"I See a Song" by Eric Carle

I was so excited when I found out about the book by Eric Carle, "I See a Song." I love Eric Carle's children's books (it all started with Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?) and try to get at least one of them every time we get a bundle 'o books from the library. My boys are..... not such big fans (What gives??!). They seem to have this "Eric Carle" phase during their 1st-2nd year, then poof! It's gone!
So, I knew this would be a stretch for them to get into, but I had to try!

I love the idea behind this book! The basic premise is: a violinist enters on the first few pages. He begins to play and what results throughout the pages is a colorful depiction of his music with beautiful colors and creative artistic displays. as he says before he begins, "I see a song. I paint music. I hear color."
The book ends as it began, and the violinist exits.

So, go forth, ye, and giveth this book a try!

Here's what we did:
1. Gather kiddos at a good time of the day when they are up for creative thinking... not a cranky time of day like I do sometimes.
2. Open the book and show them the violinist, talk about what the man is doing.
   When music is played, we can see colors and pictures in our minds depending on what the music sounds like.
3. Go through the book pointing to the pictures, imagining what the music is like, singing what it might be like, describing if it looks loud or soft, fast or slow, happy or sad.
4. When the violinist exits, applaud for a fine performance! :-)

Adaptions:
You can give your child instruments to play; like a drum, shakers, etc. and they can describe the pictures on their own through instruments if they're not quite into vocalizing a description.

Or, if you are savvy on an instrument, you can go through the book with them as you have your own piano/guitar/violin/flute, etc. there to improvise a little on what the pictures make you think of. They will LOVE this. :-)

My boys liked the whole idea, but as I said, are not (yet?) so crazy about Carle's books. So, we tried this later with one of their favorite Robert Munsch books (Boo!) and they were much more excited and heartily made up songs about those pictures. What can I say? They're my silly boys.

There is also an official animated version on YouTube (Go here!) which is great, but I would save that for after your little one/s have done their own creating. :-)

So, go get this book from your local library or on Amazon/etc. and give it a try!

Have fun!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are REALLY looking forward to some time to kick back with family over Thanksgiving as we think on all the kindnesses and blessings we have experienced over the past year. It's been a trying week, with 2 out of the three kiddos sick and miserable about it (those 2 are currently crying rather than napping),  one mommy who might be seen banging her head against the wall by a passing-by neighbor, and a kitchen floor that you *might* need stilts to walk  through with all the food crumbs that are down there.

But, anyway - when it comes down to it, we're really still very thankful to God for these boys, our family and a house to call our home, with loving friends and family to boot.

So, I've been talking with the kids about why it's good for us to be thankful.... not just good for us to say we're thankful, but why it is really good for the soul to really BE thankful, especially when we're tempted to grumble about so many things.

So, this is one little song we did today while making some place cards for the Thanksgiving meal (although, I think they may be the type of craft that 'only a mother-of-the-child-who-did-them could love'). It's to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell" and here it is:

We love Thanksgiving Day,
We're happy just to say,
"Thank You for our health and home,
and family today!"

Having little pictures helped them to follow along and point to the words as we sang. And, one thing I'm thankful for is that my children are not art-critics (re: above pictures on sheet).

We sang as we worked, and we'll probably sing it some more tonight and tomorrow, and maybe ask them to add some other items in as well that they can thank God for. They can draw those pictures, and we'll sing along. Mommy should stop drawing pictures, I think. :-)


Happy Thanksgiving to you!

Now to go tackle that kitchen floor.... and the crying children...

Simple Activities to Encourage Musicality

Sometimes it's good to review rather than do new things all the time. We've been visiting some older exercises and songs to strengthen our musicality throughout the week.

Here are three ways to get it going at your house/school/playgroup/daycare too:

1. Read Rhythmically and Rhyme often! 

The natural rhythm and rhyme in our language can ignite the musical sense inside every child, so to get those going, try the following:
Read to your child. Get books that flow in rhythm and rhyme and read them that way.
For Rhythm Reading Ideas- Go Here!

Practice songs with rhyming words, like "Down By the Bay" that are silly and creative.
Rhyming and Song practice: Go Here!

2. Play and Sing -  Sing songs that involve movement, story and are easy to sing. 

Try out songs that are easy to sing and encourage activity!
Playing and Singing exercises: Go Here! and here!

3. Do simple musical skills with age-appropriate activities 

To get their ability strengthened to receive musical influences and handle them well, do simple activities to develop voice production and rhythm.
Check these out: Get their rhythm going and their voice moving!

These are some simple reminders of activities to spread once or twice throughout the week which will reap many benefits as your child soaks them in.

Have fun!

Make-It-A-Song-Monday - Working Together

We've been bagging endless amounts of leaves, and when the task seems that it will never be through, I take the advice of the 7 dwarves and decide that singing will help the time pass, and will also put me in a happier mood. So, whether you choose to "whistle while you work" or make up a song, I'm sure the work-attitude will get better! :-)

So, during our leaf-bagging, I was trying to show the kiddos how to work together, not just doing whatever-that-thing-is-that-I-wanted-to-do-and-oh-yeah-no-one-else-can-use-that-thing-but-me.
So, as we were learning how to work together, I started a little tune, which went as follows:

It's so fun to work together,
So much fun to work together,
It's so fun to work together,
it helps us get done fast!

It's so fun to work together, 

So much fun to work together, 

It's so fun to work together, 

that's what friends do best! 

This one was to the tune of "Glory, glory Hallelujah" - which is the chorus to The Battle Hymn of the Republic ("....His truth is marching on! Glory, glory hallelujah, glory glory hallelujah...." If you need a reminder, here's the melody).

There's also this one you're sure to recognize -  but, instead of singing "the more we GET together..." try "the more we WORK together..." 

"The more we work together, together, together, 

the more we work together, the happier we'll be!

You'll help me, I'll help you, 

We'll work hard 'till we're through, 

The more we work together, the happier we'll be!" 

If they sing along and enjoy it, great!! Even if they don't, that's OK. You are getting melody into their heads and showing them that singing is a great way to pass the time when working on tasks. Your example to them may be the most valuable they see to train them in a positive outlook of work - that it's not a burden and a drag, but can be joyful and relationship-building as well. 

What did you make into a song today? 

Counting and Clapping in Rhythm

Counting is recently my kiddos' favorite thing to do. So, what a great time to do some simple practice with counting in rhythm!

Did you ever do those hand clapping games on the playground when you were little? Like, "Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack, all dressed in black, black, black, etc...." Or the other ones where you slapped hands backwards and forwards while chanting and counting to astronomically high numbers....? (those were the ones the really smart girls did....)  These types of games are so valuable on a  number of levels:

• They are fun games that make practicing counting (in whatever sequence it involves) a more challenging and motivating activity.  
• They are spoken/sung in rhyme and rhythm, enhancing and strengthening the child's innate rhythm. 
• They involve hand movements which increase muscle-control and agility.
• They are a meaningful and enjoyable activity between friends, bringing smiles and satisfaction.   

So, I'm not going to try anything complicated with my 3 and 4 1/2 yr. old boys yet; we'll start basic!

First we got thinking musically by singing and clapping one of our favorite songs, "A Sailor Went to Sea, Sea, Sea"

Here are the words and for the melody, go Here!

A Sailor Went to Sea
A Sailor went to sea, sea, sea
To see what he could see, see, see, 
But all that he could see, see, see
Was the bottom of the deep blue sea, sea, sea. 

Hand motions: 
You can be as creative as you'd like,
We always clap each other's hands on each "sea, sea, sea" (or "see, see, see").
We also sit up tall on "sailor"
We put our hand to our forehead to 'peer out' on "to see what he could..."
Put our hands up to the side in an "Oh well" manner on "but all that he could..."
Put our hands to the floor on "was the bottom of the..."

We get incrementally faster and faster - it's fun. :-)

Then we moved to a clapping and counting chant.
First have child choose a number.

Then, in rhythm, chant and clap:

"Let's see how high we can count,
watch my count to _____"

Then, with either you or another child, clap hands together in rhythm (as much as possible anyway, depending on your child's age/ability), counting up to that number.

J chose numbers that didn't take us quite as long, like 8 and 12.
K wanted more exciting ones in his little 4 yr. old mind, like "32" and "21 and 11 and 16"
"So, you want 48?"
"Yeah!!!"
You can also have them alternate clapping each others' hands with the front and back of their hands. Keeps it a little more exciting... :-)

This is uber simple and you can adapt it to practice any type of number recitation, but it was great practice and we had fun with it; hope you can too!

Knee Bounces!

Once a baby has reached 6 months or so, they're ready for some active bouncing. It's one of their favorite things - to "ride" on your knees to a rollicking rhyme.

I was at an amusement park this summer (wearily following my tireless older 2 boys around from one ride to another - why do they have so much energy??!) and I saw a "ride" for infants where you sit the child in a booster-type seat, strap them in, then pay some money to watch them go around in a tiny circle. It was one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen. And, being the person that I am, I thought, "how much better a warm lap and an active bounce rather than a silly, plastic ride?"

So, here are a few bounces that involve moving your baby from one knee to the other and are super easy to get into your repertoire.

Trotty Horsey

Start with baby on knees - imitating a trotting horse:

Trotty horsey, trotty horsey

went right up to town.

One foot up and the other one down,

     Lift baby up then back down

Trotty horsey ran along,

A-gallopy, gallopy, gallopy gone!

   Bounce baby back and forth on knees, optional: gently drop baby through knees on "gone!"

Jack Be Nimble

This mother goose rhyme is so simple and works very well!

Jack be nimble, Jack be quick,

Jack jump over the candlestick!

Bounce baby to rhyme, then on "over" move to the other knee. Repeat! 

Father and Mother and Uncle John 
This one was shared in an earlier post, but it's worth repeating because it works so well)

Start with a steady bounce with baby/toddler on your knees:
Father and Mother and Uncle John
All rode to town one by one.

Mother fell off - woah!
lean baby over one side of knees

Father fell off - woah!
lean baby over to the other side

But Uncle John rode on, and on, and on, and on, and on....
bounce baby on knees in middle - faster and faster. 

Get going bouncing those kiddos!