Published September 7, 2026 Written by [email protected]

Early years activity: Carnival comes to nursery

The following activities are perfect for your celebration of Black history. Early preparations will ensure it’s well-planned, meaningful and understood by everyone. Children will have the opportunity to make instruments, feel the rhythm of the music and the pure joy of Black British carnival tradition.

Carnival comes to nursery learning aims

Listen attentively to Reggae, Afrobeats and/or sounds of Calypso and respond to changes in tempo and rhythm
Explore, copy and create rhythm patterns using instruments and body percussion
Choose materials to make a percussion instrument
Begin to know that music comes from different places and people celebrate in different ways.

Resources you will need for this activity

Speaker to listen to a range of music – Reggae, Calypso, Soca, Afrobeats etc
Shakers: small containers (pots, crisp tubes etc.), rice, lentils, beans, pasta, strong tape, paint, collage materials, scissors, glue etc.
Instruments: djembe drum, tambourines, bells, wood blocks etc.
Chiffon scarves, streamers, carnival masks
Bunting or fabric pieces
Books such as ‘Coming to England’ by Floella Benjamin, ‘Hey you!’ by Dapo Adeola, ‘We all celebrate!’ by Chitra Sounder or ‘Nini at Carnival’ by Errol Floyd. Contact your local library or find them on YouTube.

Carnival comes to nursery activity outline

Inform parents that you plan to create a carnival and make a request for resources, skills and knowledge that they are happy to share
Play different music across the week so that on your chosen carnival day, the children are already familiar with the sounds and can even sing along (especially to tracks like ‘Follow the leader’ by the Soca Boys). Simply listen to the music at first. Name each track correctly, for example, “This is steel pan music from Trinidad. The drums are made from oil barrels.” Name places not continents. Encourage the children to share their experience or knowledge of the music
Fill and decorate their own shakers. Encourage them to notice how the sound changes depending on what they use to fill their chosen container. Which one is loudest? Quietest?
Make a rhythm circle. The adult claps a short pattern and children echo using instruments. Build from two beats to four (or more!). Let children take turns on leading the circle
Move to the beat. Play each genre of music and encourage the children to move in their own way (you might choose to model this). Add a stop-start freeze element to enhance listening skills
Create the carnival parade. Decorate a route, preferably outdoors, using the bunting or fabric pieces. Children carry their instruments, streamers and anything they’ve made, and dance and parade to the music. Invite families to watch or join in.

Ideas to extend this activity

Music and mark-making. Children move a paint-dipped brush in the way the music makes them feel. They might produce bouncy splodges for Afrobeats or long slow lines for Reggae.

NDNA products to help you with this activity

Expressive Arts & Design nursery training – Face to face training

Back to myNDNA

Disclaimer: Activities with children must always be risk assessed, including for allergies or choking. Children must always have adequate supervision. Resources and materials must always be appropriate for children’s age and stage of development.

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