Magical Sounds with Echo Ta Ta & Friends

Magical Sounds with Echo Ta Ta & Friends

An Interactive Sound and Story Experience for Children

Listen • Explore • Create • Notice

Designed primarily for children aged approximately 3–8 years, Magical Sounds with Echo Ta Ta & Friends brings together an illustrated storybook, recorded sounds and interactive activities to encourage children to explore the world of sound in their own way.

Begin the Magical Sounds experience straight away ✨
You don't have to wait for your book to arrive to get started. Your purchase includes immediate access to the Magical Sounds audio story, which will be sent to you by email after checkout.

Created by sound artist and educator Tessa Ann, Magical Sounds is more than a book to read from beginning to end.

Children can join Echo Ta Ta and friends on an imaginative sound adventure, listen to the story and character sounds, experiment with an interactive sound mixer, make sounds themselves and begin creating their own soundscapes.

There is no right way to take part.

Every Child Experiences Sound Differently

One child may be fascinated by a sound that another hardly notices. A sound one child enjoys may feel unfamiliar or less comfortable to someone else.

Magical Sounds creates playful opportunities for children to notice these differences and explore their own experience of sound.

Children might:

• Listen to the story and accompanying sounds
• Discover the sounds of different characters
• Notice sounds they like, dislike or find interesting
• Experiment with combining sounds
• Explore loud and quiet, near and far
• Make sounds using their voice, instruments or everyday objects
• Create their own sound stories and soundscapes
• Simply listen and notice

Children can participate at their own pace, choosing which sounds and activities they want to explore.

What's Included?

Illustrated Paperback Book
Join Echo Ta Ta and friends on an imaginative sound adventure, where story, listening and playful sound exploration come together.

Audio Story
Listen to the story accompanied by narration and sound.

Character Sound Library
Discover and explore the different sounds connected with the Magical Sounds characters.

Interactive Sound Mixer
Experiment with sounds individually or combine them to create different listening experiences and soundscapes.

Digital Sound Resources
Continue exploring sound beyond the pages of the book with accompanying digital content.

Together, the physical book and digital resources create an experience children can return to in different ways as their curiosity develops.

From Storytime to Sound Exploration

Magical Sounds doesn't have to stay on the page.

A story can lead to a listening game. A character sound might inspire a child to make their own sound. A sound in the book might lead to noticing something happening in the room, outdoors or elsewhere in their everyday environment.

Children might collect sounds around the house or setting, experiment with everyday objects, use their voices or instruments, or invent an entirely new soundscape.

This makes Magical Sounds something children and adults can explore together, rather than simply a story to read once.

Created With Different Experiences of Sound in Mind

Magical Sounds has been created to be flexible and child-led.

Children don't have to listen to every sound or complete every activity. They can explore the elements that interest them and move between listening, making, playing and imagining.

The same sound can be experienced differently by different children.

By becoming curious about those differences, we can begin to notice more about how children experience the sound environments around them.

This flexibility may be particularly useful for children who have strong sound preferences or who experience their sensory environment differently.

Used in Early Years, Nursery and SEND Settings

Magical Sounds has been used in Early Years, nursery and SEND settings as a playful resource for exploring sound, listening and children's different experiences of their sound environment.

The book and accompanying digital sounds can provide a starting point for:

• Listening and sound awareness activities
• Exploring children's individual responses to sound
• Noticing sounds within everyday environments
• Discovering sound preferences
• Creative sound-making and storytelling
• Exploring sound through movement and play
• Child-led sensory and listening experiences

Magical Sounds has also been used within Tessa Ann's ongoing work with East Belfast Sure Start, where practitioners have been exploring sound awareness and practical approaches to listening within everyday Early Years environments.

East Belfast Sure Start has purchased 70 copies of Magical Sounds with Echo Ta Ta & Friends for use across its work with children and families.

Practitioners can use the resource flexibly, following children's interests, preferences and individual ways of experiencing sound.

Created by Tessa Ann

Tessa Ann is a sound artist and educator with almost 30 years' professional experience working with sound and music.

Her work increasingly explores listening, sound awareness and the different ways people experience sound within everyday environments, including work with children, families, Early Years practitioners and educational settings.

Magical Sounds forms part of this wider exploration, introducing curiosity about sound and listening from an early age through story, creativity and play.

For Families, Practitioners and Settings

Magical Sounds can be enjoyed at home by children and families or used by practitioners within Early Years settings, nurseries, SEND settings, schools and other child-centred environments.

For settings and organisations interested in larger quantities, practitioner workshops or Tessa Ann's wider Sound Awareness training for child-centred settings, please get in touch.

Magical Sounds with Echo Ta Ta & Friends
Illustrated Paperback Book + Interactive Digital Sound Experience
For Children Approximately 3–8 Years
£20