Share Your Thoughts

[Meredith Pizzi]

Share some thoughts about the challenges of providing multi-age groupings.

[Jennifer DeBedout]

Meredith and Beth mentioned several of the challenges I have experienced having multi-ages in an early child music group. The older children want more of a challenge in the activities but there is a balance to be kept so that the younger ones and babies don’t get over stimulated. One funny thing that happened to me when I first started the multi-age groups was that the 2 yr olds in the group were very interested in what was in my music bag and they would come right to me at the start of class and start pulling things out. This has caused me to be very strategic in the way I place things in the room so that I could get them as needed but in a way that the kids don’t get overly distracted. In the same vein, the place where I hold my multi-age group has a big toy shelf full of very enticing toys. I found that some of the children would leave the group to explore the toys and this would often really stress the parents out. Again, I have had to prepare the room so that the toys are covered up during music. The fun thing is that the toys get uncovered after music and parents linger and let the children play. All this to say, that you have to work hard to maintain everybody’s interest when you have the multi-age group. On a positive note, the older children become wonderful models for the smaller children with movement or even with the singing in the groups. I find the babies and smaller children love to watch the older kids. Older kids also love to help pass out instruments to little ones and be helpers. There are definitely pros and cons with the multi-age groups!

[Anonymous]

Jennifer you make a great point. I discovered very quickly that some of the two and three year olds in my SM groups would go to the box of instruments and bag of scarves to pull them out when they were in the room, but not being used. I quickly learned that, unless we were using the instruments, props, scarves, etc, they need to be out of sight. I am fortunate, in my location, to have a door to a storage space next to the spot I sit at during the group. I keep everything at the door in the storage space so I can get supplies and put supplies away quickly! Now the kids get excited when I go to the door because it is a surprise what I am going to pull out. Sometimes they like to play the guessing game and see if they can guess what I am going to get.

[Caroline Gillott]

o The biggest challenge is providing experiences that are simple enough for the younger child, but engaging and challenging enough for the older child. Other challenges would balance of energy and use of instruments, dealing/responding to tantrums of the older children.

[Elyse Suhay]

I’ve experienced the challenges of having a multi-aged group with a private group that I do. There are two brothers and another girl. The younger brother has a very short attention span, so the activities that are appropriate for him are too boring for the older kids. Some other challenges Meredith and Beth addressed in the videos were that children will be at different stages of development, you have to plan activities that are engaging for the older kids but tolerable for the younger ones, and the older children are often more engaged so it is easy to focus on them instead of the younger siblings. You two also suggested to be consistent from week to week so that the children can learn a sense of predictability from the activities.

[Cassandra Mulcahy]

The biggest challenge I have had for multi-aged groups is space. The library group I was running had a maximum of 12 families. During the last group, all families had babies who would be in the SM1 group, but two families had children who would be in SM3, and one extra family snuck in! There were almost 30 people in the room! The kiddos in SM3 age bracket really needed more room to move and dance, but meanwhile, some of my older babies were just learning to crawl. Phew! Helping the older kiddos define boundaries for movement by giving them colorful carpet squares to dance on seemed to help, but I wish I had some of these experiential songs for families when I lead that group. Giving the older kiddos responsibilities for cleaning up helped a bunch too!
I will have to learn to set boundaries regarding people per square foot.

[Kristina Rio]

It can definitely be challenging. What has worked for me is to use a simple song that is not too stimulating for the little ones and model for parents how to engage with their child where they are developmentally. For instance when I do a tickle song, I encourage parents with babies who are not yet walking to feel comfortable with the one on one interaction of the tickle in their own space while the older kids are running away from their parents in a chasing game. I also prompt the older kids to “get” their parents and chase them back. It’s all about giving the parents instructions on how best to meet their child’s developmental needs, so you are using the same song but in different ways with each family.

[Kate St. John]

Family Sprouts is the group I am most intimidated by because of the challenges with multiple ages and developmental levels. I would love to hear and see more examples of how people are successfully keeping a good balance of engagement without overstimulation. I feel challenged by making sure the music won’t startle young ones but is engaging enough for older ones. I love the idea of giving the older ones responsibilities such as cleaning up and modeling. There are some great ideas people have posted and I’d love to hear more! I’d also love to see some video examples if there are some…?

[Dany Orozco]

I also think it can be tricky to lead a group with kids in different developmental levels since you need to be careful to not over-stimulate the younger ones while keeping the older ones engaged. I like what was said in the video about letting the older kids model for the youngest, and I also like the idea of giving the older kids a limited space for moving/dancing since it can be fun for them. I also like the idea of giving the older kids responsibilities, I usually do that at the end of sessions but I hadn’t thought of it in this population.

[Katie Maurer]

I echo what everyone else has said. It seems like the biggest challenge is choosing appropriate songs and activities that will be engaging for the older children but not overstimulating for the young ones. I don’t have any experience with mixed age music groups, but I did work in a mixed age childcare center during high school. It was very difficult to find activities that everyone could participate in.

The idea of having a space for the older ones to dance/move that may be close to, but not in the same place as the non crawlers and those just beginning to crawl seem like a good move. I also like the idea of encouraging modeling and having all the family participate in the bonding songs.

Cassandra, I’m sure you got quite the sense of accomplishment after pulling that group off! I’m sure it can be hard to tell families ‘no,’ but it is so important to have adequate space.

[Nancy Bair]

I think the challenges for family sprouts are mostly in the planning and preparing phases. I also think it could be hard to plan ahead for a family sprout session, not knowing how many people or what ages you are going to have. A make-up class is mentioned, which means inconsistency of your attendance. For me, I think that is the biggest challenge.

I like the idea of keeping your supplies hidden until you need them. I also think that if a parent comes to the class with 2 or 3 of their kids, assuming the youngest is a lap child, the ability for the others to have bonding time with that parent is limited and the amount of redirection and staying on task/cues, etc. is where the music therapist have to be on their toes!!

[Sarah jane Mason]

I agree that most of the challenges are planning! As Mt’s we have a tool box of songs and music experiences to pull from and I think that really sets us apart from other music classes. Other challenges are trying to balance encouraging the new found creative independence of toddlers with being conscious of not startling the little littles.

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