If music is not important to you then the chances are that you don’t include it in your training. But as Thomas Armstrong amongst others has shown us, music is an important way of ‘being smart’. This simple reflection or summary activity is a non-threatening way of using music in the classroom.

Prepare:

Prepare a card for each of the following nursery rhymes, printing two of each card:

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily merrily
Life is but a dream.

Jack and Jill
Went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down
And broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after
Up Jack got
And home did trot
As fast as he could caper
He went to bed
To mend his head
With vinegar and brown paper.

Run the activity:

• Divide learners into teams of four and let each team pick a nursery rhyme card. Their task is to create a song of at least 8 lines based upon the rhyme they have drawn. The song should focus on important content that they have learnt during this learning session.

• Allow 5 – 10 minutes for the teams to create their songs and then invite each team to perform for the group!

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