Music is a powerful tool. It has a powerful affect on environment. I remember walking through UpStreet Kids at North Point Church for the first time a few years ago on a Sunday morning and they had High School Musical booming loud through the hallways. Upstreet had a great decor, but the music literally put a little extra bounce in my step. Amazing how it affected me.
So, what music are you playing in your environments as the kids are coming in? Do you play music in your lobbies or hallways? If so, what is on your playlist?
We change our “theme” every eight weeks, so the music in the hallways matches the theme. We also intersperse the music with energetic voice-overs that tell parents what the kids will be learning that day as well as announcing any upcoming events or volunteer opportunities. Most of the music we use is instrumental stuff we pull from a music library rented from Killer Tracks. They have great stuff! Having music that matches the fun and excitement we’re creating goes a long way towards an environment that helps the kids learn!
I play a lot of trance and Christian hip-hop (Lecrae, Trip Lee, etc.) Totally different styles, but I just set up a few radio stations on Pandora.com and have those playing. The commercials are annoying, but I don’t have all my music taking up space on my hard drive that way.
Our Sunday mix is visitor friendly because our Sunday services are geared that way.
We currently have the following artists on our Sunday morning playlist during the welcome time of our Elementary environment:
All Time Low
Owl City
Fee
Mark Stuckey
Forever the Sickest Kids
Remy Zero
Eric Shouse
Further Seems Forever
Starfield
Chris Sligh
Hillsong United
Joey Walker
Taylor Swift
Jonas Brothers
Demi Lovato
We try to mix the sacred and the secular – though we monitor content and lyrics to make sure that the music we use elevates our message and our environment.
Hope that helps!
We play a lot of songs from Group Publishing, but also sometimes a Pandora station with Veggie Tales and songs from that nature. I personally love LaCrae and Trip Lee, but I think that’d be a little much for our kids! We have some stuff from Seeds, stuff from KidTunz, stuff from old Vacation Bible Schools. I just put it all on my Sanza and hit play!
Right now we are in a circus type of them during our large group environment. We are currently playing all kinds of circus music. I like to pick music that goes with the big idea we are covering that month. It does create a lot of great energy.