Row, Bounce, Turn & Sway Your Boat

Nothing like adding a little creativity to an old classic!  This time, we're taking the ever-faithful "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and adding a little more activity to it.

Songs with motions and movement are excellent for toddlers, Pre-K'ers, Kindergartners, older kids, etc., because movements enhance learning. Those who may not be so quick to pick up a melody may still be able to do simple motions in rhythm, thus still providing great training in musical ideas and patterns.

So, for this activity, grab your kiddo/s and sing through "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" (If you don't know it, just type the name into Google. I would have put a link on, but they're all so cheesy I couldn't bring myself to do it. So, find one if you need to... and I apologize in advance for the cheesiness).

There are tons of things you can do with this simple nursery-rhyme song, but today we used it for some 'pretend play' in boats.

Here's what we used:
1. Laundry baskets (if you're doing this with a class or more kids than you have baskets for, you can stop into any wholesale club like COSTCO, BJ's, etc. and grab some of their many empty, low-sided boxes)
2. Stick for the mast (wrapping paper role or a stick from your yard)  
3. Paper and markers for creating a flag or sail.
4. "rowing" devise (large wooden spoon, etc.)
5. Clear packing tape.

After the kids know the song, have them create a flag for their boat and then tape flag to their mast, and tape mast to boat.

If you have a blue blanket of some sort, that would be great for water. Ours was a little small, but it still worked OK.

 Have kids 'man' their boats and sing through the song - in a round if they're old enough - and do the motions. Then, use some different motions instead of "row" - like sway, speed, drive, shake, run, bounce, turn, tickle, etc. They can make up more as they go. You can help by showing the motions for each word as you all sing it.





Here they are with "hide" your boat, I think... or maybe it was "sleep" your boat...

You certainly don't need a boat to do these - they will be just fine being creative with this no matter what!

After we were done singing, the boys continued to play in their boats for a while - it was neat to listen to their imaginative play. :-)

Be creative and have fun! :-)

Throw it out the Window

Well, life is starting to swing into gear around here with Christmas and New Year's behind us. Sometimes there is a little reluctance to get started (What?! No! Never!), and, as is the case in our house, laughter is usually the best medicine. Our #2 is especially grumpy lately, and nothing changes his mood like us getting him to start laughing.
One way to help cure some grumpies is.... Silly Songs!  And one of my favorites is "Throw it out the Window."

This song was first introduced to me by a dear friend (Hi, Cynthia!), who told me that her family used to sing this song on the road together as a family. I thought it was hilarious and immediately made her sing to me all the rhymes that went with it.

I'll have a recording of it a little later, but the words of the song could be any rhyme that you in your vocal ability can make fit into the time and pulse of the song.
Then, after about 2 lines of the song, you complete it with "she/he threw it out the window...."

Like so -

Let's take.... Jack and Jill.

Jack and Jill went up the hill
to fetch a pail of water,
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
Jill threw him out the window,
the window, the window,
she threw him out the window.
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
Jill threw him out the window.

Or, "Mary Had a Little Lamb"

Mary had a little lamb
whose fleece was white as snow,
and everywhere that Mary went,
she threw him out the window,
the window, the window,
she threw him out the window,
Everywhere that Mary went,
she threw him out the window.

Some of you are horrified right now (What? Throw him out the window? It sounds so violent!), but really, it's great fun. Try it!

This song can be done with oh-so-many Mother Goose rhymes that we know and love... Little Boy Blue, Little Miss Muffett, Cobbler, Cobbler, Mend My Shoe, Humpty Dumpty, Little Bo Peep, Old King Cole, Simple Simon Met A Pieman, etc....

It's a great (and silly) way to get some more rhymes in kids' heads, but what is educationally advantageous about it (yes, there has to be SOMETHING educational!), is the way it gets your brain to conform the words to the pattern of the song. Taking something long and drawn out, like "Little Miss Muffet" and speeding it up into a song is brilliant work for the brain's organizational music and rhyming abilities. My 5-year old can sort of keep up and my 3-year old listens and sings when he can. I think they'll be better at this as they get older, but it's been lots of fun already. :-)

This is great for car rides, transition times at school, singing while working/doing chores with your kids, while you get dinner ready and they are starving and hanging around your ankles.... Whenever!

So, without further ado, if you have not had the privilege of hearing this little tune already, here it is, being sung by a favorite crew of my husband's, "Trout Fishing In America"
Go Here!

Get some giggles and creativity going to start off the year! :-)


Did your family have a favorite song to sing in the car on long car rides?

"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!

Making Spooky Stories with "Danse Macabre"

When I was a new teacher, a dear friend, Heather Henriques generously shared some of her teaching materials with me to help get me started, and I specifically remember this one because all the kids enjoyed it every time we brought it out around this time of year. It confirmed to me that children are able to comprehend classical music and have fun with it.
Thanks, Heather (if you read this!), for your help in lending me materials those first few years! :-)

This is a super-simplified version of the activity, since I do not have 2nd graders, but a 4 year old and a newly-turned 3 year old.

 What is"Danse Macabre", you may ask (click on the title to listen!)?
Danse Macabre  is a piece of music by the French composer Camille Saint-Saens. The piece is a "symphonic poem" meaning that it's a musical description of a literary work.

The basic story behind the poem is Death coming out at midnight to awaken his other spooky friends. He tunes up his fiddle and starts into a waltz as they all join him. They dance, run and leap throughout the night, but then when the rooster crows that morning has come, Death plays a mournful tune as they all depart.

So, we made it a little more munchkin-friendly by picking our own spooky characters and incorporating some of the story, but letting them fill in the rest.
This is a great way to help children understand music, by helping them describe it in actions and story.

The boys picked out three characters - a ghost (a Boo), a bat (Pat) and a jack-o-lantern (Peter).
I found some clip art, resized and printed them out. Then we grabbed some popsicle sticks to attach the pictures to.

As the boys were coloring, I played the piece and described our simple story.

"It's midnight!" (you can hear in the orchestra twelve tones played by the harp to signify the clock striking 12:00).
"Out comes Peter the Pumpkin.... He plays his violin and wakes up his friends to come out and play!"
(Then you can hear two distinct musical melodies or themes. We used one for the ghost theme and one for the bat theme.)
"Out comes Boo the Ghost! He's so excited to see Peter the Pumpkin. They dance and jump and sing."
"Now, it's Pat the Bat flying in for the fun; and he is excited to see his two friends."

... Throughout the song, we incorporated lots of things the friends did together. Some were my ideas, some were K's.  Things like... playing hide and seek, jumping, racing, flying, dancing, falling, climbing, playing, meeting new friends, etc....  And we tried to listen closely for  the first melody which was Boo the Ghost's theme, and the second melody which was Pat the Bat's theme (in the second picture, you can see K - who, yes, is dressed up as a pirate - pausing to listen for what the music sounds like, so we know what type of activity the friends are doing. Love it!).

K got into it, although this was the first time we'd done something like this, other than Peter and the Wolf.
But, most of the time, J just listened and watched us..... I think he'll get into it more when he's a little older. :-)

After we finished Danse Macabre, K wanted to do it again to a different piece of music. So, we tried it to Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King." More creativity!

You certainly don't need to use Halloween characters - grab some other animals who are awake at night and make up a story of their nighttime activities (like owls, bats, and cats)!

So, give it a try and let your child create and imagine to music! You'll be surprised how much fun it is. :-)

Below is the link again: (This is a YouTube link - remember to be aware of images on these types of sites. I wish they were clean and safe, but sometimes, they are not; other times, it's fine. Just fyi!)

 "Danse Macabre"

Five Little Apples Chant and Finger-Play

Fall is *almost* here, so we're starting to get excited about all things apple (although most of the excitement is geared towards those things involving food).

This chant is about getting apples off a tree and involves a counting pattern from 5 down.

Why are chants or fingerplays worth my time, you may ask?

Well, my two top reasons are: they are rhythmic and rhyming, so they develop innate rhythm, which is uber important to instill at a young age since it is very hard to rectify a deficiency in natural rhythm as a child grows up.

Second, it strengthens their imagination and story-following ability. The rhyme and the actions help them to learn a story or routine; and they can mentally follow along with what's happening that much better.

So, this is one of my favorite chants/finger-plays, and it is easy-peasy to learn.


5 Little Apples - A Counting Chant

5 little apples in the apple tree,
The juiciest apples that you ever did see.
I shook that tree as hard as I could,
and down fell an apple and 'mmmm' was it good!

4 little apples in the apple tree....
3 little apples in the apple tree.....
etc...

The motions we used are as follows:

First, we had to make sure our hand had five fingers.

 Then we began the chant (by the time mommy started taking pics, little J was about done!)

"5 little apples...

...in the apple tree

 

the juiciest apples that you ever did...

 ...see!

 I shook that tree as hard as I could...  (this was the boys' favorite part... surprised?)

and down came the apple...

And mmmm, was it good!

 On the last apple that came down, we changed the words to "it was sooooooooooooooooooooo good!"- where they had to try and see who could hold "soooooo" for the longest. It was silly. :-)

Here's a quick video clip at the end of the fun, so it's not the best, but you get the idea!

Don't forget the Boynton (click:) Philadelphia Chickens CD Giveaway!

"If All of the Raindrops"

Summer is a great time for this song... I find it in my head more-so in the summer anyway, even though one verse is about snowflakes...

So, if you don't know this song, head over and check it out HERE.
You can also spend a buck and get it on itunes!

I was highly discouraged in looking for a good rendition of this song online...  most of them are just ridiculous; this one from a benefit that Lisa Loeb did in Seattle was the best for its musical simplicity, although we sing the verses a little differently.
Beware... there are a lot from Barney.... but heaven forbid I would ever post a link to Barney on here.... No offense intended, Barney.

Here are the lyrics:

"If All of the Raindrops" 

If all of the raindrops were lemon drops and gum drops, Oh what a rain it would be!
I'd stand outside with my mouth open wide and say,
"Ah, ah ah ah, ah ah ah, ah ah!"

If all of the sunbeams were lemonade and ice cream, oh what a sun that would be!
I'd stand outside with my mouth open wide and say,

"Ah, ah ah ah, ah ah ah, ah ah!" 

If all of the snowflakes were chocolate bars and milkshakes, Oh what a snow it would be! 

I'd stand outside with my mouth open wide and say, 

"Ah, ah ah ah, ah ah ah, ah ah!" 

In the pic above you can see the boys doing the motions for the "Ah, ah ah..." part. Other than that you can show rain and snowflakes by wiggling your fingers from high to low and the sunbeams by shading your eyes. 

This is a great song for imagination, as I think as a child I did want to have rain made of candy! My dentist would not have approved, but as long as I brushed my teeth afterwards, I'm sure it would have been fine. :-) 

For more fun with this concept, check out the ever-popular book, 

"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" by Judi Barrett. 

Enjoy!!