Animalezas Sonoras is a playful, gamified method of musical stimulation for children ages 3 to 6, created by composer Nur Slim. Its starting point is simple: every child can be a composer. Through drawings, musicograms, sound objects and instruments, children explore timbre, dynamics and color, and turn a single sound into a song or an orchestral piece.
From music to method
The project began in 2017 with a FONCA Young Creators grant, as forty “dissectible” musical miniatures for chamber ensembles: winds, strings, percussion and voice. It grew into an interactive installation and interactive concerts, and was later systematized as a teaching method in Nur Slim’s master’s research.
Each one-hour session has three parts: an opening exercise, a phase for key musical concepts, and a multisensory closing activity. The cycle ends with a didactic concert.
Research
Nur Slim’s master’s thesis in Music Education at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM, 2024), Animalezas Sonoras: implementación de un programa de estimulación musical gamificada, enfocado en el desarrollo de lo imaginativo, con infantes de 3 a 6 años, tested the method in a ten-session workshop at the UNAM Faculty of Music in 2023, with a CONAHCYT graduate fellowship and Dr. José Luis Navarro Solís as advisor.
The children built sound sculptures, invented stories and composed their own songs. Specialists in educational psychology, neuropsychology and music education assessed their work across six dimensions of creativity: divergent, convergent, technical, emotional, social and conceptual. The study points to the method’s potential to stimulate creativity and children’s emotional, cognitive and social development. Read the thesis ▸
Her doctoral research in Music (Music Cognition) at UNAM, advised by Dr. Patricio F. Calatayud, asks what Animalezas Sonoras does for children ages 4 to 6 beyond music: whether playful composition can support self-regulation, cognitive flexibility, emotional well-being and getting along with others. The project is now in its pilot phase.
Free guide for teachers, therapists and families
The full method is available as a free guide (in Spanish, CC BY 4.0 license): Animalezas Sonoras. Método Gamificado de Estimulación Musical para Infantes de 3 a 6 Años ▸ (Zenodo, 2024, DOI 10.5281/zenodo.13333318). Guide design by Youko Horiuchi.
Follow the project on Instagram: @animalezassonoras ▸
En español
Animalezas Sonoras es un método lúdico y gamificado de estimulación musical para niñas y niños de 3 a 6 años, creado por la compositora Nur Slim para fomentar la creatividad y la salud emocional desde el neurodesarrollo y las artes. Nació en 2017 con una beca Jóvenes Creadores del FONCA como cuarenta miniaturas musicales “diseccionables” para ensamble de cámara; después se convirtió en instalación interactiva, en conciertos didácticos y en método, sistematizado y evaluado en su tesis de maestría en Educación Musical ▸ (UNAM, 2024, beca CONAHCYT) con un taller de diez sesiones en la Facultad de Música. En su doctorado en Música (Cognición Musical, UNAM), con la tutoría del Dr. Patricio F. Calatayud, estudia qué aporta Animalezas Sonoras más allá de lo musical en niñas y niños de 4 a 6 años: autorregulación, flexibilidad cognitiva y bienestar emocional. La guía completa es gratuita y está en Zenodo ▸.
