Got a question? Check our FAQ! Need more information? Contact us!
New phone number!
(08) 6460 4703
What is your ABN?
Do you have public liability insurance?
Are you police checked?
Are your instruments and incursions safe?
What assistance do you need from us during the incursion?
What facilities do you need to set up your instruments?
What happens if it rains?
How long does set up take?
How long are the sessions?
Your sessions seem very long for such young children – can you really keep their attention for the whole program?
How many sessions can you do in a day?
How many children can there be at a session?
I’ve got 40 children – if I pay you extra will you do it as one session?
Can we mix children from different school years in a session?
Are you experienced in working with children with additional needs?
My children did your program last year – is it worthwhile for them to do it again?
Do I need to pay a deposit?
Do you charge a mileage fee?
Do you provide teacher resources and follow up activities?
Are all your instruments made from recycled materials?
Are your instruments really unbreakable?
Do you sell the instruments?
How can I learn to make instruments like yours?
Do you do vacation care?
What is your ABN?
Our Australian Business Number is: 84 226 624 588
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Do you have public liability insurance?
Yes. Our insurance provides $5m public liability per claim and $5m professional indemnity per claim. We’ve never had to make a claim, but it’s nice to know it’s there.
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Are you police checked?
Yes. Alec Duncan has a full Working With Children Check clearance and card.
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Are your instruments and incursions safe?
Yes. Child’s Play Music has been safely delivering music incursions since 1998. We use risk/benefit analysis to assess, reduce and manage risk. For full information see our Risk Assessment page here.
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What assistance do you need from us during the incursion?
During the incursion we will need assistance from your staff to help supervise the children – we will brief you on this before the incursion. Ideally we need two staff members, one inside and one outside; for primary age children one staff member is adequate, but two is preferable. We will also need help moving one instrument during set up and pack away (it’s not heavy, just huge!)
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What facilities do you need to set up your instruments?
We need to set up all the tuned instruments inside a classroom or similar sized room; there are a lot of instruments so we will probably need to move your tables etc around. At least part of this room needs to be carpeted (mats will do). We need to set up all the un-tuned percussion (drums etc) outdoors in a playground or similar area nearby to the other instruments.
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What happens if it rains?
All our drums are plastic so it doesn’t matter if they get wet, but if the rain is heavy enough to stop children from playing we will need access to some sort of undercover area – a veranda will do.
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How long does set up take?
Generally about 35-40 minutes, if we can bring our van close to the location. We arrive 1 hour before the start of the incursion to leave ample time for sign in, set up, and any unforeseen circumstances. Pack up also usually takes 35-40 minutes.
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How long are the sessions?
For children under 3 in child care we do a 25 minute session. For pre-kindy and 3+ children in child care we do a 50 minute session. For K-3 in-school visits we do a 1 hour session. Generally programs for education support are also 1 hour. Free-flow programs for community events start at 1 hour but can be as long as you like.
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Your sessions seem very long for such young children – can you really keep their attention for the whole program?
Yes. Our programs are carefully structured to maintain children’s focused attention. Children don’t have time to get bored – there’s so much for them to do!
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How many sessions can you do in a day?
We try to be as flexible as possible to meet your requirements.
Generally in schools we can do a maximum of 4 one hour sessions – this may vary depending on your school schedule and how flexible it is. We need a minimum of 15 minutes between each session to set back up again.
In child care centres it depends on how your ages are structured, how many children there are in each age range and how you structure your routine, but if necessary we can do sessions in the afternoon as well as the morning.
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How many children can there be at a session?
A maximum of 30 children.
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I’ve got 40 children – if I pay you extra will you do it as one session?
No. Sorry, but our focus is on the children getting the most benefit out of the incursion, and although there are plenty of instruments, once numbers go over 30 the children start feeling pressured and they don’t enjoy themselves. Supervision and safety also becomes compromised. We would rather not do the program at all than do a second-rate job.
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Can we mix children from different school years in a session?
Yes, but we prefer if we can keep the children in a session relatively close to each other in age.
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Are you experienced in working with children with additional needs?
Yes. Not only was working with children with additional needs a compulsory component of Alec Duncan’s degree, over the years he has worked with many children with a range of abilities and challenges. He has facilitated Child’s Play Music incursions in integrated settings, at education support centres and schools, community-based programs, and other facilities for people with additional needs and he has the skills and experience to ensure that the program is developmentally appropriate for all children.
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My children did your program last year – is it worthwhile for them to do it again?
Absolutely! Experiencing the incursion again builds upon and consolidates their prior learning. The children are a year older and they will get different things out of the incursion than they did the year before. They explore the instruments in different ways, they ask different questions, they have different ideas. In addition the structured play activities are more sophisticated so they will still be challenged by the program.
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Do I need to pay a deposit?
No – it’s more hassle for you, and we prefer doing business on trust.
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Do you charge a mileage fee?
No – for anywhere in the greater Perth Metropolitan region, including Mandurah, we don’t charge a mileage fee.
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Do you provide teacher resources and follow up activities?
Yes. For each incursion we provide two big booklets of resources and activities. One has a range of play-based music activities, the other has full instructions for making your own simple musical instruments.
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Are all your instruments made from recycled materials?
No. Most are made entirely or principally from recycled materials, but some instruments are made from new materials, mainly for safety reasons, or the unavailability of suitable recycled materials. Wherever possible we use recycled materials and plantation grown timbers.
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Are your instruments really unbreakable?
They are as close to unbreakable as we can make them! Some of our instruments are 14 years old and have never broken. Very occasionally something may break, most commonly banjo strings, drumsticks, and drum skins. These items are consumables, so breakage is not a problem; if such breakage occurs it is not the child’s fault, and we tell them so.
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Do you sell the instruments?
No. Each instrument is a one-off original design and building them is labour-intensive. We simply can’t make them for a price that anyone would be prepared to pay.
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How can I learn to make instruments like yours?
We have an ever-increasing number of videos on YouTube showing how to make simple homemade musical instruments. We also provide teacher resources on making musical instruments as part of the incursion.
For further reading on making homemade instruments we thoroughly recommend the books by Bart Hopkin. See this blog post for a detailed review of the 3 Bart Hopkin books.
“Musical Instrument Design” (the bible for homemade musical instruments – it’s hugely detailed with full instructions on how to make many excellent instruments; most are quite easy to make, although some require more skill).
“Slap Tubes and other Plosive Aerophones” (thongophones, stamping tubes and similar instruments – most are very easy to make).
“Making Musical Instruments with Kids” (67 projects graded by age suitability for children 5 to 14 – every teacher should buy this book).
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Do you do vacation care?
We are no longer providing programs for vacation care programs. We decided to concentrate on exclusively early childhood settings.
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Child's Play Music 