Harriet and I set up Boogie Mites UK Ltd in 2007 combining Harriet’s creative and music writing skills with my business skills. We spent many happy years leading Boogie Mites music and movement 
sessions in our local areas (London and Portsmouth), learning about early years development, training and growing a team of teachers and trainers who helped develop the programmes and make Boogie Mites available more widely.
We set up Boogie Mites Community Projects CIC to help reach families and settings in more disadvantaged areas through funded projects. In the last two years we have moved online and learnt how to make online sessions and training work, experiencing the benefits of providing videos for regular practice and training opportunities that can be accessed globally – both by parents at home and practitioners in settings.
Now is the time to use music
The last two years of lockdowns and social distancing restrictions have impacted early years development in many ways, including social and group skills, communication and physical skills, foundations for literacy and maths… the list goes on and not to forget the significant impact on emotional wellbeing of adults caring for young children.
Now more than ever music can provide the key to boosting development and closing the gap in all of the key developmental areas. Watch the video at the end of this article to hear Harriet and I talk about this and see some clips of Boogie Mites in action.
Watch the video at the bottom of this article to hear Harriet and I talk about this and see some clips of Boogie Mites in action.
Neuroscience evidence
Boogie Mites music programmes and training have always been informed by neuroscience evidence and we have long followed the work of Dr Anita Collins who is based in Australia.
Anita has travelled the world visiting neuroscience laboratories that research the effect of music on the brain throughout life. She translates the findings into everyday language and provides materials, books, lectures and online courses for advocating the vital part of music in education.
Anita has created a series of four video modules, exclusively for Boogie Mites, that explain the neuromusical evidence regarding the impact of music on brain development in early years.
She explains how the evidence suggests that regular active music-making develops rhythmic and melodic awareness, can help to close the gap in all the areas of developmental delay as outlined, and improve emotional wellbeing of adults taking part at the same time. This neuromusical training course is included with the purchase of a Boogie Mites core programme online training package.
Find out more about our upgraded training packages here.
Upcoming training evenings:
We are offering six themed training evenings in the first quarter of 2022, presented in collaboration with Early Years Consultants (Mine Conkbayir, Sue Asquith, Linda Baston-Pitt and Ange Cane) that will boost post pandemic mood and development in the following areas:
Music and Emotional Wellness
Music and Maths
Music and Literacy
Music and Schemas
Music and Healthy Living
Music and Parent Engagement
In each training session we will refer to the neuroscience evidence and cover a few Boogie Mites songs that can be accessed for trialling in your settings., and we hope it will also work as a taster for our music programmes. 
Our training aims to give early years practitioners the knowledge, confidence and resources to harness the power of music for early years development.
More information and online booking can be found via this blog:
Find out more about Boogie Mites here
Plus – more information about our fully self-paced online training courses for Boogie Mites core programmes here
Nursery World Readers Offer:
We are offering a 20 per cent discount on all of our products and training to Nursery World subscribers, use BMNW20% discount code at the checkout here.
Please contact sue@boogiemites.co.uk for enquiries about onsite training or further information about the online training options.
