Studio3Music Blog

Archive for the ‘Village’ Category

May
22

Spatial Awareness

Posted in Child Development, Imagine That, Music and the brain, Our Time, Village

Did you know there was a link between your child’s Kindermusik experience and his potential ability to read a map? It’s true….Though spatial awareness is a skill that usually comes naturally for most children, it is certainly a skill that parents can do much to promote. Using Kindermusik to encourage the development of spatial awareness is a natural choice.

Spatial awareness can be defined as: an awareness of the body in space, and the child’s relationship to the objects in the space. This can include spatial orientation, which is the skill that allows them to understand and comply with simple requests such as: “line up at the door” or “sit in a circle.”

Doing the Hokey Pokey in Kenya!

Spatial awareness is also linguistic. The understanding of the positional words people use to define themselves in space is essential to spatial awareness. “I am underneath the bridge….I am behind the tree.” You get the picture.

Next time you are in your Kindermusik class, check out the movement chart on the wall and notice how many of the words are directional or relational. Hoop play is one of the many activities in Kindermusik designed to promote spatial awareness…I am in the hoop, outside the hoop, beside the hoop, in front of the hoop. Another well-loved favorite is the “Hokey-Pokey” …“you put your right arm in, you take your right arm out, you put your right arm in, and you shake it all about…”

Our Time’s “Zoom-E-Oh” which demonstrates up/down, high/low, in/out, away/together, etc. Songs like these and activities like hoop play are allowing your child to learn to organize the available space in relation to themselves and in relationship to objects and other individuals.

In addition to spatial awareness, they are learning things like body parts, rhythm patterns, and a sense of direction. Spatial concepts learned through movement and exploration simultaneously develop muscle strength, coordination, self-confidence, and thinking skills. Spatial awareness helps you distinguish between words on this page and see the letters in correct relation to each other.

Which brings us to the initial question: what is the link between your child’s Kindermusik experience and his ability to read a map? Studies show that the development of spatial orientation leads to increased understanding of location and direction and even eventually the ability to understand and read a map – the point being that spatial awareness or a lack thereof has a direct impact on everyday skills that make a practical difference in our ability to navigate through life.

This same ability applies to reading and writing music on the staff, swinging a golf club, lobbing a tennis ball over the net, heading a soccer ball into the goal, or sending a baseball over the fence.

So…what if the Hokey-Pokey is what it’s all about? Well….in some respects, it is!

-posted by Studio3Music, with thanks to contributor Theresa Case, our friend and Kindermusik Educator from Greenville, SC.

Tags: brain, kindermusik, language development, music, physical development, preschoolers, toddlers

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Mar
20

Around the world in 45 minutes??

Posted in Bits and Pieces, Imagine That, Our Time, Village, Young Child

This semester we get to experience the joy of traveling around the world without leaving our own classroom. Kindermusik provides music from around the world for us to sing, dance and play along to.

En Roulant Ma Boule in Our Time is a French/Canadian song that the voyageurs and coureurs-de-bois sang to the rhythm as they paddled through the Canadian river system trading furs. Many of the songs they sung were old ballads brought with them from Europe. En Roulant Ma Boule was one such popular tune and was used a dance tune in trading posts throughout Canada.

When it is Carnival time in Panama, we like to sing, dance and play our drums to Al Tambor in Imagine That. It is a wonderful song about playing the drum of happiness and with all the children singing and dancing along, who wouldn’t want join in?

In Village, Jasmine Flower takes us off to China where a girl enjoys the beauty of a jasmine flower. It was even chosen as the Beijing Olympic medal ceremony theme.

Here is a version played on ancient metal bells and modern jade chimes:

And in our older classes we are off to Argentina where we learn all about little barnyard animals in My Farm, which with the help of visual aids, we sing in Spanish! It is a fun song that also teaches about friendship!

So come join us this spring and summer to explore some of these areas and more in our World Travelers Club where we will pack our bags and get ready to travel! We’ll sharpen reading, memory, counting, and listening skills on an imaginative musical journey to locations both in the United States and around the world. Every song and activity reflects the culture of the places we’ll visit and expands your child’s musical mind.

-posted by Miss Beth who loves to travel inside and outside the classroom!

Tags: babies, kindermusik, Miss Beth, music, preschoolers, Things to do, toddlers

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Jan
8

Touch me.

Posted in Child Development, parenting, Village

We all know that a baby needs to have bodily contact with his mom and dad. By this, I mean rocking, snuggling, holding, carrying, dancing, or baby massage. But why?

It is the sensations from these kinds of bodily touch that are interpreted by the brain and helps him form his first emotional attachment.

Touch is a baby’s source of comfort and security. Bodily touch leads to bonding, and gives your baby her first knowledge of her physical body. If this first emotional attachment is incomplete, it will be harder for your baby to form emotional attachments later in life.

If you’ve been in both Village and Our Time, you’ll realize that these classes give a very different experience. And our Kindermusik moms and dads and grandmas and nannies all treasure the Village experience. They might not be able to put it into words, but it is all the touching we do that makes this time so special.

So, hold your baby close. Dance a little more often. Snuggle a little bit longer. Far too soon they will wiggle out of your arms and begin their journey towards independence.

It is what you do now that has a tremendous impact on your baby’s ability to have happy, healthy, well-adjusted and secure relationships as a grownup.

-posted by Miss Analiisa, who is a wee bit sad that she no longer has babies to snuggle in her arms, but is glad her youngest still is small enough to cuddle in her lap.

Tags: babies, brain, Miss Analiisa, parenting, touch

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Nov
30

A Fix For Colic?

Posted in Bits and Pieces, parenting, Village

There really should be a support system for parents of colicky babies. These moms and dads rev themselves up for the toughest, most grueling, most heartbreaking ride of the day: the uncontrollable wail of their colicky baby. They try to remind themselves to stay calm and focus on getting through the spell. They remind themselves that eventually there will be a light at the end of the tunnel when their baby is 3 or 4 months old.

We were those parents this past July and August. We bounced, wrenched our backs, and parched ourselves trying to provide solace for our baby Kate when her colic spell would start. It wasn’t until the end of the summer, that I decided to try some of the baby exercises I had learned in my Kindermusik Village classes. After the first round of exercises, I noticed immediate relief. Also, every time, roughly five minutes after our baby exercise activity, Kate would get further relief through a bowel movement. Whether it was distraction, GI tract assistance, or lessening her stimuli, we found a way to cope with colic through a Kindermusik technique.

Right before the spell of colic kicks in, try some baby exercises. Lay your baby down on a soft blanket and think of your favorite nursery rhymes such as, Hickory Dickory Dock, Hey Diddle Diddle, Deedle Deedle Dumpling, and/or Wee Willie Winkie. Chant or sing the rhymes while moving your baby’s arms up and down separately and then at the same time. Then, move his legs in the same pattern as well as in a circular bicycling motion. Finish by touching one hand to his opposite foot (for example, right hand to left foot). Be sure to repeat on the other side. In Village class, Miss Allison calls this movement “crissy crossy.” These cross-lateral movements require communication between the two sides of the brain and therefore also exercise baby’s brain.

Here’s another one: Your baby is again lying on her back. Place her heel up next to her bottom by bending her knee sharply. Move the leg, still sharply bent, until the top of the thigh rests against the tummy. Get both legs in this position. Your baby may be a tad confused at first, but later she will actually assist you-babies love this so! Grab her baby’s ankles and gently shake her legs in an up-and-down motion, unbending the knees gradually, until her heels rest on the blanket and her legs are straight. Repeat multiple times.

Pediatricians do not have a definitive conclusion regarding the cause of colic. There are ideas such as: diet, temperament, acid reflux, indigestion, allergies or a natural developmental stage. However, the consensus on how to manage colic is fundamentally similar: provide comfort measures like soothing through movement, a warm bath, rocking, or playing music.

Whether it is mere distraction from the pain or assistance to the digestion system, these exercises may aid in a less intense crying episode. The activity will definitely provide YOU with meaningful interaction with your baby during what is often a frustrating time. Additionally, songs and rhymes reduce stress and promote language development.

There really is something behind all those facts and tips our teachers provide us in class! Thanks Miss Allison, you were right. We didn’t have to just wait out the spells of colic. It’s all about taking what you learn in class and applying it at home.

-posted by Miss Kim, the biggest fan of Village baby exercises!

Tags: babies, Miss Kim

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Nov
25

Connecting Babies, Music, Learning, & Fun: Village Home Materials – The Books, Art Banners, & Manipulatives

Posted in Village

Your Feathers book is a door into the world of conversation. Your infant may not speak to you in words, but they will point. So, the Feathers book with its simple, beautifully colored paintings allows you to ask simple questions and get a pointed response from your child. “Where is the bird’s eye? Where is your eye? Where is mommy’s eye?”

These questions, lay the foundation of self-identity as well teaching your child what an eye is and where it is located and how conversations work. There is just one word of text per page, but let that one word be a gateway to the art and the experience you and your child can have with the illustrations.

I love the book from Do Si Do! It is one of my favorite Village books. This Is My Dance is filled with rhyming, rhythmic language. It is filled with movement patterns to re-create with your child as you chant the book. It is all about words and connecting meaning to a particular word. Your child will learn what “swoopy” means as you read the book and she sees the swooping baby bear, and then she’ll feel the swooping as you chant the page, and swoop her through the room.

The refrain adds an element of repetition that all children love. The combination of new information on each page and the repeated refrain is the ideal learning combination for your young children, a balance of old and new.

The art banners are the easiest things you get. Simply hang them somewhere where your child can see them: above the changing table, behind the bars on the crib, at child’s eye level in the room where they play, on the lower cabinet doors or drawer fronts in your kitchen, anywhere in the house that you think the child would delight in seeing them. Laminating them preserves them, and allows you use them longer, and move them more often. You can cut them into sections and mix and match them. This works especially well if you want to put them in the kitchen. Blue painters tape will hold them up and not ruin the surface you are adhering them to. By the way, your child will enjoy the art banners more if you read the books often!

-posted by Miss Allison, who was going to write about the manipulatives: your chime ball, scarf, and egg shaker. But, somehow she thinks you know what to do with those. After all, you do come to class!