Let’s Sing Together

To offer parent-child pairs (ages 0–5) joyful and bonding moments centered around a repertoire of nursery rhymes, lullabies, fun songs, finger plays, and children’s songs from here and around the world.

Families in the Prélaz-Valency neighborhood

The Prélaz-Valency neighborhood is located in the far west of Lausanne, on the border with the municipalities of Prilly and Renens. It is a neighborhood with an industrial past that has seen its resident population increase significantly over the past twenty years (+25%). The construction of the subsidized housing complex known as the “Jardins de Prélaz” on the site of the former TL bus depot has attracted many low-income families, often of non-European origin. Today, the neighborhood has become one of the areas in Lausanne with the highest proportion of foreign nationals (50% of residents) and a wide diversity of nationalities. The neighborhood is home to three mosques, a Catholic church (St. Joseph), a Protestant church (St. Mark), two public schools (Prélaz and Valency), two daycare centers (Jardins de Prélaz and Valency), a preschool (Le Petit-Navire), a sociocultural center (run by the FASL), three APEMS, one of the teaching sites of the Lausanne School of Music (EML-Prélaz Site), and a nursing home (Fondation Clémence). The neighborhood is home to many households with modest socioeconomic circumstances. Among the young families in the neighborhood, many parents themselves had childhoods in which there was little room for play or shared moments with their parents beyond the care provided to meet their basic physiological needs. Now that they are parents themselves—having experienced exile and finding themselves in often difficult psychosocial situations—it is not easy for them to find the time and resources to spend quality time with their little ones. The care they provide focuses primarily on the child’s physical well-being (feeding, clothing, hygiene, sleep, physical safety) but pays little attention to emotional and psychological needs. Yet child psychiatrists today emphasize the importance of an essential ingredient that “alone enables the child’s healthy development”: shared joy. These face-to-face moments where babbling and funny faces are exchanged in sync. ” Offering these parents and their little ones moments of shared joy through a repertoire of nursery rhymes, lullabies, fun songs, finger plays, and nursery games (in French or the parent’s native language) is to offer them a window into the joy of sharing and connection through music. As Philippe Grimbert, writer and psychoanalyst, so aptly puts it: “Far from being a mere pastime, song fulfills (…) a genuine psychological function, combining—in its concise and brief form as well as in its remarkable economy of means—pleasure and an intimate necessity, both indispensable to a child’s development. ” During the 2025–26 school year, the teacher-musicians from the association “Chantons dansons le français” had the opportunity to volunteer on several occasions to lead “Chantons Ensemble” workshops at the Le Petit Navire preschool. Families turned out in large numbers and showed great interest. The association would therefore like to continue this partnership with early childhood institutions in the neighborhood and offer additional workshops in 2027 and 2028.

Prélaz-Valency neighborhood. The exact location will be determined based on the partner institutions.

The activities will take place in 2027 and 2028 at partner locations based on demand and needs.

1,500

The “Chantons dansons le français” Association and the early childhood institutions in the Prélaz-Valency neighborhood (CVE, kindergarten, socio-cultural center)