Music - the gift that keeps giving

Parent and baby/toddler classes have become increasingly popular over time. These days you can do everything from baby massage, mums and bubs yoga, and music and movement classes, to baby gym classes and even baby signing courses. Most promise a range of benefits. But how do you separate the hype from the genuine winners if you’re looking for an option that delivers proven benefits for your child? While any course that allows you to spend quality time with your child is positive, if you’re looking for an option that will continue to deliver benefits for many years to come, you can’t go past music. 

Music, especially when accompanied by movement, has been shown in countless research studies to engage all areas of childhood development – intellectual, social, language, motor and literacy. Best of all, children have a natural affinity for both music and movement. From birth, children are learning to do new things with their bodies and actually use their bodies to communicate well before they start using words. And when it comes to music, children feel it on a physical and emotional level from a very young age. That’s why parents find they are often able to settle and comfort an unsettled baby by softly singing or playing a soothing tune to them. Combine that with gentle rocking, and all of a sudden it makes perfect sense why parents have been rocking and singing their babies to sleep for generations.

Some of the skills that music and movement can help develop in young children include the ability to express emotions; explore cause and effect; improve balance, coordination and rhythm; develop large and small motor skills; engage imagination and creativity; and refine listening skills, to name just a few. When music and movement are enjoyed as part of a coordinated group session, the benefits increase to include the development of a range of social skills.

It was studies like these that inspired Ant Parker, founder of the UK’s fastest growing music session franchise for children aged 0 to 5, Moo Music. The father of two and musician teamed up with a singer/songwriter and a team of early childhood educators to create a fun, interactive music and movement program aimed at babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers and their parents, carers or grandparents. The program consists of more than 125 uplifting, infectiously happy original songs, which children sing, dance and play to, as well as a team of loveable farmyard characters known as the ‘Moo Croo’. Since its launch in 2014, Moo Music has been welcomed so enthusiastically throughout the UK that the business grew from 0 to 160 franchises within just two years.

On the back of Moo Music’s immense success and popularity in the UK, Moo Music has now been launched in Australia as Maggie Moo Music. The Australian franchisor who has brought Moo Music to our shores is leading franchising expert Carolyn Dufton. Carolyn, who has 26 year’s franchising experience under her belt, including building her own successful franchise business, ‘Hire For Baby’ in the late 80s, was so impressed with Ant Parker’s fair and simple franchising model and the business itself that she decided to bring it to Australia herself.

The franchise has been successfully piloted on the Gold Coast since September 2015 by Kirsty Imrie, a mother of one who was looking for an opportunity that would allow her to combine caring for her pre-school aged daughter with running a part-time business. “My business has steadily grown and I absolutely love working with the children and their parents and carers,” said Kirsty, who now runs eight sessions, spread over four days a week. “The business model is such that it allows me to earn a living and work around my family’s needs. I have never missed a single Kindy drop-off or pick-up for my daughter Sofia.”

Maggie Moo Music is now seeking expressions of interest from potential franchisees (known colloquially as ‘Farmers’) throughout Australia, with local franchises available from $6,250 plus GST. Opportunities also exist to purchase Maggie Moo Music State Licenses for Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory. To learn more about becoming a Maggie Moo Music Farmer (franchisee) or State Licensee, visit maggiemoomusic.com.au or contact Carolyn Dufton at carolyn@maggiemoomusic.com.au

Carolyn Dufton is available for interviews. For further information, high-resolution images or interview opportunities please contact Phaedra Pym on 0438 684 689