From the moment you get pregnant, you’re inundated with literature telling you to read to your child.  It’s pretty hard to not see articles touting the lifelong benefits of reading and the importance of reading to your child early.

But let’s face it…reading to a young child can be stressful. 

Young children do not like to sit still for hours and hours, or for minutes and minutes, for that matter. It doesn’t matter if you are telling them a hilarious story about what happens if you give a pig a pancake, some children do not want to sit still for it.  I have heard tell about children who, from infancy, cuddle up on their parents lap and desire nothing else in life other than to sit there and be read to. I’ve sat and listened to soft-spoken moms tell me how they spend hours just reading, reading, reading to their kids.  And I am thrilled for those parents, I truly am.

But let me just be clear about this…none of the Venning Children exhibited anything remotely close to that kind of behavior.  My early parenthood visions of what reading to my kids looked like soon gave way to the reality that reading more often entails me loudly reading words over a moving passel of arms and legs on the living room floor.

Now, I’m not advocating total chaos while you read.  I mean, kids need to learn proper behavior and jumping on the living room couch is not acceptable movement during reading time (uh, or anytime for that matter).  But simple movements, such as rolling on the floor or building with blocks can actually enhance your child’s learning. 

I remember my breaking point.  I had a newborn and was a probably a little post-partum, but I remember sobbing and sobbing one day after attempting to read to 2-year-old Kevin because  he would “NEVER learn to read and would NEVER enjoy sitting and reading and what kind of mother was I that couldn’t read to her child?” (Okay, from the sound of that, I was probably a LOT post-partum!)  Anyway, for a while, I think I even gave up reading to him altogether.

My enjoyment in reading to my young kids greatly increased once I learned that it’s okay for kids to be moving while you read to them. In fact, it’s good for them.  Now, if I were my friend Analiisa (one of the smartest people I have ever personally known) I’d be able to insert a paragraph here about the connection between young children’s brains, motor skills and learning styles.  I absolutely love listening to her teach me this kind of info, but I do her injustice when I try to retell it and it comes out something as simple as this “kids moving = good learning.”  So I apologize, my dummy brain just gives you the bottom line.

And the bottom line is that kids need to move in order to learn, and some more than others.  To require them to sit still during reading time actually works backward for them: they’re using their brain’s energy to concentrate on sitting still, instead of concentrating on learning the rhythm and rhyme of the words.  Let these wiggle worms play quietly on the floor and you’ll notice their love for reading time increase.

Now, in our home, the rule is that they can choose what they want to play with while I read, but it cannot be a noise maker and they cannot be a noise maker.  Other than that, they can wiggle, roll, lay, bounce or build.  And now, eight years later, do you know what Kevin often does (yes, the Kevin I had a breakdown)?  His favorite thing now is to cuddle up on my lap and read along with me!  Where was this child six years ago?  Trapped inside a little body that needed to wiggle while I read. 

-posted by Donna Venning, a stay-at-home mom who, after fifteen minutes of reading to her older  kids, will make them get up and “shake the wiggles out” before going back to read for another fifteen minutes. She can even be caught wiggling with them more often than not.

So although your play set (see my blog post yesterday), and your literature books don’t seem related – they are.  These components of your At Home Materials provide different ways for your child to engage the world of words.

Books offer a wonderful source for children to hear our language in action. There are lots of things you can do with a book besides reading it: count things, identify objects and colors, find opposites and matches. But the text is the heart and soul of a book and together with the illustrations, they create another reality for your child to visit, rhymes to discover and characters to fall in love with. 

Your Kindermusik Literature Books aren’t related to the toyshop plotline of this class. As Jack and Hans travel around in the “trips” portion of the plotline, they meet storytellers everywhere they go – and reading is an integral part of the Kindermusik classroom experience. (A lot of parents wonder if the books should “match” the curriculum, but it’s really all about good literature and the specific developmental purpose the books serve.)

Story time in class is a social experience. Yes, it’s about the book and the language, but it is also about the jostle in the circle, making sure everyone can see, learning to wait your turn to contribute to the conversation about the book, using words to solve the social difficulties that happen whenever more than one child is on the same physical space.   

The reading you do with your child at home serves an entirely different purpose – you can focus more on the text, illustrations, and content. A book read at home can be twice as long as a book in class. A child will sit in your lap for much longer than in a crowded circle on the floor. The emotional grounding that full body contact provides gives you the opportunity to really delve into a book. 

Here’s a really fun thing to do, even if you don’t have Tippity, Tippity, Too: You are going to read the lines in a slightly different order than written in the book.

Read: Tippity tippity too. Who are you? Tippity, tippity tat. I am a ­­­_____. Your child will see the visual cue on the page and fill in the word “cat”.

Do this for each page. The last page has a whole bunch of animals on it, so all you need to do is repeat this same pattern, adding a “t” in place of the first sound or blend of the word. Like “tamel” for camel, or “tion” for lion.

Now use this same pattern for items in the room (you might need to point at the object if your child needs a hint): Tippity tippity too. Who are you? Tippity, tippity tireplace. I am a ­­­_____.  (fireplace)

Finally, use this for names of people your child knows, even if they aren’t in the room. This is sure to produce lots of giggles! Tippity tippity too. Who are you? Tippity, tippity Tindy. I am ­­­Aunt _____! (Cindy)

-posted by Miss Allison, who encourages you to have fun with words wherever you go!

If you came to our Holiday Spectacular Concert, you saw the beautiful and giant ”12 Days of Christmas” book we created for the show. We thought you and your children would like to see it again. Since we can’t give each of you a personal copy of the 4′ x 8′ book, here it is in digital format.

Click on the image below to see the book full-size and to begin the music. As you hear the song, flip the pages in time to the words. (If you click the little x in the upper right hand corner, all the ads will disappear.) Please feel free to share this with your family and friends. Enjoy!

-posted by Analiisa on behalf of all of us at Studio3Music, who wish you a very warm and happy Hanukkah and Christmas season, filled with love, joy and peace.

There is a 15 month old in my house. She has gone from being a little baby to looking, speaking, and acting like a little person…a very busy and often frustrated little person!

She has opinions about everything!  She comments on the meals as if she is a very important restaurant critic.  She has a lot to say about my waitressing skills, as I never bring the food fast enough.  Then, there is the ever-present frustration with “work.”  She stacks, sorts, and reads all day only to be perturbed when a certain shape refuses to go through its appropriate hole.  She “quits” several times each day.  It’s a good thing her manager (that would be me) knows and appreciates who she is and what she does.

At the moment my micromanagement is acceptable.  But, there are times when she feels it is her place to tell me how to run the business of home.  When her social life is experiencing a sudden dip, she simply wants space and for people to leave her toys and food alone.   She’ll share and talk with you IF she wants to; why is that so hard to understand?

I had forgotten the joys of a budding toddler and how a good dose of humor truly makes this phase so much more enjoyable.  Truly!  When Violette starts talking to me in her baby jargon, rattling on with sounds, expressions, and body language to further drive home her point, I can’t help but laugh.

Although we have read books from her infancy, during the last couple of months books have become much more precious to her.  Presently, they are her favorite toys. 

She knows Wiggle Waggle Loop-de-Loo from our Summer Kindermusik Playdate by heart.  She even knows the motions and facial expressions I added.  When she is having an “expressive” moment, declaring her feelings in an angry sonnet, I simply say in a sing-song voice, “Who will do this dance with me, wiggle waggle loop-de-loo?”  She immediately quiets, runs to the book basket and grabs her favorite book.  She starts laughing, swaying side-to-side and “speaking” the words with me, flipping each page as I finish.

Although nothing can ever compare to Wiggle Waggle Loop-de-Loo, she also favors Feathers and This Is My Dance, this semester’s Village books.  In fact, This is My Dance has the honor of helping her form one of her first words – bear. 

(My children didn’t have traditional first words.  My oldest said “fish” before mommy and the second child said “cookie” before mommy.  He is still always hungry!  And for Violette, it was “bear.”  While stringing sounds together when happy, sad or frustrated, “bear” slips in there every once in awhile.)

Using books to help distract or calm your transitional toddler provides a very good learning opportunity.  As you help to develop budding language skills, you also teach another important skill – how to calm down and redirect those very strong opinions.  In a sense, it is a toddler’s version of counting to 10. (We grown-ups call this “self-regulation”.)

I find that after a meltdown, if Violette and I read a book or two, she is much happier and able to function better in her little world.  I know I always function better after a much-needed time out to process and redirect my thoughts!  A good book always provides that lovely escape from reality.

- posted by Miss Jesikah who looks forward to a good book at the end of each day.

While I was growing up, my dad would read to our family after dinner most every night. One of his graduate degrees was in Speech and Debate, and he was a wonderful reader. Just by listening to him, I learned about inflection, breathing, and voicing the characters – really all about making the spoken word interesting. As I now teach grownups several days a week, the time I spent just listening to my dad was invaluable.

However, the real value was in the memories that were made, the good literature I was exposed to long before I could read it, and the assurance that my mom and dad loved me enough to build time into their day to spend it with us together as a family.

I was recently re-inspired by a book of short stories I came across that will be perfect for after dinner. We need to consistently read to our kids as a family, not just individually.

And then I remembered an activity Karl and I did with Nathan a couple of years ago, called a “Jesse Tree”. Every day of Advent, you read a bible passage about the promises God gave about sending a Savior, and then the fulfillment of that promise.

But what made this an engaging activity for our kids was that we purchased a small artificial tree (about 20 inches tall), and made Sculpey clay ornaments each night that related to the story. We baked the ornaments with a hook inserted for hanging, painted them with sealer, and hung them on the tree. My children learned, enjoyed being with each other, and had fun. Isn’t that the point?

So, what can you do to build values, character, sibling bonds and joy into your dinnertimes, on the nights you can sit down and have a meal as a family? Get inspired. Try something for the next four weeks. It’s too easy to scatter after dinner. Spend just 10 minutes more around the table.

Let me know what you do and how it goes. I’d love to hear your ideas!

-posted by Miss Analiisa, who recommends this website for Jesse Tree inspiration.

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!