Training talk - Full of beans

The Bean Game has become a new favourite at Loddon Nursery School in Norwich. ‘Runner beans!’ shouts a practitioner, and the children start running. ‘Baked beans!’ she shouts, and the children fall to the floor.

The activity was highlighted during EYFS Dance and Movement Training by Music + Movement. Nursery owner and director Jayne White says she wanted new ideas to help children be more physically active. ‘It concerns me children are spending longer at home on iPads or watching television,’ she says. ‘We have a lovely outdoor area, but the training showed us movement can be done indoors as well. You can incorporate music into everyday activities.’

The course covered topics including storytelling through music, equipment, cultural movement and music, and singing and percussion. Trainer Helen Battelley linked activities with EYFS guidelines. And trainees were on their feet doing practical exercises throughout.

In one activity, the trainees listened to a piece of music, then had to consider how it could help tell the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. ‘Like the stalk growing or the giant,’ says Ms White. ‘You had to really think about how the story-telling would affect the child.’

They were also taught Bollywood, flamenco and Egyptian dance styles, and how to use props including scarfs, egg shakers and small finger-lights.

Ms White says the training had immediate impact on staff, who now have more ideas of how to keep children moving on rainy days, and are enthusiastic about physical activities. The nursery has also started having ‘no chair days’. Chairs are taken away during playtime (not meal times) to encourage children to move freely.

Parents have also reacted positively and reported children acting out stories when they read to them at home. ‘It exceeded all our expectations,’ says Ms White.