Studio3Music Blog

Archive for the ‘Young Child’ Category

Nov
27

Do we have to do this again?

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

Recently, I received a great question from one of our Studio3Music mommas. I’m sure she’s not the first person to wonder, so I thought I should share it with you all.

Question: Is it typical for each class to be very similar each week? We’ve noticed that we are singing the same songs each week and I’m hoping that the class changes a bit from week to week. Could you let me know?

Answer:
Your question was both astute and excellent. That tells me that you are paying attention in class! (Which is wonderful, since seriously, I’ve had a few mommas that text the entire class time!)

While we as adults may quickly tire of an activity, it is important that we recognize the importance of repetition to our children’s learning. Learning, or the growth of neural connections in the brain, is strengthened through repetition. A one-time experience is not enough for a neural connection to form and stabilize. It is through repetition that possibility becomes ability. That is why Kindermusik activities are repeated over and over.

We will, however, do “extensions” of activities. The brain loves to be a little surprised once in a while; a surprise causes the brain to pay extra attention. One week we might sing a song, the next we’ll sing the song and add a manipulative. We might do the same lap bounce for 5 weeks in a row, but change up the words in the 4th or 5th week. This allows children to have mastery of an idea before we add a new one.

Three interesting facts :

1. Learning requires electrical energy to create neural pathways. The less “automatic” something is, the more electrical energy is required. Think of something you do automatically – like count by 10′s. It takes very little electrical energy for your brain to travel that “counting 10′s” neural pathway, because you’ve done it a lot.

The more well-traveled a pathway, the less energy is required. That’s why you can do two things at once. Watch TV and knit, for example. When you are first learning to knit, it takes all of your effort. Looking, counting stitches, watching your needles. As it becomes automatic, you use less brain energy, so you can layer another activity on top of that without fear of accidentally turning those mittens into a hat instead.

Communicating Neurons

2. Did you ever wonder why children expect a favorite activity to be repeated again and again and again? Repetition is a necessary building block of development. Children’s brains KNOW that they need repetition. They are pretty smart little creatures! Do you remember the show Blue’s Clues? (Never the same for me after Steve left…). The creators did research while developing the show as to what preschoolers wanted to see in the show, and you can probably guess the answer by now – repetition!

3. So what about the fact that we always have a hello and goodbye ritual, a bounce, a steady beat, rocking time, and story time (in the older classes)? As my friend Heather Wiebe says (she a Kindermusik teacher in Alberta who is fascinated about the way the brain works, just like me) “Patterns make children happy. Knowing what to expect and having things happen in that way not only helps children know what to expect and feel at ease, it’s also how they mark time.” When the environment and routine is predictable, then a child feels safe and learning can naturally happen.

We know you’ll be ready to move on to another activity before your children will (believe me, I’ve been there three times with my own kids!) know that you’ll get new music and activities soon enough. And a Kindermusik Education is the most powerful tool you can give them now, for future success in school, work and life.

-posted by Miss Analiisa, who would love you to email her and let her know your questions. (She can’t read your minds, you know. She does have eyes in the back of her head, but not mind-reading powers. Though now that her children are getting older, wonders if she can trade those extra eyes in for psychic abilities. Or maybe she doesn’t want to know what is going on in there!)

Tags: brain, kindermusik, Miss Analiisa, music

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Sep
17

Hickory, Dickory, Dock. How fast is your internal clock?

Posted in Child Development, Imagine That, Music and the brain, Our Time, Things to do, Village, Young Child

What is steady beat? Though we associate it most closely with music, steady beat is really just an action repeated at about the same pace each time. Steady beat is required in everything from clapping along to a piece of music, talking smoothly, walking steadily, kicking, reading, cutting with scissors or even typing.

There are two kinds of steady beat. The first is internal, which is unique to every person. You are born with your own inner tempo. Think about yourself – how fast does your “clock” tick? Do you walk fast, talk fast, expect quick results? Get frustrated when everything or everyone else can’t keep up? Your internal tempo is probably allegro!

My 9 year old son’s internal beat is much slower than mine. He needs to process and “cook” information. As a Suzuki violin momma, I have to participate in his practice. After 2 years, he finally said, “You’re going too fast. You’re confusing me. It’s too much information at once.” If only I had recognized that before. If I continue to coach him at my pace, I’m going to frustrate him, and he’ll probably end up hating violin. Practice is now relatively easy on both of us.

Faster internal steady beats don’t equal brighter children; my easy-going middle child is just as smart as my speedy 12 year old. They just both like the information presented to them at a tempo that matches what is going on inside. If I keep that in mind, I’ll be a better parent.

We cannot change an internal working tempo. It’s yours for life. We can, however, teach children to be flexible to match an external steady beat with the activity they are doing. Why do we do this? You don’t want to cut out a delicate paper snowflake at 90 miles an hour! Nor do you want a slow tempo child to read at a snail’s pace.

Babies come ready made with their own internal steady beat. Sometimes in class, a song will play that is pretty close to their own tempo. Then that baby will tap his drum right in time to the music, and all the grownups in class will ooohh and aaahh at this little musical genius!

It isn’t usually until they reach age 3 or so that they begin to be able to match an external source of steady beat, such as playing instruments to a song, or marching. And we don’t really expect consistent beat matching to occur until between Kindergarten and 2^nd grade.

But because the ability to match a steady beat is so vital to success in many other skills, we do start steady beat practice from the very earliest Kindermusik class – Village. You can practice at home, too. Here are some fun ideas to try:

For babies and toddlers: To help these little ones to feel an external steady beat, use their bodies. Put your child on your lap and steadily chant a nursery rhyme, or sing a simple song. Bounce your child up and down, keeping the tempo consistent.

For preschoolers: Hold hands, a rope, a stretchy band or a large scarf between you. Sing a song your child knows (so she doesn’t have to think about the words) and sway or rock back and forth together. You can change the tempo every couple of repeats.

For young schoolchildren: Put on one of your Kindermusik Young Child CD’s or their current musical favorite. Music that changes tempo is especially good, so try some classical music. Give your child a big sheet of paper and some markers or crayons. Have your child draw (lines, dots, circles, squiggles, etc.) to the tempo of the music. Ask questions like: “What does this slow music look like?”

There are lots of fun ways to practice matching an external steady beat. I’m sure you’ll get creative!

-posted by Miss Analiisa, who is determined to workout her internal speedy steady beat muscles by learning to slow down and rest. Actually rest. Stop doing things. Stop thinking. Breathe deep.

Tags: kindermusik, language development, learning, Miss Analiisa, music, physical development, reading, Things to do

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Apr
21

Play with your words!

Posted in Child Development, Imagine That, Our Time, Things to do, Things We Love, Young Child

I love words – the polysyllabic ones and the monosyllabic ones, the ones that rhyme with each other, and the ones that don’t. I love the ones that have several different meanings but only one spelling, and the ones that sound the same, but mean different things and have different spellings.

I love that a bunch of different words mean the same thing and yet are all slightly different at the same time. Think of all the words for that wet stuff that falls from the sky so regularly around here: rain, precipitation, drizzle, mist, showers, sleet, sprinkle, torrent, cloudburst, deluge.

I love that our language gives us so many ways to communicate our thoughts, dreams, ideas and heart’s desires.

So I was really excited when I sat down to plan my lessons and discovered that it was time to do “There’s a Little Wheel Turning in My Heart” or (in my own words) “There’s an itty bitty teeny weenie circumvolution oscillating in my cardiac organ”. I love this song because it gives children a chance to play with words.

Did you know that a four year old knows approximately 10,000 words? A toddler is in the business of accumulating all those words. They learn one word per hour they are awake.

In order for them to know what to do with all those words they need to hear them work – in books and in conversation, in songs and prayers, rhymes, chants and poems – and they need to practice with them in all the same ways. “There’s a Diminutive Castor Rotating in my Ticker” encourages playing with the building blocks of language. Nouns and verbs.

First, sing the song a couple of times as written using the original words. But, the real learning in this song occurs in what you do with it.

Next, ask your child what’s in their heart. This is not a rational question, of course, but children are not rational people so it works. You can also ask what they love, or what their favorite things or people are. (Be sure you have the video camera ready- they may just say “grandma”)

Then, ask what the item or person is doing. Again, it does not have to be rational. Grandma could very well be skipping rope in your child’s wacky little heart. Now you sing the song with their words-

Grandma’s jumping rope in my heart, in my heart
Grandma’s jumping rope in my heart!
In my heart, in my heart,
Grandma’s jumping rope in my heart!

There are other variations for types of words, of course. A little girl in one of my classes today wanted finger nail polish in her heart. So rather than asking what it was doing in there- (we all know it was sparkling) we asked where it was. It was on her toes. Naturally. So now the song goes like this-

There is polish on my toes in my heart in my heart
There is polish on my toes in my heart.
In my heart, in my heart!
There is polish on my toes in my heart!

With an older child you can add some adjectives-

A blue car is racing in my heart, or
A big shark is flying in my heart

Remember, it doesn’t have to make sense; a child’s sense of humor is very primitive, and the incongruous is totally hysterical to them. Flying sharks are the stuff of laugh attacks that last for hours.

I play this game with all my students from Our Time through Young Child and beyond, so get the whole family involved. And the car is a great place to play this one…

-posted by Miss Allison, who tells you to go for it. Play with your words.

Tags: kindermusik, language development, Miss Allison, 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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Oct
4

The Man in the Moon

Posted in Imagine That, Our Time, Things to do, Village, Young Child

The Moon can be a magical nightlight for a child, but it’s also fun to learn more about the moon and the night sky. Did you know that the places on the Moon have names just like places on Earth? The moon is full for the next couple of nights. So, bundle up, use a telescope or pair of binoculars if you have them, and head outside. Look up at the Man in the Moon with your child to see if you can find some of the places below.

Places in the Moon
Remind your child that although many of the moon’s features are called “seas,” there’s no water on the moon (at least we haven’t found it yet!)

moon-man * The Sea of Cold-the top of his head
* The Sea of Rains-the eye we see to the left
* The Sea of Serenity-the eye we see to the right
* The Sea of Tranquility-the bag under the eye we see to the right (The Sea of Tranquility is where the very first moon landing took place on July 20, 1969.)
* The Craters Copernicus and Brother Maura-his nose
* The Sea of Clouds-his mouth
* The Sea of Storms-the big bruise next to the eye on the left

Back inside your warm house, listen to the song Aiken Drum, which is from your Kindermusik Village Dream Pillow CD, and have fun with the following activities. If you don’t know the song, you can play it right here:

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There was a man lived in the moon lived in the moon, lived in the moon.
There was a man lived in the moon and his name was Aiken Drum.

And he played upon a ladle, a ladle, a ladle
He played upon a ladle and his name was Aiken Drum.

For Infants: (Contributed by Miss Analiisa, who misses having babies in her house.)

What baby doesn’t like exploring the kitchen as soon as he can manage to get his little body there? I hope you have an “exploring” drawer, full of safe kitchen utensils and plastic bowls, lids and cups. It will provide (at least!) minutes of entertainment while you are making dinner.

Pull out your metal serving spoons and sing Aiken Drum together. Show your baby how to drum on the floor, bang the spoons together or with yours, and make a racket on pans, lids or upturned bowls. Listen to all the different sounds you can make!

Substitute body parts for the word “ladle”. Can she play upon her toes? Her knee? Her head? Substitute his name for “Aiken Drum.” Children love to hear their own name in songs.

For Toddlers: (Contributed by Miss Anita, who loves to think this stuff up!)

Toddlers love activities about themselves! So let your child live in the moon. “There was a girl (or boy) lived in the moon…and her name was Natalie.” Then, in the second phrase, substitute your child’s current favorite motor skill or one they are working to master.

For example: “And she skipped upon a ladle…and her name was Natalie.” They may want to run, jump, hop, skip, roll, or gallop on the ladle. In the car, try smaller motions such as: clap, roll (hands), wiggle (fingers), tap (toes or thumbs). Amidst all the fun, your child has practiced coordination & explored the parts of speech!

For Preschoolers: (Contributed by Miss Allison, who used to play this game when she was a preschool teacher. Come to think of it, I don’t think she’s ever stopped being one!)

There are many other verses for Aiken Drum. Many of them involve food:
And his head was made of cream cheese…
And his coat was made of good roast beef….
And his breeches were made of haggis bags….

Ask your child which piece of clothing they want to sing about and what type of food it was made out of. You’ll end up with socks made of bologna, swimsuits made of peaches, and before you know it, your language learner will move on from food and clothes and suggest other nouns. Now the questions are, “What did the Man in the Moon own? What was it made of?” His car was made of pots and pans, his blankie out of window shades…

Extend the activity with rhyming variations. “His mittens were made of kittens,” “his hat was made from a cat,” “his house was made from a mouse,” “his shoe was made of glue.” You’ll have to be creative to make the timing work, so that it is still singable. And of course, you have to sing it! Maybe your man doesn’t live in the moon but in Redmond or another favorite location. Eventually it will be completely your own special song, starting with “There was a man…” and ending with a wonderful memory and whole lot of language learning.

-posted by Miss Anita, Miss Allison and Miss Analiisa, who leave you with a quote from W. Clement Stone, “Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star.”