I asked my daughter what I should do for my next blog post. She wanted me to do "My Giants" which would be They Might be Giants. She currently has a small obsession with their children's videos. I have to admit they are pretty good. Right now she is trying to memorize the words to E Eats Everything. Here is the video. It is from their album/DVD Here Come the ABC's. I hope you enjoy it.
9.27.2011
9.06.2011
Follow-up
I promised that my next post would be a follow-up of my last post. Today was a nice brisk fall day. So I put baby boy in the Ergo, and took little girl on a walk around the block. Baby boy fell asleep, and little girl started dragging her feet through some gravel. My first instinct was to tell her not to ruin her shoes. Then I suddenly remembered my blog post, and we started talking about music. We shuffled the beat all the way home, and threw in a little singing as well. Then we went out back and found 9 more ways to make music outdoors.
All 9 of those ways involved the dried stems from daylily flowers. First she hit grass, hit stone pavers, hit wooden deck, hit the siding on the house, and hit the chain link fence. They all sounded different. We talked about the differences a little bit. Then she started getting more creative.
She ran the stems across our chainlink fence. Then she stuck a stick into one of the holes and circled it around like she was ringing a dinner bell. Then she broke the stems making a crunching noise.
Finally, my very favorite use of the daylily stems to make music was when she put one under her chin, and rubbed the other across. She said "this is a violin," and proceeded to bow her violin while singing twinkle twinkle little star. I really wish I had a video camera for that.
I thought my 2.99 year old did a pretty good job of making music 10 ways with things found outdoors. How did your kids do?
All 9 of those ways involved the dried stems from daylily flowers. First she hit grass, hit stone pavers, hit wooden deck, hit the siding on the house, and hit the chain link fence. They all sounded different. We talked about the differences a little bit. Then she started getting more creative.
She ran the stems across our chainlink fence. Then she stuck a stick into one of the holes and circled it around like she was ringing a dinner bell. Then she broke the stems making a crunching noise.
Finally, my very favorite use of the daylily stems to make music was when she put one under her chin, and rubbed the other across. She said "this is a violin," and proceeded to bow her violin while singing twinkle twinkle little star. I really wish I had a video camera for that.
I thought my 2.99 year old did a pretty good job of making music 10 ways with things found outdoors. How did your kids do?
8.24.2011
What is music?
[myoo-zik]
–noun 1. an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color.
2. the tones or sounds employed, occurring in single line (melody) or multiple lines (harmony), and sounded or to be sounded by one or more voices or instruments, or both.
noun, often attributive \ˈmyü-zik\
1 a : the science or art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity b : vocal, instrumental, or mechanical sounds having rhythm, melody, or harmony
2 an agreeable sound : euphony music to my ears;
Those seem a little, ambiguous, don't you think? I think what music is, is really up to the listener (interpreter), or the composer.
We have been spending a lot more time outdoors the past couple of weeks thanks to a streak of nearly perfect weather. There is lots of good music to be had outdoors. I challenge you, to challenge your children, to find 10 different ways to make music with nature.
I don't want to take all the good ideas, so I'll just give a couple.
- Stepping on crunchy leaves. You could "put the beat in your feet" in a whole new way.
- Twisting your foot on gravel. Make patterns by alternating between the leaves and the gravel.
- Using a stick to hit the fence. Do all fences sound the same? Do different sticks sound the same on the same fence?
After you come up with 10 types of sounds to make, can you put them in rhythm while you sing your favorite song?
My next post will be a follow-up of what my daughter and I come up with.
8.18.2011
Ready.... jump!
Do you ever not get your kids outside to burn off all of their energy? Me too. Does your child ever take a nap in the afternoon and when they wake up you can just tell they are a little bit TOO refreshed? Me too. So I invented this activity.
Get any kind of music that you like. Without words would be best, but it's not a requirement. Have your play and pause button ready to go.
Tell your child that when the music comes on, they are to jump. Then when the music stops they should freeze.
Hit play. Watch your child jump all over. Just when the energy is waning, hit pause. Then tell them to count to any number you want. This is a great time to practice counting on fingers too. Then when you reach that number, hit play again. Repeat through the entire song.
A variation on this would be to do something besides jump. Examples would be, run in circles, hop on one foot, skip around, gallop like a horse, or let your child pick. I find my students and child often have a better imagination than me!
Here's to fun activities on rainy days, and good bedtimes every night.
Get any kind of music that you like. Without words would be best, but it's not a requirement. Have your play and pause button ready to go.
Tell your child that when the music comes on, they are to jump. Then when the music stops they should freeze.
Hit play. Watch your child jump all over. Just when the energy is waning, hit pause. Then tell them to count to any number you want. This is a great time to practice counting on fingers too. Then when you reach that number, hit play again. Repeat through the entire song.
A variation on this would be to do something besides jump. Examples would be, run in circles, hop on one foot, skip around, gallop like a horse, or let your child pick. I find my students and child often have a better imagination than me!
Here's to fun activities on rainy days, and good bedtimes every night.
8.17.2011
3.27.2011
Can you tell me how to get...
This song is a Sesame Street original. It's called A Very Simple Dance To Do. It first appeared in the mid-1970's and has been reused and remained popular since.
That is the original song and my 2 year old loves it. But you know I like to take everything a step further. Once you have the dance down pat, I think you should add your own little step or two. If your child comes up with anything extra cute, please be sure to put it in the comment area so we can all give it a try. :-)
That is the original song and my 2 year old loves it. But you know I like to take everything a step further. Once you have the dance down pat, I think you should add your own little step or two. If your child comes up with anything extra cute, please be sure to put it in the comment area so we can all give it a try. :-)
3.22.2011
Dinosaurs in Cars!
I am cheating this week. There is a website that I'm in love with. I wish I could move to Seattle so I could hire this woman to do my daughter's birthday parties. She writes a new song with activity every month and posts them on the website. They are sorted by month, by topic, by holiday, however you want to sort it. The music is all free and I have even used one of her songs in a school performance before, it is that good. My favorite song of all, is Dinosaurs in Cars. It is just a fun song that is worth singing and doing. When you click on the link the music will start to play on its own. But there are links on each page to download the song file and you can burn it to CD, put it on your mp3 player, whatever strikes your fancy. I hope you enjoy this website as much as I do!
3.03.2011
If You're Happy and You Know It
If you don't know this classic, here is a video of the song. Did you grow up singing "and your face will surely show it?" No problem. Sing it that way. We are going to be changing things up anyways.
This song is great because it gets your kids moving. It can teach young toddlers different movements by name and give practice in mimicry, and it can help older children learn about other emotions and to create their own song.
The Activities
1. As usual, just start with the basic song. I don't think you gain anything by singing this with the video, so once you learn the song, just sing together with your child. But remember, if your child is younger than 5 they might not sing along. It's ok, they are still learning.
2. Once your child is familiar with the song, then start adding your own movements. This is one way that a child can make his or her own music, but simply changing out the motions. Take turns so that you can teach new and creative things. i.e. blink your eyes, wave your arms, etc.
3. For the older child who is beginning to recognize different emotions (beyond happy and sad), then change the song to If You're sad and you know it wipe a tear. Fill in those blanks with whatever you and your child want. If You're angry and you know it stomp your feet. I generally allow free rein to the kids with their creativity, except violence. I don't allow punching or hitting for a negative emotion. Even though it's pretend and no one would get hurt, I don't advocate punching when you are angry, so I wouldn't let my kids pretend they were punching either.
This is a great song to practice creativity, learn emotions, practice gross motor movements, practice fine motor movements, and to practice using their singing voices. It is good for ages 6 months up. Go have fun with it!
2.22.2011
playtime with your infant
Infants' responses to music are very fascinating to me. I could type it all out for you, but instead I'll just link you to a couple websites discussing some of the many benefits:
http://www.suite101.com/content/benefits-of-music-for-infants-a44783
and http://www.parenthood.com/article-topics/how_music_benefits_children.html
I could keep going. I just did a little googling and thought those were all pretty interesting.
I think that for the first 6 months of a babies life, three or four songs is plenty for you to sing. I am going to give 1 song with activities to follow for the entire first year of baby's life.
"Ring Around the Rosie"
If you aren't sure how this one goes, here is a video
When singing with a newborn, they obviously won't be walking in a circle. :-) You should hold baby facing you, supporting their head/neck with your hands. Hold them partially upright and sing the song very gently. When it is time to fall down, then just gently move baby to a horizontal position. When baby is old enough to smile, this will get smiles. After a few months, baby might start to anticipate the "fall" and start smiling or giggling before the fall. This is great!
Once baby is old enough to sit unassisted, sit someplace soft with baby. Make sure you are still holding onto baby so that he doesn't fall! When it is time to "fall" then you can lower baby backwards to a laying position. My daughter would start to throw herself backwards after doing this activity for a little while and we could only do it in a well padded place!
Once baby can stand, just stand in place and then "fall" down together at the appropriate place in the song.
Finally, once baby is walking, or even just trying to walk, you can try the traditional activity of walking in a circle, and falling on "We all fall down."
http://www.suite101.com/content/benefits-of-music-for-infants-a44783
and http://www.parenthood.com/article-topics/how_music_benefits_children.html
I could keep going. I just did a little googling and thought those were all pretty interesting.
I think that for the first 6 months of a babies life, three or four songs is plenty for you to sing. I am going to give 1 song with activities to follow for the entire first year of baby's life.
"Ring Around the Rosie"
If you aren't sure how this one goes, here is a video
When singing with a newborn, they obviously won't be walking in a circle. :-) You should hold baby facing you, supporting their head/neck with your hands. Hold them partially upright and sing the song very gently. When it is time to fall down, then just gently move baby to a horizontal position. When baby is old enough to smile, this will get smiles. After a few months, baby might start to anticipate the "fall" and start smiling or giggling before the fall. This is great!
Once baby is old enough to sit unassisted, sit someplace soft with baby. Make sure you are still holding onto baby so that he doesn't fall! When it is time to "fall" then you can lower baby backwards to a laying position. My daughter would start to throw herself backwards after doing this activity for a little while and we could only do it in a well padded place!
Once baby can stand, just stand in place and then "fall" down together at the appropriate place in the song.
Finally, once baby is walking, or even just trying to walk, you can try the traditional activity of walking in a circle, and falling on "We all fall down."
2.15.2011
Old MacDonald Had a Farm
I shared this activity with some friends and they seemed to like it so I'm posting it here. I'm going to definitely get back to posting these now that I have learned about YouTube. :-)
In case you don't know the song here is a video that is very good. It has it's own visuals. Notice how he is using the same voice for the words of the song and the animal noises?
The activities: all appropriate for ages 2-7, but in increasing difficulty
1. Sing the song with the video. This would be the most basic activity.
2. Sing the song without the video, but have the grownup make up the animals used in the song.
3. Sing the song together, but prompt the child to make up their own animals. If they want to sing Piggies every single time (like my daughter did for 3 months) then you are going to just have to sing Piggies 3,000 times. Keep taking turns for the grownups to choose other animals. Then one day, your little one will make up a new animal! It will be very exciting, but instead of stopping and having a parade, just keep singing. I also accept non-animal answers, especially from 2 and 3 year olds. The other day in the car my daughter saw snow on the farm, and clouds on the farm, and trees on the farm. Not sure what sound something makes? Just make something up. Your little one won't know the difference!
4. Have the child find pictures to cut out of animals, or draw animals, or color animals from a coloring book. Use those for your own visual aides when singing the song. An older child could pre-plan the sequence used for the song.
Here are 4 different ways to have fun with this very classic song. I hope this gets you singing!
In case you don't know the song here is a video that is very good. It has it's own visuals. Notice how he is using the same voice for the words of the song and the animal noises?
The activities: all appropriate for ages 2-7, but in increasing difficulty
1. Sing the song with the video. This would be the most basic activity.
2. Sing the song without the video, but have the grownup make up the animals used in the song.
3. Sing the song together, but prompt the child to make up their own animals. If they want to sing Piggies every single time (like my daughter did for 3 months) then you are going to just have to sing Piggies 3,000 times. Keep taking turns for the grownups to choose other animals. Then one day, your little one will make up a new animal! It will be very exciting, but instead of stopping and having a parade, just keep singing. I also accept non-animal answers, especially from 2 and 3 year olds. The other day in the car my daughter saw snow on the farm, and clouds on the farm, and trees on the farm. Not sure what sound something makes? Just make something up. Your little one won't know the difference!
4. Have the child find pictures to cut out of animals, or draw animals, or color animals from a coloring book. Use those for your own visual aides when singing the song. An older child could pre-plan the sequence used for the song.
Here are 4 different ways to have fun with this very classic song. I hope this gets you singing!
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