About

Exploring SonicPlay™ Sessions: Enhancing Listening and Creativity in Early Childhood Education

Sounds are fundamental to a child's life, impacting their survival, social-emotional development, and linguistic competence. However, as educators, how often do we consider the significance of our students' listening journeys? Are we mindful of the sounds we express into the environment?

In this interactive session, Dr Nat shares her expertise on SonicPlay™ Sessions, a proprietary program developed in collaboration with LittleCr3atures®. This innovative program encourages play with sound, sonic ideas, and objects, drawing on pedagogies such as Soundscape Education, Reggio Emilia, and Loose Parts Play, as well as concepts like the theory of mutuality, innate intersubjectivity, and communicative musicality.

Through her reflective practice as an artist-educator-researcher-mother, Dr Nat draws on her experience running SonicPlay™ sessions in a progressive preschool in Singapore, as well as private sessions in her art studio. First, she will give an overview of the conceptual and theoretical underpinnings to the programme. Then, she will invite participants to go on a journey of Soundwalk for a first-hand experience of mindful listening, before engaging in a creative activity of sonic improvisations. Next, the process of creating SonicPlay™ sessions shall be shared, before closing the sessions with hands-on brainstorming and creation of mini sonic installations that could be applicable to the early years’ classroom.

During this hands-on session, you will engage in meaningful listening and sound-making processes, fostering respectful and responsive relationships with your children, and developing competencies in observation, listening, and creativity. Together, we will explore the power of sound in early childhood education and discover new ways to support children's holistic development.

Target Audience: Educators/ Practitioners

Presenter

 

Dr Natalie Tse

Natalie Alexandra Tse (b.1987) believes in the relational nature of the Arts, to establish essential connections amongst people and their environments. For her doctoral studies at the National Institute of Education Singapore, Natalie investigated her creation of a music performance for babies, where theatrical elements transformed a space into an immersive experience for babies and parents alike. This is consistent with her artistic practice where she seeks multi-modal manners of experiencing sounds and the environment. She promotes her spirit of experimentation and exploration of sound through the Arts, with the belief that the Arts has the ability to develop children’s awareness of the diversity of cultures in the world, thereby developing understanding, respect and empathy for others. 

As the co-founder of arts organization SAtheCollective, Natalie artistically directs the young audience initiative LittleCr3atures®, where she promotes the spirit of child-like playfulness through mindful listening.