Tiny Voices Case Study
20th November 2025
Tiny Voices, a collaborative project between Trafford Music Service and SpeechWise, was developed to enhance speech, language, and communication skills in babies and toddlers through music. We spoke to Laura McCandless and Jenny Davies, leaders of the project, to find out more.
How it started
My name is Laura McCandless, and I am a Speech and Language Therapist. I work for a company called SpeechWise, and this year I have been working with Bright Futures Early Years Stronger Practice Hub. After recently having my own son, I have a special interest in the early years and particularly the 0-2 years baby rooms.
My name is Jenny Davies, and I am the Lead Early Years Music Tutor at Trafford Music Service. One of the best parts of my job is encouraging 0-4 year olds and their carers (in an EYFS setting or at home) to engage with music making and to see the benefits it brings. I was keen to work with Laura on this project and learn strategies specific to early language development that could enhance music sessions.
Together we came up with the idea of taking Jenny’s music sessions, that she had been running with babies in private, voluntary and independent (PVI) settings, and developing them to have more focus on developing the children’s speech, language and communication skills.
The music theory part
Musical Development Matters in the Early Years (by Nicola Burke) is a key document that provides information and guidance to practitioners around using music in the Early Years. “Music interweaves through all areas of learning and development which can be seen throughout this guidance.” The document separates musical learning and development into four aspects:
- Hearing & Listening
- Vocalising & Singing
- Moving & Dancing
- Exploring & Playing
While developing Tiny Voices, we took these four aspects and made them integral parts of the Tiny Voices structure.
The Speech and Language Theory Part
The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) Evidence Store contains a wealth of information on approaches and practices to support communication and language development in the early years. We have taken some of the key elements and incorporated them into our sessions. For example, in the ‘Communication and Language’ section practitioners are advised to pause and wait when interacting with children: ‘The adult waits long enough for the child to act, vocalise or talk. The 10 second rule can be followed to give the child time to think and respond’. We made sure that there are more relaxed and open parts of the session where practitioners are encouraged to follow the child’s lead and use strategies such as ‘waiting’ and ‘mirroring.’
How it went
Although at this stage we did not have a finished product, we had a structure and had found a Nursery that was willing to let us try out our ideas. We got started with the sessions straight away, with the idea that we would see how the children responded and make changes and adaptations along the way. The staff at the setting got involved with all eight sessions that we delivered, and we encouraged them to replicate the sessions again throughout the week with the babies.
The Impact
The sessions were a success! We noticed some fantastic changes by the end, particularly with the children’s attention and listening and their interactions with us. Some of the children engaged throughout the whole session, and many started to use some of the new vocabulary we introduced, as well as joining in with the singing and signing.
We developed a pack of handouts, which is available on the Bright Futures website, alongside a webinar where we talk through the resources and the rationale behind them.
On the website, you will also find videos of Jenny demonstrating all the songs and rhymes (with Signalong signs) that we use in the eight sessions.
Childminders Roadshow & Conference
Throughout the entire process, we always discussed how we thought Tiny Voices would work fantastically for childminders. We set out on a Roadshow to meet with childminders to demonstrate Tiny Voices to them and their children, and we were impressed by the enthusiasm. We chatted about how the childminders could implement Tiny Voices sessions in their home, but also discussed the idea that groups of childminders could come together and run the sessions together in local community halls.
We were also lucky enough to present to almost one hundred childminders at the Bright Futures childminders conference and got some brilliant feedback.
“I cannot wait to implement ‘Tiny Voices’ into my setting – we do a daily story and rhyme session, but I loved this focused structure and so will my children.”
“The Tiny Voices workshop has given me inspiration to offer more music into my setting. Lots of fun ideas and wonderfully presented.”
This project has been exciting, dynamic, and challenging! Ultimately, we hope the resources provided lead to more children discovering their voice through music.
