5 Essential instrument sets for every nursery setting

Travelling between settings, I see many beautifully arranged musical areas.  Often there are wide varieties of instruments, but never a single set for a whole group.  The benefits of all having the same instruments, besides not fighting over them, is that it encourages children to be more creative in how they play the instruments, so this article will focus on instruments that in my nearly 10 years of practise, I have found to be particularly useful or beneficial.  (Incidentally, as a travelling teacher, I find that Really Useful Boxes are fantastic for their transportability, durability and stackability, with home-made, strong-fabric bags for more flexible items!)

1. Egg shakers

Egg shakers are a great addition to any setting because of the easy-grip shape, and gentle  sound.  Useful to shake together, tap on body parts, or even pass around, these are a firm favourite with babies, toddlers, and preschoolers!

2. Wooden Sticks

Whether you call them rhythm sticks or claves, these versatile instruments develop the beating instinct that children naturally have.  (Technically claves should be carefully tapped to produce a resonating tone - this rarely happens with children!)

3. Jingle Bells

Bells with one jingle are gentle and light enough to be held by babies through to preschoolers, without making to loud a noise.  Particularly useful at Christmas time, there are also a number of songs referring to "bells" where these can be used.  Like the wooden sticks, these are useful to observe children's ability to keep a beat, a skill that has been matched to more advanced learning success.

4. Scarves

This honourary instrument is essential to every setting. Besides being used for dancing, scarves can be used for quick dressing up ideas in pretend play and storytelling (found often in songs), or to explore positional concepts like up and down, around, zigzag, over, under, through.  They can be peek-a-boo covers or even "blankets" and "pillows" in wind-down songs.

5. Jingle Balls

Another honourary instruments, jingle balls have a gentle jingle inside.  Ideally made durable enough to cope with the bites and pulls of little ones, these are great for rolling back and forth to songs about rolling.  Developing skills in sharing and turn-taking, these also develop the sensation of time and rhythm in music when rolled or bounced between pairs or within a circle on the first line of songs - so much fun!

With this simple selection of versatile instruments, there are instruments to tap and shake.  All of these would be fantastic as instrument sets, and they could be made available to children by featuring one instrument type each week during free-play, while the others could be kept aside for focussed music sessions.  (All available from the Musicaliti website and all good music shops - ask for educator discounts!)

Happy playing!