refund the rest of the term minus the cost of your first class.
The Music Playground
41 Challis Street
Newport Vic 3015
For more information about our Playtime classes, please click here to visit our web page.
To contact us, please click here.
It’s a crazy time, but we will teach in-person classes wherever possible with all appropriate Covid-19 safeguards.
We have many Covid-19 controls in place, such as:
- All families much check in using the QR codes in any room or at the entrances
- Everyone 12 years old and over must wear a mask
- Keep 2 metres apart for social distancing when singing
- Please don’t come if you or your child is unwell
- Dress warmly. There will be plenty of fresh air to provide good ventilation
- Anti-viral air purifier running in the room for all classes
For children over 2.5 years, our classes will switch to online when we are unable to teach face to face for any Covid-19 related reason, including teacher illness/isolation. By switching to online learning during these times, children won't lose the continuity with classes. There is a very big difference between “watching screens” and watching a video of of someone you know.
Your child can watch our pre-recorded classes as many times that suit you during the week. You can pause them if you need to. The classes are designed to be able to be watched in small chunks if you child isn’t concentrating. They are designed to motivate children to make joyful music around the home away from the screen. They are vastly higher quality sound and video compared to Zoom classes.
We know some families are worried about screen time for children, so we researched it to find out the validity of online classes.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has a policy that children as young as 15 months can learn from media when a caregiver is present and involved:
"For infants and toddlers, age 15 months to 2 years, there is limited evidence from a couple of very small studies that they can learn new words from educational media, if and only if parents are watching alongside them, repeating what the video says and/or drawing attention to what is on the screen. In other words, treating a video or an app like a picture book is the best bet.”
https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/10/21/498550475/american-academy-of-pediatrics-lifts-no-screens-under-2-rule
We’ve noticed that children who watch our online classes during lockdowns are much less anxious when returning to classes, and are excited to see their teachers on the screen and in the studio. They jump straight back in to classes with much more ease because the continuity is maintained.
We take great pride in our online program and have developed and refined it for many, many episodes. We have had wonderful feedback from children and parents. Our classes are are age specific and educational, created by us for your child.
This policy has been instigated to ensure the safety of you, your child and our teachers.
Thank you for your understanding, and for helping us provide a Covid-safe environment.