Mini-music in Shrewsbury

Through the Doorway to Healthy Living's mini-music sessions provide weekly opportunities for pre-school children to make (and listen) to music with their parents or carers, as well as be active through movement and dance.

Through the Doorway to Healthy Living is a "virtual" healthy living centre in Shrewsbury which aims to reduce health inequalities by giving people the skills, opportunities and confidence to adopt healthier lifestyles.

One of our core activities is "mini-music" sessions for pre-school children, which we have been providing for a number of years now. Our aim is to improve children's readiness for school and bring, fun, enjoyment and musicality to the family. We seem to be achieving this, as evidenced by some of the comments we receive from parents:

"fun and interactive - a great way of spending quality time with my children"

"children are learning songs, counting, confidence in ways I wouldn't think of helping them"

"my daughter enjoys the singing, dancing adn musical instruments and I enjoy watching and meeting new people"

We have, however, noticed some changing trends. The major change we have seen is that the age profile has got younger as more parents take up their free childcare places for 3 and 4 year olds (and even some 2 year olds). Parents often tell us that they will really miss the mini-music sessions and are sad to leave because they enjoy the sessions almost as much as the children do "we really enjoy mini-music and will miss it greatly!". Whilst this means we have to work harder to continually attract more new faces, the real benefit is that we can offer more children the chance to take part!